After being acquired from the New York Mets while still just 21 years of age in 1985, the “Secret Weapon” became a fixture over ten seasons of play with St. Louis, including two pennant-winning campaigns. Upon retiring from his middle infield duties at the tender age of 32, Oquendo remained with the organization. He seamlessly moved into coaching in the minor leagues, culminating with one year as a manager. That was in 1998 in the New York-Penn League.

1999 marked Oquendo’s first coaching job in St. Louis as he became the bench coach under manager Tony La Russa. The bench coach job is often thought of as the unofficial assistant manager and a logical launching pad into consideration for the top uniformed job with one of the 30 MLB clubs. At the time, Oquendo was only 35 years of age and his star seemed on the rise.

Instead, after just one season in the role, Oquendo moved into the third base coaching box, where he remains today, 13 years later. He was replaced as bench coach by Mark DeJohn. I had always wondered why. Not that third base is a bad job, but it seemed a sideways move at best.

As relayed through a recent article penned by Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch, Oquendo answered my long-standing question.

Oquendo admitted that being La Russa’s bench coach was too stressful for him.

“That’s why I moved,” to third base, Oquendo told Hummel. “When I first got here and he had me as his bench coach, he started screaming and yelling and I said, ‘I can’t take this. I’m going to pop a (blood) vessel. I’ve got to move away so I can relax.”’

Oquendo’s candor is refreshing as well as a bit surprising. Granted, 1999 was a long time ago. He has had time to grow since. In fact, before being among those interviewed to replace La Russa last fall, he had been in the running for the top job with San Diego, Seattle and the Mets in recent years as well as managing Team Puerto Rico in several international competitions.

Still, Oquendo acknowledging that he was once uncomfortable with the pressures of being a bench coach does not feel like a positive in terms of evaluating his competitiveness as a potential manager.

The man who had been Cardinals bench coach over the last decade, Joe Pettini, was recently quoted about his time in the role in an article from Houston’s MLB.com beatwriter Brian McTaggart. For Pettini, being La Russa’s deputy often felt like traveling down a one-way street.

“Tony is a Hall of Fame manager and he was great to work for, but as the bench coach for Tony, sometimes you’re limited in what you have to do,” Pettini said. “It’s not like you can ask questions or ask for his input throughout the game…”

Just as he did for 10 years as St. Louis’ bench coach, Pettini is managing the Astros spring training camp.

“I’m going to be in charge of outlining the schedule,” Pettini said recently. “It’s still Brad’s program (Houston manager Brad Mills) and his way he wants things to be done, and my job will be to help outline it and make sure the schedules go up and the meetings run smoothly and everybody knows what’s going on and everybody is on the same page.”

Though Oquendo was one of the six finalists interviewed to replace La Russa, Mike Matheny received the assignment instead. Former assistant hitting coach Mike Aldrete was elevated to replace Pettini and serve as Matheny’s bench coach.

Oquendo made it clear to Hummel that he is very happy remaining in his familiar role at third base with St. Louis, providing a low-stress, on-field bridge from the Whitey Herzog era, through La Russa’s days and now into the Matheny years.

All things considered, it seems the best option for both the coach and his team.

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In the process of searching for something, I sometimes come across unusual items completely unrelated to my immediate objective. Interest in the following photo knocked me off my original quest, at least temporarily.

It was taken by photographer-supreme Scott Rovak on July 10, 2007. Members of the defending World Champions were assembled during batting practice prior to the All-Star Game at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It was customary that the coaching staffs of the World Series teams from the previous year received all-star supporting duties for their respective leagues.

Despite having won it all the previous fall, the Cardinals had just one player selected to the 2007 All-Star Game, and he was a reserve. At the time, St. Louis was just 40-45. The club was already 7 ½ games out in the National League Central, en route to a sub-.500 record and a third-place showing.

What makes this photo so telling is that not a one of the seven Redbirds pictured – six coaches and one player – remains in his job today. The seven are (from left to right) bullpen coach Marty Mason, bench coach Joe Pettini, manager Tony La Russa, first baseman Albert Pujols, first base coach Dave McKay, bullpen catcher Jeff Murphy and pitching coach Dave Duncan.

Hitting coach Hal McRae, also now-long-gone, had been invited to the AT&T Park festivities as well, but is not pictured. He would have made it eight. Jose Oquendo was on the staff at that time as he is today, but was not included in this photo, either.

Mason was let go following the 2010 season amid concern that his criticism of the player development organization had been too vocal. He now works in the Chicago Cubs system. Pettini was ousted as bench coach following the 2011 season. Though it was announced he would have an undefined job in baseball operations in 2012, one would have to assume that Pettini is looking elsewhere. La Russa announced his retirement at the conclusion of the World Championship parade but expects to continue in baseball in an as-of-yet undefined role.

As the entire world knows by now, Pujols is a very wealthy new member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and is expected to be for the next decade or more. McKay was dumped along with Pettini, but has since been hired as the Cubs’ first base coach by new manager Dale Sveum. Murphy was let go following the 2011 World Championship as well.

Duncan was the last to depart. He has been dealing with his wife’s serious health issues and is unable to return for the second year of a two-year contract (with a third-year option) signed last off-season. When his indefinite leave of absence was granted, the last survivor from this 2007 All-Star Game photo took off his Cardinals uniform.

At this point, it is unclear whether La Russa will manage at the 2012 All-Star Game despite having earned it as the leader of the 2011 National League champions. Even if he does, he may or may not attempt to get (at least part of) the old band back together. By now, they are pretty much scattered to the winds. (Update: On January 24, MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced that La Russa will manage in the 2012 Mid-Summer Classic.)

Of course, Pujols is the most likely one of the seven to actually be at the game, anyway. As a bonus, it is to be held in his adopted home town of Kansas City. In a potential once-in-a-lifetime oddity, the first baseman would be in the other dugout, trying to defeat La Russa, who was Pujols’ only manager over his entire 11-year MLB career to date.

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Can you believe the number is four of seven?

Along with La Russa, Dave McKay, Jose Oquendo (pictured making the turn in a 2007 minor league spring training workout) and Joe Pettini, ex-middle infielders all, the Cardinals staff includes one ex-catcher in Dave Duncan, a pitcher in bullpen coach Marty Mason and of course, the new hitting coach and former first baseman in Mark McGwire.

La Russa, 65, signed his first pro contract with the Kansas City Athletics on the night he graduated from high school in 1962. He made his major league debut with Kansas City just one year later. La Russa did not return to the majors again until 1968, this time with the Oakland A’s.

Tony went on to play parts of four seasons in Oakland before concluding his big-league playing career with Atlanta and the Chicago Cubs. Overall, his professional career spanned 16 seasons as he finished, ironically, as a player/coach with the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans in 1977.

La Russa played at second base in 786 of his 1,028 minor league games and 63 of his 83 major league contests at second.

First base coach McKay, who turns 60 next month, was originally signed by the Minnesota Twins in 1971 and spent four seasons in the minor leagues after breaking in during August 1975. After the 1976 season, McKay moved to Toronto in the expansion draft, where he was in the lineup for the first game in Blue Jays franchise history.

After splitting time between Toronto and Triple-A Syracuse in 1979, McKay signed with the A’s in 1980. He played for Oakland through 1982 and returned to the minor leagues as a player-coach for the 1983 season before becoming La Russa’s bench coach in 1984.

McKay was primarily a second baseman in the majors, playing 385 of his 653 games there, also spending time at third and shortstop.

As a major league infielder, third base coach Oquendo is the most-known of the bunch for his playing exploits. Now 46, “Secret Weapon’s” professional playing career spanned 17 seasons, including big league time with the New York Mets (1983-84) and Cardinals (1986-95).

In 1990, Oquendo established single-season major league records for the highest fielding percentage (.996) and fewest errors by a second baseman (three). He also led the league in fielding in 1989 and compiled a .992 fielding average at second base for his career.

While Oquendo is famed for having played every position on the diamond as a Cardinal, his primary home as a major leaguer was second base. He played 649 of his 1163 career MLB games there.

Pettini’s professional career began when he signed with the Montreal Expos as a non-drafted free agent in 1977. In 1980, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants, where he played for four seasons. He was signed by the Cardinals and played for Triple-A Louisville from 1984 through 1986.

The Cardinals current bench coach breaks the mold as he was a shortstop, having played there in 106 of his 180 major league contests.

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Here is a reminder just how long ago it actually was. 20-year-old Albert Pujols hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to sink Salt Lake and make Memphis the 2000 Pacific Coast League champions.

Here and now, Maloney not only did a superb job leading his club into the playoffs for the first time in nine years, but he did it while shipping players to St. Louis at a rapid pace as well as losing arguably his best hitter, starter and reliever among others via mid-season trades.

At this point, I expected to link to a series of articles I wrote prior to the season about the history of the St. Louis Cardinals farm system as well as its best managers. Specifically, I wanted to point to my Maloney article during which I highlight him being the winningest Cardinals minor league skipper in at least the last 40 years.

There was only one problem. I discovered that I only posted the team-oriented half of the series. Apparently distracted by my annual trip to spring training and everything that followed, I never got back to the top managers articles.

So I am going to fix that starting right now. To be consistent with the rest of the series, all the records mentioned and listed are through the 2008 season. I will look to do some kind of update over the upcoming winter.

With that, I am ending what has to be my longest introduction ever…

Over the 43 baseball seasons from 1966 through 2008, the St. Louis Cardinals employed at least 71 different individuals to lead their various US-based farm clubs. They managed all or parts of 295 individual seasons.

During this time, the Cardinals averaged between six and seven minor league clubs per year. Their high-water mark was eight, from 1988 through 1994, with a low of five, from 1974 through 1976 and again in 1979-1980. Their current count is seven.

Of the 71 leaders, fewer than one in four, only 14 of them precisely, managed for six or more years in the Cardinals system. They are the focus of this report.

We will look at several measures, including time in the job, number of clubs and leagues managed, won-loss percentage plus frequency of playoff participation and championships.

The data that follows is ordered by regular season winning percentage. Note that several managers’ marks have asterisks. That is due to them either taking over jobs or being replaced in-season. In a handful of cases where partial won-loss records were unavailable, the entire season’s results were credited to all managers. Any playoff results were assigned to the final skipper that season only. Finally, in any leagues with no playoffs, any regular-season first-place club is considered the post-season champion.

Here are the top St. Louis Cardinals minor league managers since 1966. The categories led by each are in bold. I will profile each of the six leaders in subsequent individual posts.

Manager	Years	# Yrs	Cities	Lvls	Win %	Playoffs	Playoff %	Champs	Champs %
Chris Maloney	1991-96	14	8	6	0.519	3	21%	1	7%
	1998-2001
	2005-08
Gaylen Pitts	1981-82	16	7	5	0.515*	5	31%	2	13%
	1985-90
	1997-2002
	2007-08
Dave Bialas	1982-92	11	4	4	0.513*	5	45%	0	0%
Jack Krol	1966-76	13	7	4	0.511	3	23%	3	23%
	1992-93
Tom Burgess	1969-1975	7	4	4	0.509	2	29%	2	29%
Nick Leyva	1978-83	6	4	4	0.507	2	33%	0	0%
Jim Riggleman	1982-88	6	2	2	0.506	1	17%	0	0%
Mark DeJohn	1986-91	13	9	5	0.503	5	38%	2	15%
	2002-08
Roy Majtyka	1968-75	8	5	4	0.497	1	13%	1	13%
Steve Turco	1992-99	8	1	1	0.4855	1	13%	0	0%
Joe Rigoli	1981-87	6	4	2	0.4854	1	17%	0	0%
Joe Cunningham III	1992-94	12	7	4	0.480	2	17%	0	0%
	1997-2005
Danny Sheaffer	2001-06	6	3	3	0.475	1	17%	1	17%
Joe Pettini	1989-96	8	4	4	0.454	2	25%	1	13%

Three of the 14 are managers in the Cardinals system today – Maloney, DeJohn and Turco. Two others, Pitts and Rigoli, are also still under the Cardinals employ. The former is a roving instructor and the latter serves as a professional scout.

Related articles:

“Cardinals minor league franchise census since 1974”

“Cardinals in the Gulf Coast, Arizona and Pioneer Rookie Leagues”

“Cardinals in Triple-A – 1977 to present”

“Cardinals in Double-A – 1966 to present”

“Cardinals in the Florida State League – 1966 to present”

“Quad Cities: Cardinals top minor league club has a long history”

“Cardinals in the Appalachian League – 1975 to present”

“Cardinals in the New York-Penn League – 1981 to present”

“A quarter century of Cardinals minor league results”