Terry Francona arrived in Cleveland after enduring highs and lows along his managerial journey

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Before Terry Francona authored one of the greatest managerial careers in Cleveland baseball history, he rode a rollercoaster of ups and downs in Philadelphia and Boston. Francona became a larger-than-life personality in the process, as well as a world-class manager shaped by the highs and lows experienced in two of baseball’s toughest markets.

Frustrations over losing in Philly helped shape Francona into a two-time World Series champion with Boston before his time with the Red Sox eventually came to an end. But at both stops before arriving in Cleveland, the future Hall of Famer displayed the wit and wisdom that has made him a treasured part of the game’s rich history.

“You’re the manager, you take it home, it goes home with you and your phone doesn’t stop either,” Francona said. “Like the trainers aren’t calling the bench coach or the general manager. It’s like everybody comes at you from every direction and when you’re young and sometimes it gets to be a lot.”

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After retiring as a player ahead of the 1991 season, Francona stepped into coaching. But the transition was not entirely seamless.

Following his release from training camp by the Cardinals, he traveled home to western Pennsylvania where he cared for both of his parents. His mother was battling cancer, while his father was recovering from a heart attack. After about six weeks, Francona returned home to Arizona.

“I remember vividly I was watching Gilligan’s Island and my wife was like, ‘This is what you’re going to do?’” Francona recalled.

So the man who would eventually win nearly 2,000 games as a major league manager enrolled in classes to get his real estate license. But his time studying the books only lasted about two weeks.

“Buddy Bell called, and I took those books right up to the guy and I said, ‘Hey man, ain’t nobody going to buy a house from me,” Francona said. “Went down to Sarasota the next morning, and it was the best decision I ever made.”

Francona began coaching, gaining experience with the White Sox farm system in the Gulf Coast League and in South Bend. With the Double-A Birmingham Barons, he was named Minor League Manager of the Year in 1993 and later presided over the minor league career of basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Managing stints in the Dominican Winter League and the Caribbean World Series followed, allowing Francona to work closely with players such as Miguel Tejada and Manny Ramirez. When Bell took over as manager in Detroit during the 1996 season, he tabbed Francona as his third base coach, which put him on the Phillies’ radar during their managerial search ahead of the 1997 season.

Philadelphia had suffered three losing seasons after winning the National League pennant in 1993, and Francona took over a team with future Hall of Fame third baseman Scott Rolen and a lot of young players. From 1997 to 2000, the Phillies failed to finish higher than third in the NL East and never won more than 77 games.

Looking back, Francona said it was hard to imagine then that he’d spend 23 years as a major league manager.

“And I’m guessing there’s a lot of people in Philadelphia that probably didn’t think so either,” Francona said.

Francona was fired following the 2000 campaign with a 285–363 record. The next year he worked with Cleveland’s front office as a special assistant to general manager John Hart, allowing him to gain experience and background with the front office side of the game.

But Francona returned to the field as a bench coach with Texas in 2002 and in the same role with Oakland in 2003. From there it was only a matter of time before another managing opportunity presented itself. Though, Francona says he did not even know if he wanted to manage again after what he went through in Philadelphia.

“I got pretty beat up when I was there, and I knew I wanted to stay in the game, but I just didn’t know if I really wanted to do that again,” Francona said.

The Red Sox hired Francona in 2004 and he immediately led the club to a 98–64 record, finishing with the best record in the AL after the All-Star break that year. After sweeping the Angels in the Division Series, Francona’s Red Sox lost the first three games of the AL Championship Series to the Yankees, including a humiliating 19-8 defeat at Fenway Park.

However Francona guided the club in one of baseball’s greatest comebacks ever, rallying to become the only team to advance after facing an 0-3 deficit. Boston won Game 7 and went on to sweep St. Louis in the Fall Classic for the city’s first World Series title since 1918.

Just like players make adjustments from game to game and season to season, Francona said he, too, had to adjust and constantly try to get better. The challenges he faced in Boston were not the same as the ones he met in Philly.

“In Boston, one of the biggest challenges was there seemed like there was always a fire to put out every day, and if there wasn’t one, somebody would make one up,” Francona said. “You’re trying to let good players play the game because they were good, but there was so much going on, so much noise that you had to try to always stay out ahead of it.”

Boston was swept by the eventual champion White Sox in the first round in 2005, and finished third in the AL East in 2006, but Francona’s club bounced back in 2007, rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS against Cleveland to again reach the World Series.

Another sweep in the Fall Classic followed, this time against the Rockies, making Francona the only manager in major league history to win his first eight World Series contests.

In 2008 the Red Sox signed Francona to a contract extension through 2011. While he continued to pile up regular season wins over the next three seasons, Boston was unable to advance past the ALDS, finishing third in the AL East in his final two seasons. In the final week of the 2011 season, Boston collapsed and fell out of a playoff spot after losing a nine-game lead over Tampa Bay for the wild card. The Red Sox declined to exercise Francona’s contract option and he departed Boston with 744 wins as Red Sox manager.

All of the ups and downs that Francona endured during his pre-Cleveland managing days helped shape the way he guided the Indians and Guardians during his 11 seasons in the dugout.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s just managing,” Francona said. “I’ve loved the game of baseball since I could crawl. That’s really all I’ve ever done. Except for those two weeks of realtor school, I don’t think I ever felt like I had to be a manager. I liked being a bench coach. I loved being a third base coach. I actually love managing in the minor leagues. That’s what I think is more important to me than being a manager.”

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