Jack McKeon never thought he was smarter than you. He knew his job was more about managing people than managing pitching changes. McKeon turned around the Reds in 1999 by filling out the lineup card like he was making a grocery list. Milk-bread-eggs. Cameron-Casey-Vaughn. You knew where you stood with Uncle Jack. "When I felt like no one else in the park was on my side, I always knew Jack was," Sean Casey said.

"I stayed out of their way," McKeon said. "I just let 'em play." Sometimes, it is as simple as that.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

We have a great time around here, dissecting Bob Boone's in-game moves like they were laboratory frogs pinned to a board. But the best managers aren't strategic geniuses. They just make it so players want to come to the park and play hard every day.

"I told 'em right away, I want you to enjoy coming here. That will translate into winning," McKeon said. He was back Friday, age 72 years and 169 days, running the Florida Marlins. McKeon looked as though he'd never left.

He was in the visitors dugout, telling stories, tugging on a Toro Fuente cigar the size of an ocean liner. They'd made a big deal over McKeon Friday morning at Straus Tobacconist on Walnut Street. He'd said on local radio he'd be stopping at Straus, first thing. Fifty people greeted him at 10 a.m. Friday.

McKeon bought a few cigars. Today, he'll buy a few more. "About five hundred," he said. "But I don't inhale. My wife wants me to quit smoking. How can I quit smoking when I do commercials for cigars?"

It's about the players

He is the oldest manager ever hired by a major-league team, and he has learned some things. One is, there is wisdom in knowing what you don't know. Another is telling young players you believe in them, and letting them play every day. Athletes can be the most insecure people on earth. Especially baseball players, who learn early on not to trust success.

McKeon never let the Reds he managed dwell on insecurity. "Keep puttin' 'em out there, until they realize you have faith in 'em," McKeon explained. Or, as Casey put it, "We made our mistakes, fell on our faces and played the next day."

McKeon was Manager of the Tear in '99, the last time the Reds grabbed the local imagination. A year later, they let him go. That's how it works in sports.

He took over a lousy Marlins team May 11. Florida general manager Larry Beinfest called McKeon "a turnaround specialist." The Marlins won three of McKeon's first four, then lost six in a row. Given time, he'll make them better. "I want to do with them what I did with those guys over there," McKeon said. "Casey, (Danny) Graves, (Mike) Cameron, (Pokey) Reese. Put 'em out there and keep 'em out there."

A great thing about McKeon was, he knew what he did wasn't that important. He didn't manage with his ego. The players were the ones who mattered. McKeon just had to keep them happy. Anybody who thinks strategic genius is critical to winning baseball games must have slept through 1999.

"There was nothing magic" about that year, said McKeon. "We had a lot of your young, hungry guys with enthusiasm." And a manager that always left the light on for them.

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E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com