Brush with greatness: Dave Trembley

Have you ever bought a blaster just for the sake of finding two cards?

Of course you have. Let me rephrase that. Have you ever bought a blaster just for the sake of finding two cards that weren't the last two cards you needed to complete a set?

You have? OK, let me rephrase that again. Have you ever bought a blaster just for the sake of finding a card of Juan Pierre and a card of Dave Trembley?

HA! You're lying! You have not! Only I do ridiculous stuff like that!

And that is exactly what I did a couple of days ago when I picked up a blaster of Topps Series 2. There is no earthly reason for me to buy something like that. I'm as done as done can be with '08 Topps. The more time passes the more convinced I am that the product was crap. However ...

I needed a Juan Pierre card to complete my 2008 Dodgers set (I realized a couple of weeks ago, long after I had thought I had already wrapped up the Dodger set, that I still needed the Pierre card). And I needed a Dave Trembley card for the sake of my Brush With Greatness series of posts.

Well, I owe a big favor to the blaster gods, because I pulled both cards. I guess it was an easy request for them. I wasn't asking for a strand of some dead person's hair, just an unwanted left fielder and a manager of a wayward team.

So, on with the post!

Dave Trembley, like Jim Deshaies, is from my neck of the woods, which means I've talked to him three or four times. He's a good guy (I promise I'll mention one of the bad guys some day. But I really haven't run into many bad ones. Probably because the bad ones won't even talk to you).

As some of you probably know, Trembley never played professional baseball. He began as a teacher in Los Angeles, dealing with some of the roughest individuals you would ever come across. From there he coached in college, then became a scout, then joined the Chicago Cubs organization as a manager. For the next 20 years he managed in the minor leagues for the Cubs, Pirates, Padres and Orioles. He became known as one of the top managers in the minor leagues, winning several manager of the year awards. The players he has managed is a who's who of late '80s and 1990s stars.

Finally, he got his major league break in 2007 with the Orioles. On the day he was named manager, I had to track him down in San Diego (Baltimore had flown out there that day to start an interleague series with the Padres) to get his thoughts on his new job. Trembley is a no-nonsense guy, but he is very conscientious and as upstanding a person you'll meet. I don't know how many messages he got on his phone that day, but he returned every one.

Trembley is known for being a stickler for fundamentals and he's got quite the task on his hands with the Orioles. Peter Angelos basically destroyed that once-proud organization. It's not a great position for a manager. But if there's anyone who can turn the Orioles around, I think it could be Trembley.

I got to know Dave about five years ago when I was working on a different story about him. He said he didn't have a lot of time to talk, but we ending up talking for an hour. I learned about his boyhood and how his favorite team was the Yankees and his favorite player was Mickey Mantle (he also liked Jake Gibbs, a catcher from the '60s). I learned his thoughts on the players of today, and how a 57-year-old guy gets through to them. He's a great old-school guy.

And that's why I'm really rooting for him, even though he's got one tough gig. Will he last beyond the 2009 season? I don't know. But if he doesn't, I know it won't be his fault.