By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW YORK - Jack McKeon was in the tiny manager's office in the visitor's clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

It was 90 minutes or so after McKeon's Florida Marlins had beaten the New York Yankees 2-0 to win the World Series, four games to two.

Outside in the clubhouse, the celebration raged on. Champagne flowed. Beer was guzzled. Cigar smoke choked the air.

McKeon wore a "World Champion" T-shirt and hat. But he left the hearty party to the players.

"I'm happy for the players," McKeon said. "I'm just the director. They're the actors. They're the ones who perform."

McKeon seemed a bit subdued - for someone who had won his first world title at the age of 72.

Until early May, McKeon's job description was short: Grandfather. Then he got a call from Florida GM Larry Beinfest. Beinfest wanted McKeon to meet with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

They spent two hours talking baseball. The Marlins manager's job, McKeon says, didn't come up.

Later that night, after McKeon had returned home to Elon College, N.C., Beinfest called. The Marlins were making a change. Would he be interested?

McKeon's prayers had been answered - literally.

"I prayed a lot," he said. "I asked the Lord to give me one chance. This shows the power of prayer."

McKeon was bitter about the way things ended in Cincinnati after the 2000 season. He was fired after the Reds won 96, then 85 games.

Jeff Torborg, the man McKeon replaced, controlled the show. Players feared making mistakes.

"Everything changed with Jack," said Tony Perez, the Hall of Famer who is a special assistant to Loria. "The kids played for him. They played together. This is the greatest championship I've been around."

McKeon loosened the reins. He let his coaches work.

"I took this job with the idea that I could turn this club around - make a winner," McKeon said. "I didn't have any idea we would win the playoffs or win the wild card. I had no idea we would get to the World Series. I had no idea we would win the World Series."

The Marlins went 75-49 under McKeon - and that was after a 3-7 start.

"It took me about a week to figure them out," McKeon said.

His big speech was simple: "I told them, 'Let's have fun. Do the best you can, relax and have fun. The pressure is on everybody else because we are not supposed to win. Let's show them we are a hell of a lot better than everybody else predicted us to be.' "

It worked.

It helped that 21-year-old Dontrelle Willis won nine of his first 10 decisions after McKeon put him in the rotation.

It helped that 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera, called up from Double-A, stepped in for Mike Lowell and played as well as Lowell.

It helped that 23-year-old Josh Beckett developed into a dominant pitcher in the postseason.

McKeon managed much like he did in Cincinnati. While some managers rely on computer printouts, McKeon plays on hunches. His hunch Saturday night was that Beckett would be just fine on three days' rest. Beckett pitched a five-hit shutout.

"Jack hasn't done anything the way you should all year," Lowell said.