Cito Gaston is gone as Toronto manager. On his leaving, he wrote a apparently heartfelt letter to the fans of the Blue Jay Nation published in the The Star.
A couple points on Gaston:
One, in this day and age of musical managers, it’s hard to believe that he’s been with Toronto for twelve years (albeit with an eleven year break in between). Not only that, his first six years were pretty phenomenal. Five first place finishes placing second in his sophomore year. It all resolved itself into two World Championships in 1992-1993. Some, like Dave Perkins of The Star, think this warrants a Hall nomination for Gaston.
Which brings me to my second point. Gaston managed to bring this success with little fanfare or controversy. We don’t hear much Cito here in the Midwest and I think I mean that as a compliment. The biggest controversy we heard about Gaston was that he didn’t get Mike Mussina into the 1993 All-Star Game in front of his home fans in Camden Yards. Big deal.
Finally, is it me or is this the Year of the Manager Goodbyes? Granted, Gaston hasn’t ruled out his options for the future but with Piniella and Cox saying sayonara to the game, it seems like there is some major transitions going on at the manager level.