Connie Mack, circa 1910.
Most Englishmen have never heard of Connie Mack. And most Americans have never heard of Arsène Wenger.
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Wenger was born on October 22, 1949 in Strasbourg, France. He wasn't an especially good soccer player, but he became one of the best managers the sport has ever seen. (As with baseball, the position is called "manager," not "head coach," because the jobs of field boss and general manager are usually done by the same man.) He managed AS Monaco -- the tiny nation of Monaco is separate from France, but its 1 professional team is in France's Ligue 1 -- to a French league title and a French Cup (Coupe de France), and Nagoya Grampus Eight to Japan's national cup (the Emperor's Cup), before being hired to manage North London team Arsenal.
He won both the Premier League and the FA Cup (that's called "doing the Double") in 1998. He did this again in 2002. He won the FA Cup again in 2003. In the 2003-04 season, he took Arsenal to the only unbeaten League season since 1889: As the announcer said, "They were, quite literally, unbeatable: Played 38, won 26, drawn 12, lost exactly none!" In 2005, he won another FA Cup. In 2006, he got them to the Final of the UEFA Champions League.
Arsenal continually finished in the PL's top 4, thus qualifying for the Champions League. But for 9 years, no trophies. 2007: Lost the League Cup Final. 2008: Led the League in February, but fell apart due to injuries. 2009: Stayed close in the League until March, and reached the Semifinals of the FA Cup and the CL, but faltered. 2010: Stayed close in the League until April, but injuries piled up. 2011: Stayed close in the League until March, but injuries piled up, lost the FA Cup in the Quarterfinal, lost the League Cup Final, and brutally robbed in the CL.
It was about this time that fans, spoiled by what Wenger had given them, began to demand that he be fired -- "sacked" is usually the term they use in England. "Wenger Out." As Arsenal failed to win a trophy again in 2012 and 2013, the anger of a small but loud minority of fans got intense, but the vast majority of the fanbase supported the manager.
In 2014, Arsenal led the League in January, but injuries and the PL's usual atrocious officiating caught up with them. But the trophy drought ended as they won the FA Cup. They won it again in 2015. In 2016, they finished 2nd, but it was a distant 2nd. In 2017, another FA Cup.
But in 2016-17, a number of circumstances combined to bring Arsenal down to 5th, their worst finish since 1995-96, the last season before Wenger arrived. This season, those factors got worse, and, with a little over 2 months to go, Arsenal stand 6th, having lost the League Cup Final, being knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd Round (the 1st time Wenger had ever been knocked out so early), and having advanced to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League, with hope for further advancement not being good.
Wenger's protesters have gotten absolutely repulsive. The disrespect they show the most successful manager in the team's history is inexcusable. Many have wished death on him.
After the debacle in the 2011 League Cup Final, when the drought had been 6 years, they said, "Trophies are what matter" and "He can't win trophies anymore." They maintained this until May 17, 2014, the morning of the FA Cup Final.
That's when he proved them to be idiots and/or liars, and started winning trophies again. Pardon my mixing of sports metaphors, but they moved the goalposts. They began to say, "The FA Cup has been diminished." Lie. "It's not a real trophy anymore." Lie. "The League is what matters" and "We haven't even challenged for the title since 2004." Lie: Arsenal challenged for the title in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016.
Besides, Wenger does not owe them the League title, or the Champions League, or any specific achievement. He owes them nothing except his best effort.
"He is ruining the club" or "He is destroying the club." Lie. Did they learn nothing from how Leeds United crashed and burned? How Portsmouth twice came within hours of going out of business? How even Liverpool, the most successful of all British sports teams, nearly went out of business?
All after following the demands of these fans that Wenger "Spend some fucking money"? Besides, he has spent a lot of money the last 5 years, with the debt from the construction of the Emirates Stadium now close to being paid off. And the results have been less than what they were when he didn't.
His contract runs out at the conclusion of next season, May 2019. After yesterday's hideous defeat away to Brighton & Hove Albion (that's one team, in Sussex on the South Coast), the haters, including most of the British media, who hate all things foreign in "their game," are saying the end has come.
Arsène Wenger is not a quitter. He will see out his contract. And the team's board of directors are not going to fire him just because a bunch of selfish entitled crybabies -- who got only 25 people at their protest a few weeks ago, and only 300 at the previous one -- want him out.
He is 68 years old. He is not "senile."
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Connie Mack was senile.
This wasn't always the case, though. Cornelius McGillicuddy was born on December 22, 1862 in East Brookfield, outside Worcester, Massachusetts. Like Wenger, he had no middle name. Because his son took "Alexander" as his confirmation name, word erroneously got out that the father's full legal name was Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy. He usually shortened his name to "Mack," because he didn't like the ways in which newspapers shortened "McGillicuddy" so it would fit into a box score. Nevertheless, legally, he never changed it.
Like Wenger, he was an average player at best, who became one of the best managers in his sport's history.
In 1901, the American League was founded. One of its charter franchises was the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack, who had managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of its owners, and was appointed manager. He led them to AL Pennants in 1902 and 1905, then retooled the team, and won Pennants in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, winning the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913.
But defeat in the 1914 World Series, combined with the salary war generated by the short-lived Federal League, led Mack to break up his dynasty, in what would now be called a "fire sale." Overnight, they went from first to worst. By 1916, they lost 117 games, an AL record until 2003, and still the worst winning percentage in League history. It was then that Mack coined a saying that is familiar all over the world, "You can't win them all."
It took a while, but he rebuilt. By 1925, the A's were ready to challenge the New York Yankees for AL supremacy again. In 1929, they won the World Series with one of the greatest teams ever assembled. In 1930, they did it again. They almost made it 3 straight in 1931, having won 107 regular-season games, still a record for both the franchise and any Philadelphia team, but lost the World Series in 7 games.
He wasn't a tyrant, but he was an absolute authority. He would stand on the top step of the dugout, always in a suit, never in a uniform once he retired as a player, and he would position his outfielders by waving his scorecard. This pose was so familiar that it became the statue made of him after his death, which stands outside the Philadelphia Phillies' Citizens Bank Park today.
Connie Mack, circa 1929
But Mack wasn't like today's team owners, who tend to be billionaires with diverse financial interests. He lost his fortune in the stock market Crash of 1929. Now, the team was his only source of income. As the Great Depression began, and wore on, he was forced into another fire sale.
He ended the 1932 season with 4 future Hall-of-Famers. Like Wenger, trying to pay off the stadium debt, he had to sell off his stars. By Opening Day 1933, left fielder Al Simmons was sold to the Chicago White Sox. A year later, Lefty Grove was pitching for the Boston Red Sox, and Mickey Cochrane was not only catching for the Detroit Tigers and winning the AL's Most Valuable Player award, but managing them to their 1st Pennant, and the next year to their 1st World Series win. And for the 1936 season, Mack sold powerful 1st baseman Jimmie Foxx to Boston.
It got worse. Mack was Wenger's current age, 68, during the 1935 season, as the fire sale was ongoing. A year later, Tom Shibe died. A year after that, so did Jack. Mack, team treasurer from day one, bought their widows out, and controlled 75 percent of the team. He gave his sons Roy, Earle and Connie Jr. minority stakes and management positions.
And he was still the manager, and couldn't be fired, no matter how badly he did. The owner wasn't going to force him out: He was the owner. Even Wenger has never enjoyed that kind of job protection.
But he couldn't hold off the effects of advancing age. In 1937, and again in 1939, Earle, who had briefly played for him and was serving as one of his coaches, had to manage the team for a time due to Connie being ill. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
In hindsight, once he bought the Shibe widows out, what he should have done was make Earle the manager, and stick to being the owner and GM. But, like Wenger, he believed he could turn it around one more time.
He couldn't. The manpower drain caused by World War II leveled the playing field somewhat -- the AL's legendary losers, the St. Louis Browns, won the Pennant in 1944, and another such team, the Washington Senators, finished 1 game out in 1945 -- but it didn't happen for the A's. Their once-vaunted farm system had dried up. Set in his ways, old enough to remember the days before the invention of the telephone, he never had a phone connection between dugout and bullpen installed.
And Mack was beginning to lose it. Once an absolute authority, now, in his early 80s, he was falling asleep in the dugout, and calling for the names of long-gone players to pinch-hit. Earle and the other coaches would overrule him.
All-Star outfielder Sam Chapman: "He could remember the old-timers, but he had a hard time remembering the names of the current players."
All-Star shortstop Eddie Joost: "He wasn't senile, but there were lapses."
The results were obvious, far more than they now are for Arsenal: From 1934 to 1947, 14 straight years, the A's never had a winning season (winning more games than they lost). From 1934 to 1967, they had only 3 winning seasons in 34 years. In 17 of those 34, exactly half, they lost at least 96 games; in 10, they lost at least 100; 3 times, they lost at least 105.
He insisted he would keep managing as long as he was physically able to do so. And then, in 1947, when he was 84 years old, they had their 1st winning season since 1933. In 1948, they had another, finishing 4th, the 1st top-half-of-the-League finish since 1933. In 1949, they had another winning season. Their farm system had been rebuilt by the 2nd generation of "The House of Mack, as he called the family. The decisions apparently made by "The Grand Old Man of Baseball," but more and more being made by Earle and the coaches, seemed to be paying off.
The 1950 season would be his 50th in charge of the A's, his 56th as a major league manager. There was reason to believe that, at the age of 87, he could do it one more time. Well, a Philadelphia team did win the Pennant that year.
But it was the Phillies, in the National League. During World War II, their ownership situation was even more of a mess than that of the A's, and the team was every bit as bad. No city has ever had as bad a baseball situation as Philadelphia did during The War. Bob Carpenter, fabulously wealthy as a member of 2 old-money families, the Carpenters of Philadelphia and the Du Ponts of Wilmington, Delaware, rebuilt, and the "Whiz Kids" took the Pennant on the last day of the season.
But the A's crashed to last place early in the season and never left. The Mack sons knew they would be crucified in the media if they forced their father out during his 50th Anniversary season -- those who knew what was going on kept it to themselves -- but on May 26, with the team 11-21, they decided that they had no choice.
They contacted the other minority stakeholders, and ganged up on their father, voting Cochrane (who had his own issues) in as general manager, taking that authority away from Connie Sr.. And they forced the appointment of former All-Star 3rd baseman Jimmie Dykes, already a longtime A's coach, as assistant manager, with the stipulation that he take over as manager the next season.
Connie Mack, circa 1950
It also didn't help that the 2nd wife, the former Kate Hallahan, was still alive, and she was every bit the tyrant that Connie Sr. refused to be. Connie Sr. had expected Earle and Roy to run the team, while Kate expected Connie Jr., her son, to win the power struggle.
But 2 heads, even heads as fuzzy as those of Earle and Roy, were better than one, and Connie Jr. and the remaining stakeholders couldn't convince his older half-brothers to make the changes he wanted. Finally, Earle and Roy ganged up on dear old Dad once more, and together, they bought Connie Jr. and the others out.
In order to do that, they mortgaged the heck out of the team, and of Shibe Park. In 1952, Earle and Roy sold the ballpark to Bob Carpenter. Despite knowing that the once-great cathedral of baseball was denied badly-needed maintenance due to the Macks' banjaxed finances, saying, "I need Shibe Park like I need a hole in the head," Carpenter made the purchase, and now the situation in place since 1938, with the A's as landlords and the Phils as tenants, was reversed.
Finally, after the 1954 season, Earle and Roy could hold on no longer, and sold the A's to Arnold Johnson, who moved them to Kansas City. Carpenter renamed the ballpark Connie Mack Stadium and allowed the old man keep an office there for the 1955 season and beyond. But there would be no beyond: Connie Mack died on February 8, 1956, at the age of 93.
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So here are the essential differences between the Philadelphia Athletics under Connie Mack, and the Arsenal Football Club under Arsène Wenger:
* The A's were mostly owned by Mack, who had no other source of income. Arsenal are mostly owned by Stan Kroenke, a billionaire. He may be greedy, but he has proven that he's willing to spend money if Wenger asks him to.
* Mack wouldn't fire the manager, because he was the manager, and he had his pride. That is not an issue with Kroenke.
* Mack relied on his sons as his assistant general managers and scouts. Wenger has a better support system in place.
* Mack knew that the New York Yankees would dominate the American League for the time being. Wenger knows that the Premier League has several possible champions, even as Manchester City are running away with this season's title. (The other "big clubs" didn't "seriously challenge for the title" this season, either. Should their managers lose their jobs? Not necessarily.)
* Being the manager of a Major League Baseball team prior to the 1969 season, Mack had only 1 route to success: Have the best regular-season record in the League, thus "winning the Pennant," and then play in the World Series for the "World Championship." In contrast, being the manager of a team in the Premier League, Wenger has 4 routes to success: The League title, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and European competition.
* Age-wise and competitively, Wenger is now where Mack was in 1935. True, at the same age, Mack did not yet show signs of cognitive decline, but, then, neither has Wenger, contrary to what his moronic haters say. What's more, financially, Wenger is at a place Mack never reached, before or after the Crash of '29.
* Both men have often been accused of being "set in their ways" and "stagnant." The former is certainly true. The latter is not: One of the ways in which Wenger is set is innovation. He's always looking for the next big player and the next winning tactic. Wenger being "set in his ways" is a good thing.
* Finally, the biggest way in which Arsène Wenger is not Connie Mack is that the media covering Mack protected him. They never reported his age-induced mistakes. In contrast, the British media has always hated Wenger. And the longer he lasts, the stronger their hate grows.
What the moaners want is irrelevant. They play FIFA 18 and win the Champions League with Sheffield United in just 4 "years," and they believe they know more than Wenger does.
They don't. They don't even know as much as the former players on British networks who mock Wenger, but have either never been hired as managers themselves (like Danny Murphy and former Arsenal star Ian Wright), or have, and have failed (like Alan Shearer).
There's only one Arsène Wenger -- and he's not the second coming of Connie Mack.
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Hours until the New York Red Bulls play again: 4, tonight, at 10:00 Eastern Time, in the Quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Champions League, against Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, a.k.a. "Xolos," at Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico, just over the border from San Diego. (This may be the closest San Diego ever gets to having a team in Major League Soccer.) The return leg will be at Red Bull Arena next Tuesday night. In the previous round, the Red Bulls eliminated Olimpia of Honduras. The Red Bulls will play their 1st league game of the season on Saturday night, at 7:00, home to the Portland Timbers.
Days until The Arsenal play again, 2, on Thursday, at 1:00 PM our time, a Europa League Round of 16 match, away to AC Milan, at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, better known, for its neighborhood, as "the San Siro." The return match will be a week later at the Emirates. All trustworthy indications (in other words, not from anyone in the British media) are that Arsène Wenger will manage The Arsenal in both games.
Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 22, on Tuesday, March 27, at Sahlen's Stadium in the Raleigh suburb of Cary, North Carolina. Then, in June, there will be a trip to Europe, to play Ireland in Dublin and France in Lyon. These should have been warmups for the World Cup later that month. Alas...
Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 26, on Saturday night, March 31, against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center. They won't play the New York Rangers again until the last week of the regular season, on Tuesday, April 3, at the Prudential Center. They won't play the Philadelphia Flyers again during the regular season, although a Playoff matchup is possible.
Days until Opening Day of the 2018 Major League Baseball season: 24, on Thursday night, March 29, as the Yankees open away to the Toronto Blue Jays. A little over 3 weeks. The Yankees now have Brandon Drury, who can hit major league pitching and can play either 2nd base or 3rd base -- but not both at the same time. So while one of those positions has been filled, the other isn't. So general manager Brian Cashman either still has some work to do, or he (and so do we) have to hope that some rookie hits like crazy in Spring Training and looks ready for the regular season, so that Drury can be put at the other position. Otherwise, he only way we Yankee Fans will see the postseason is if we've paid our cable bills.
Days until the Yankees' 2018 home opener: 28, on Monday afternoon, April 2, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 36, on Tuesday, April 10, at Fenway Park.
Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 61, on Saturday afternoon, May 5, home to New York City FC. Their 1st game against the Philadelphia Union will be on Saturday night, May 26, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison. Their 1st game against the New England Revolution will be on Saturday night, June 2, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Their 1st game against D.C. United, and their 1st game ever at the new Audi Field, will be on Wednesday night, July 25.
Days until the next World Cup kicks off in Russia: 101, on June 14. A little over 3 months. But the U.S. team won't be playing. At least now, Donald Trump doesn't have to choose, and can root for his favorite country, the host nation, Russia.
Days until the 2018 trading deadline, after which we won't have to fear Yankee general manager Brian Cashman trading any proven good players for "prospects": 148, on Tuesday, July 31. Under 5 months.
Days until the next North London Derby (after this one): Unknown, but not until next season. The Premier League season opener will be on Saturday, August 11, but you never see a derby on the opening weekend. So, more than 159 days.
Days until September 2018 roster call-ups, when we can finally start to expect seeing most of these wonderful "prospects" that Yankee general manager Brian Cashman wanted: 180. Under 6 months.
Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 180, on Saturday, September 1, home to Texas State University.
Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown. The 2018 schedule hasn't been released yet. But the season opener is usually on the 1st Friday in September. that would be September 7, which is 186 days from now.
Days until the next Congressional election, when we can elect a Democratic Congress that can impeach and remove Donald Trump from the Presidency: 246, on November 6. About 8 months.
Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 257, on Saturday, November 17, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 262, on Thursday, November 22. Under 9 months.
Days until a Democratic Congress can convene, and the impeachment process can begin: 305, on Thursday, January 3, 2019. A little under 10 months.
Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 325, on January 23, 2019. A little under 11 months.
Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 460, on June 7, 2019, in France. Under a year and a half, 15 months. The U.S. team, as 3-time and defending Champions, has, as usual, a better chance than the men's team would have had in 2018 anyway.
Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 655, on December 18, 2019. Under 2 years, or a little under 22 months.
Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 690, on January 22, 2020. A little under 2 years, or a little over 23 months.
Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 874, on July 24, 2020. Under 2 1/2 years, or over 28 months.
Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 977, on November 3, 2020. Under 3 years, or under 30 months.
Days until Liberation Day: 1,055, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 3 years, or a little under 35 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.
Days until the next Winter Olympics (after the current one in Pyeongchang, Korea) begins in Beijing, China: 1,432, on February 4, 2022. Under 4 years, or a little over 47 months.
Days until the next World Cup for which the American team will be eligible is scheduled to kick off: 1,727, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 5 years, or about 57 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.