THOUGHTS FROM A SEPTUAGENARIAN. After 70+ years on earth, the one thing that has really changed as it applies to sports, and baseball in particular, is the roles of the manager and general manager.

Back in the late 50s through the mid 70s, when I cut my teeth on watching and studying The National Past Time, the general manager and manager had very defined roles. The GM handled everything off the field with The Skipper handled the on field decision making and there was never any cross over. Those lanes had permanent guardrails.

Today the roles are completely different. With the era of analytics, the general manager and other members of the administrative staff have gone from offering advice to, in some cases, directing the manager on who to play and when to substitute especially pitchers. In fact, there are documented cases of members of the front office calling down to the dugout during the game and pontificating that certain strategy be used immediately.

Now, let me take you back to those earlier years. I cannot fathom a GM, or anyone, calling down to the dugout and demanding that Sparky Anderson or Gene Mauch or Walter Alston or Earl Weaver make a pitching change. I can almost guarantee you that they would receive a two-word response from these gentlemen and it wouldn't be Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas.

There was a line you didn't cross and that was the one. When game activities started, and that began with preparing the lineup cards until the last out was recorded, the manager had unquestioned authority. Now, everything is done "by the book" and the thought of a manager "following his intuition and gut feeling" after years of managing is unacceptable.

From my point of view, I miss the managers of old. The ones that could sense the flow of the game and feel that his pitcher was "in a zone' and didn't have to be pulled when the lineup came up for the third time because that's what the analytics dictated.

You pay these guys to manage. Let them do it. Give them the data you've accumulated and let them use it but not be beholding to it.

The game is still played on the field and not on paper. Book it Dano!