Buck Showalter

Before becoming a teacher, his father had been a Little All-American fullback in 1940 at Milligan College, and had considered a career in the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but chose to become a high school coach instead.

Showalter was known as "Nat", and had not acquired the nickname "Buck" prior to turning professional.

William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III (born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager.

Showalter was born in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, on May 23, 1956, and grew up in nearby Century.

His father, William Nathaniel Showalter II, served 23 years as a teacher and principal at Century High School, from which the younger Showalter graduated.

Showalter played college baseball at Chipola Junior College (now Chipola College) in Marianna, Florida, in 1976.

From there he transferred to Mississippi State University to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

In 1976, Showalter played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) for the Hyannis Mets, where he won the league batting title with a .434 batting average, and was named league MVP.

Showalter was an All-American and set the Mississippi State record for batting average in a season by hitting .459 during the 1977 season.

He was selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 1977 MLB draft, and spent seven seasons in the Yankees' minor league system where he had a career average of .294 with 17 home runs and 336 runs batted in.

He never played in the major leagues, rising no higher than Triple-A Columbus (one rung below the majors).

Showalter was hired as manager of the Single-A minor-league Oneonta Yankees of the New York–Penn League in 1985, leading them to 114 victories in two seasons.

In 1987, Showalter became manager of the minor league Fort Lauderdale Yankees, leading the league with an 85–53 record in his first season.

In 1989, Showalter managed the Double-A Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Eastern League, where he was named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America.

In 1990, Showalter was promoted to the coaching staff of the New York Yankees, and eventually succeeded Stump Merrill as the team's manager for the 1992 season.

He served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), Baltimore Orioles (2010–2018) and New York Mets (2022–2023).

He also is a former professional Minor League Baseball player and television analyst for ESPN and the YES Network.

Showalter has earned a reputation for building baseball teams into postseason contenders in short periods of time.

He helped the Yankees rise from the bottom half of the AL East to first place before a players' strike prematurely ended the 1994 campaign.

Under his watch, the Diamondbacks made their first-ever playoff appearance in only the second year of the team's existence.

Despite this reputation, Showalter has never appeared in a World Series; coincidently, he left both the Yankees and Diamondbacks just prior to seasons when they won the World Series.

Since Dusty Baker's win in the 2022 World Series, Showalter has become the winningest active manager in MLB never to win a World Series.

However, in 22 seasons, he has reached the postseason six times, reaching the League Championship Series once.

A three-time American League (AL) and one-time National League (NL) Manager of the Year, he is the third manager to win four Manager of the Year awards, the seventh to win the award in both the American and National Leagues, and the only one to win the award with four different teams and in four different decades.

During his four years as the Yankees' manager, the team posted a record of 313–268, finishing first during the strike-shortened 1994 season, thereby being named by the Associated Press as the American League Manager of the Year and became the 1995 American League manager for the All-Star Game.

However, Showalter could not watch the Yankees win the World Series, saying, "I feel badly for the fans" in New York for what they lost during the 1994 strike.

Showalter appeared as himself along with Danny Tartabull in the September 1994 Seinfeld television episode "The Chaperone".

The Yankees won the AL wild card in 1995, participating in the playoffs for the first time since 1981.

However, they lost to the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series.

Following the season, owner George Steinbrenner offered Showalter a new, two-year contract, but demanded that Showalter fire his hitting coach, Rick Down.

Showalter was unwilling to do this.

On October 26, 1995, the Yankees announced that Showalter and the team had parted ways "'under amicable terms'"; Showalter expressed surprise at the announcement.

While some sources say that Showalter was fired from the Yankees, others indicate that he resigned his position.

Showalter finished his Yankees tenure with a regular-season record of 313 wins and 268 losses and a playoff record of two wins and three losses.

Showalter was not re-hired after that season in part because of the playoff loss, but mostly because he stood up for his players during the strike.

The Yankees won the World Series the following year and they would win the World Series in four of the next five years.

In November 1995, Showalter was approached to manange an expansion team that would begin play in 1998.

Named the Arizona Diamondbacks, Showalter was interested in taking a more active role in developing the eventual roster, complete with a $7 million contract for seven years.

In 2002, he was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame.

In August 2017, he was named as an inductee in the New York–Penn League Hall of Fame.