Baseball: Terry Francona celebrates ALCS run by Indians, Pac-12 title for Utes – Salt Lake Tribune
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Former college teammates Bill Kinneberg and Terry Francona share fond memories, formative experiences and a love of baseball, but they also share a knack for leading their teams to new heights.
Francona, the American League’s Manager of the Year in 2016, led the Cleveland Indians to their first American League pennant and World Series appearances since 1997. His former college teammate during the University of Arizona’s 1980 College World Series championship, Kinneberg led the University of Utah to its first Pac-12 baseball championship in the spring.
Francona spoke at the Utes preseason banquet at the Sheraton Hotel, an annual fundraiser/start of season event on Tuesday night. More than 500 tickets were sold for the event, which serves as the springboard into the season for the Utes, who being the season on Feb. 17 at Cal-Bakersfield.
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Francona previously spoke at the Utes banquet in 2005 and 2008. Kinneberg said he wanted Francona as this year’s guest to allow him to help celebrate the Utes’ championship season. Kinneberg regularly got text messages from Francona after games last season as the Utes won the university’s first men’s Pac-12 championship and Kinneberg won Pac-12 Coach of the Year.
This past fall, Francona’s Indians lost a captivating World Series in seven games to the Chicago Cubs, with Game 7 going extra innings. Cleveland reports to spring training next week in Arizona as one of the favorites to win the AL pennant this season.
“What we care about is our expectations, and, yeah, they’re pretty lofty,” Francona said prior to the banquet. “If we pay attention to what we care about and not get stuck worrying about what someone else is thinking, we’ll be OK. Our guys have been through it now. That experience will help and hopefully drive them.”
Francona, who ranks fifth among active managers in wins (1,381), has won a total of three AL pennants and two World Series titles between his time in Cleveland and previously with the Boston Red Sox. Bringing the Indians to the verge of its first championship since 1948 held special significance for Francona, the son of former Indians outfielder and first baseman Tito Francona,
“This is probably as close to a family setting as you could get in a professional [environment],” Francona said of Cleveland. “My dad had his six best years of his career there. I spent the first five years of my life there. I played there. I’d worked there before. It’s a healthy place for me to be. The people I work for are incredible. I don’t think they realize how incredible they are. They bring out the best — not just in me — but in a lot of people.”
Francona, an affable and self-depricating former player who spent parts of 10 seasons in the majors, led the Boston Red Sox to the World Series title in 2004 that snapped a widely-documented 86-year drought. The Red Sox won another World Series in 2007 as part of Francona’s eight-season tenure, which ended in a messy divorce in 2011 after the Red Sox collapsed down the stretch and missed the playoffs.
Having described himself as “beat up” after eight seasons in the hyper-intense environment of Boston, Francona spent the 2012 season as an analyst for ESPN before joining the Indians in 2013.
“That last year in Boston took a toll on him,” said Kinneberg, who visits Francona every year. “We visited. He didn’t look the same. He wasn’t he same guy. He was down, and he was extremely tired. It was great for him to take that year off, but he always told me he wanted to get back on the bench.”
Items up for bid in the silent auction included autographed baseballs and posters signed by the Utes conference championship team, an opportunity to be a batboy for a Utes game, the first base bag from the Utes’ Pac-12 championship-clinching game, “swag bags” of Under Armour apparel and a collection of autographed baseballs signed by past guest speakers Tommy Lasorda, Jim Palmer, Ozzie Smith, John Farrell, Brook Robinson, Ned Yost and Francona.
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