Friday, June 01, 2001
Perez decides to stick it out
Will manage Marlins rest of the season
The Associated Press
MIAMI — Tony Perez changed his mind and agreed Thursday to manage the Florida Marlins for the rest of the season.
Perez was hired as interim manager when John Boles was fired Monday. Perez said he had no desire to manage for more than a few weeks, citing commitments this summer.
But the 58-year-old Perez said he spent the past three days breaking public speaking and baseball card show engagements and agreed to take the job Thursday after general manager Dave Dombrowski asked him to reconsider.
“After three days of managing, I proved to myself I can do it,” Perez said. “I think I have the team. They play for me, and that's why I made the decision.”
Perez, a Hall of Fame first baseman primarily with the Cincinnati Reds, had been on Dombrowski's staff as a special assistant. He briefly managed Cincinnati in 1993 and was fired early in his only season on the job, with the Reds at 20-24.
Reds manager Bob Boone supports Perez's decision.
“You make a commitment to this job. The commitment is all of your time as long as you're playing games,” Boone said. “If he wants to do it, great. He's a good baseball man, and he's always been one of my favorites.”
Florida began Thursday 2-1 since Perez took over and entered its game against the New York Mets with a 24-27 record, third in the NL East, nine games behind first-place Philadelphia.
Perez took over in Pittsburgh on Monday, a day after pitcher Dan Miceli criticized Boles for not having playing experience in the major leagues.
“I just want to help change things, change the attitude of the players on the team,” Perez said. “I walked into a difficult situation, when there were some problems with the team. It's not easy to walk into problems like that.”
Dombrowski met with his staff Thursday to discuss a short list of managerial candidates. Dombrowski then asked Perez to manage for the rest of the season.
“We think he's the right person for the job at this point,” Dombrowski said.
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Perez decides to stick it out
