A Lifetime of Baseball

From Single-A dugouts in the 1980s in the hot and sweltering heat of Sumter, South Carolina, to the first base side dugout of Fenway Park in the Major Leagues with the Boston Red Sox, new South Bend Cubs Manager Buddy Bailey has literally seen, heard and been through just about everything someone who devotes their life to the game of baseball can.

Welby Shelton "Buddy" Bailey grew up as a student of the game. The early love for the sport began by watching Johnny Bench lead the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati for so many years. Bailey, who was a catcher, recalls Bench as his favorite player growing up.
After a collegiate playing career at Lynchburg College in Virginia, Buddy began eyeing the possibility of a career in professional baseball. In 1978, the Kansas City Royals drafted Bailey in the 26^th round. The then 21-year-old chose not to sign. His patience paid off after being selected in the 16th round a year later by the Atlanta Braves. 
Bailey did not know it at the time, but being drafted by the Braves would not lead to a big league playing career. Instead, it started him on the journey of a lifetime. 
Bailey made it as high as Double-A in 1982 with the Southern League's Savannah Braves. At just 25-years-old, all he wanted to do was continue playing. A conversation with Joe Torre, World Series winning Manager of the New York Yankees, was what flipped the script. 
Torre told Bailey that his bat and glove would not be getting him to the Major Leagues. Instead, it was his knowledge and passion. The road to the Big Leagues with that specific set of skills was not behind the plate, but in the dugout. Ironically, Torre's prediction of Bailey reaching the Major Leagues was correct, but it happened to fall right into one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports. 
In over 30 years of professional baseball coaching, Bailey has spent one in a Major League dugout. After all the blood, sweat, and tears through watching, listening, playing, and coaching, the dream came true for the kid out of Amherst County High School.
In 2000, Bailey headed north. Already a member of the Boston Red Sox minor league managerial staff, he earned the call-up to become the Bench Coach for the Red Sox at Fenway Park under then Manager Jimy Williams. The long bus rides, early mornings, and late nights had finally led him to the place where so many of the players he idolized as a kid had played in years prior.
When you step onto the freshly groomed gravel and rich green grass of Fenway Park, it's almost an escape from the outside world. Everything is quiet when you first walk in. No music, just the sound of the ball being caught and hit, the sprinklers spitting water throughout the outfield, and the player's cleats dragging against the dugout floor. As intimidating as stepping into a baseball cathedral like Fenway can be, Bailey had been managing for over 15 years by that point. No matter where he goes, he knows no matter the situation, it's baseball. 
"The Big Leagues are a different entity for sure," Bailey said while holding his trademark tan fungo bat in his left hand. "But at the same time this is the same game no matter where you go. I've gone to Venezuela to manage there too and it's all the same. The different levels are meant for different abilities, but the bottom line is that it's baseball."
Torre and Bailey crossed paths on a consistent basis in 2000. Instead of belong to the same organization where Torre used to assist Bailey, they were now competitors. In a rivalry as bitter as the New York and Boston feud, there are no friends when the first pitch is thrown. 
An instant classic took place at Yankee Stadium on May 28, 2000. In a night game in the Bronx, Bailey secured his spot in the third base dugout to watch a pitching match-up that featured Pedro Martinez vs Roger Clemens. At this point in 2000, Clemens was still disliked among Boston fans for signing with the Yankees. 
Martinez and Clemens put on a show. Each starter went into the 9th inning for their respective team. In the end, it was Bailey's Red Sox who came out on top 2-0 thanks to a home run by Trot Nixon. Boston finished the season in second place in the American League East. For Bailey, his year in a big-league clubhouse gave way to managing the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
Until 2004 at the age of 47, Bailey managed the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate. Then for the first time since the early 1990's, Bailey went through a transition phase. His tenure with the Red Sox organization had come to an end. After two years away from affiliated baseball, the 49-year-old Bailey found himself with a new organization.The Chicago Cubs made one of the best hires in their history of player development. 
Bailey has taken the Cubs system by storm since beginning as the new Manager of the Single-A Daytona Cubs in 2006. Since that point, he has now managed every full-season level of the Cubs organization. 
Beginning with Daytona, to Triple-A Iowa, Double-A Tennessee, Advanced-A Myrtle Beach, and now the South Bend Cubs, Bailey's time with the Cubs has provided him the opportunity to win, and more importantly, to coach and put his stamp on Chicago's high-level talent. 
"You try and find a way to have these young guys keep a kid's heart but turn their head into a man's head," Bailey said. "If you can do that, then you're doing your job."
Bailey is old-school. He expects a lot of his players, and his players know what to expect from him. If they put in the work, they will succeed under his leadership. This is something the now 62-year-old has proven time and time again. 
Now MiLB's active winningest manager with 2,067 wins to start the 2019 season, South Bend's Manager is closing in on 2,100 wins. If you ask him what that means to him, he is too humble to brag about himself. Usually the answer is that he's just been coaching a long time.
That may be, but his track record is second to none in today's baseball world. He has learned from the best, failed at times, and succeeded at many others. He's been through it all. For any ball player, there aren't many more valuable aspects than to be able to knock on Buddy's door. 
They just have to be early, because the former Atlanta Brave, Boston Red Sox, and now Chicago Cub makes sure to arrive each morning at around 10:00 a.m. to prepare his team to perform to the best of their ability.