It seems like a thousand years ago when Larry Dierker left the Astros television booth for the Houston dugout, but it was only 1997. Dierker spent the majority of his playing career with the Astros and like former players in the booth, had a pretty good understanding of the game and the team.

The Cubs famously flipped managers and broadcasters a decade earlier with far less success, and since the 90’s several guys bounced between the two professions. However, in most cases the new managers were former players. While some of us would have preferred Harry to Jim Essian or Bruce Kimm, I don’t think the Cubs ever considered Harry Caray for the job in the dugout.

Probably 1/3 of all sports columnists honestly believe they could do better jobs than GM’s or head coaches/managers in the cities where they work. Most probably couldn’t fill out a lineup card, let alone a roster. The players would likely give them a pocket of respect for their efforts.

While I don’t consume much NBA news these days, I’m more than aware of the excellent work that Adrian Wojnarowski has done for ESPN and others over the years. When something in the NBA happens, he’s almost always the one with the scoop, and it’s usually pretty solid. There isn’t an equivalent in the other sports, such that news of a Woj scoop will interrupt broadcasts of other team sports.

In today’s WSJ, Robert O’Connell (never read him before) wrote about Wojnarowski leaving ESPN for a GM of basketball for St. Bonaventure University (men’s team). Unless I’m missing something, the guy has never done anything like this. Usually former front office “gurus” get job as insiders on TV and radio. Objectively speaking, 1/2 are good at their jobs, the rest are well-paid hacks. We shall see if his skill set will help him in this new gig.

Baseball seems to be the leader in hiring people with little to no experience in the game or business. MLB takes great pride in creating positions and departments that George Orwell, Jacques Tati and Nero Wolfe would deem nonsensical at best and harmful at worst. Some of the names are as ridiculous as those you find in education.

This career move may be as much about the changes in sports journalism as it is about exploring new opportunities. As was mentioned in the article, how the NBA is covered has changed and Woj was a major reason, for better or worse.