Why do managers wear uniforms in baseball?

[addictedtofreshkicks]

Dumb question... but why is baseball the only sport where managers have numbers and wear the team uniform?

 

[addictedtofreshkicks]

 

[dunkaroos]

It started as a tradition and now it's a rule.

Baseball is the only sport in which the manager is goes onto the field during the game. So, in a way, he's like another player.

Given the 162 game season, it's not surprising that the team has an emotional connection and the uniform only reinforces that.

 

[kdawg]

From ask Yahoo:

We first noticed this phenomenon when we were nine. The Dodgers were playing the Phillies, and L.A. manager Tommy Lasorda was looking particularly portly. Watching him "jog" onto the field in his ill-fitting uniform was something we never forgot. Were we scarred? Of course -- who wouldn't be. Did we vow to one day figure out why large men are forced to squeeze into outfits intended for Adonis-like athletes? You bet we did.

In baseball's early days, it was common for managers to play for their teams (Pete Rose played and managed the Reds in the 1980s). It made sense for the manager to dress like a player -- he was one. As the years went by, managers played less often, but the tradition stuck around. As the Straight Dope notes, this has a lot to do with an "edict" requiring coaches be in uniform (though it's just as much a tradition as a formal rule).

Two managers did spite baseball's fashion gods by wearing street clothes in the dugout. The great Connie Mack wore suits when he managed the Philadelphia Athletics, and Burt Shotton wore a team jacket over a suit and tie when he managed the Dodgers in the late 1940s.

No matter what you call it -- rule, edict, or wacky tradition -- it is unique to the sport of baseball. After all, no other coaches wear their team uniforms. Imagine Andy Reid in shoulder pads. Or Stan Van Gundy in short shorts. Actually, on second thought, don't.

 

[jpzx]

Originally Posted by Dunkaroos

It started as a tradition and now it's a rule.

Baseball is the only sport in which the manager is goes onto the field during the game. So, in a way, he's like another player.

Given the 162 game season, it's not surprising that the team has an emotional connection and the uniform only reinforces that.

They should be eligible to pinch-hit imo

 

[kingjay718]

I thought that would've been cool, if Don Mattingy pinched hit for Juan Pierre.

But in my opinion, they should wear uniforms. They should wear training attire.

 

[jpzx]

Now that I think about it...it would look really dumb if they rocked a suit in the dugout

 

[cincoseisdos]

yeah it would

IMO it's about a sense of being an actual TEAM, not a holier than thou feeling because i'm wearing a suit and you're not. With the same uniformson, it "feels" like they're on the same page, "one team one dream"

 

[TheGift23]

I LOL @ at thinking of Belicheck or McDaniels in Uniform.

 

[juan baller]

Originally Posted by kdawg

From ask Yahoo:

We first noticed this phenomenon when we were nine. The Dodgers were playing the Phillies, and L.A. manager Tommy Lasorda was looking particularly portly. Watching him "jog" onto the field in his ill-fitting uniform was something we never forgot. Were we scarred? Of course -- who wouldn't be. Did we vow to one day figure out why large men are forced to squeeze into outfits intended for Adonis-like athletes? You bet we did.

In baseball's early days, it was common for managers to play for their teams (Pete Rose played and managed the Reds in the 1980s). It made sense for the manager to dress like a player -- he was one. As the years went by, managers played less often, but the tradition stuck around. As the Straight Dope notes, this has a lot to do with an "edict" requiring coaches be in uniform (though it's just as much a tradition as a formal rule).

Two managers did spite baseball's fashion gods by wearing street clothes in the dugout. The great Connie Mack wore suits when he managed the Philadelphia Athletics, and Burt Shotton wore a team jacket over a suit and tie when he managed the Dodgers in the late 1940s.

No matter what you call it -- rule, edict, or wacky tradition -- it is unique to the sport of baseball. After all, no other coaches wear their team uniforms. Imagine Andy Reid in shoulder pads. Or Stan Van Gundy in short shorts. Actually, on second thought, don't.

What are the rules on player-managers? Can all managers technically eligible to enter a game as a player? Or do player-managers have be on the team's25-man roster?

 

[39478]

My mom hates that they're in unis.

She just

at the thought of Phil Jackson in a Laker uniform on the sideline