Andrew Stetka: On Buck Showalter's Baltimore legacy

Buck Showalter created another milestone this weekend by moving into third place on the Orioles' managerial wins list. The skipper now has 408 wins and passed Hank Bauer, who helped lead the Orioles to their first World Series title in 1966. If he sticks with it, Showalter will have a chance to pass Paul Richards for second place on the list. Showalter has a long history as a manager outside of Baltimore, but it's time to start viewing him as an Oriole before anything else.

Showalter came to Baltimore with an extensive history with the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. He carried a reputation of being a manager that could get a team close to a championship, but not quite all the way there. His stints with the Yankees and D-backs ended a year before each team went on to win the World Series. His tenure with the Rangers ended four years prior to back-to-back American League pennants. When history looks back on Showalter's career as a manager, none of that will be the narrative. The top talking point now is the way he helped to turn around the Orioles organization following a 14-year lull.

Showalter has created himself a bit of a legacy in Baltimore with the way he's gone about things. He's viewed in some circles as a second coming of Earl Weaver. While he won't carry the longevity to pass Weaver on the team's all-time wins list, he's carved out a nice niche for himself in Baltimore history.

Showalter seems to have gone about his latest venture in a totally different way from the first three. If you ask anyone who covered him during his earlier managerial stints, they would tell you he's a different type of manager. He's become more of a players' skipper according to some, and less of a stickler, no-nonsense type in his later years. He's also had success in Baltimore without the benefit of a superstar like he's had in years past. With all due respect to Adam Jones, Showalter has had some of the best players of a generation during his previous managerial stops. With the Yankees, Showalter had the likes of Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs and Andy Pettitte on his roster. In Arizona, he carried the one-two punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in his rotation. While leading the Rangers, Showalter had the benefit of having Alex Rodriguez for part of his time there, as well as a veteran in Rafael Palmeiro.

The other thing that seems to have changed about Showalter over the years is his appreciation for the game and what he's been able to accomplish in it. He recognizes how hard it is to be successful in baseball. It's a game where you're considered great if you fail seven times out of 10. There's a clear distinction between the first portion of Showalter's career and this latest one. He's more humble, and realizes that it takes more than a few players, or an entire 25-man roster for that matter, to make things work. As a baseball lifer, he's brought his brand to Baltimore, and it's worked. It's a brand that's had to change and adapt to the surroundings, but he's made those adjustments and flourished in the role.

It's obviously very hard to quantify the impact of a manager on a baseball team. This has been a long debate for years. Some would argue that baseball is perhaps the sport where the manager or coach has the least to do with actual results on the field, court or ice rink. But there's no mistaking the fact that Showalter has put himself in position to be referred to as one of the best, not just in Orioles history, but in the game.

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.