Backman resigns as South Coast League manager after brief, stormy tenure

<p>Wally Backman joined the independent South Coast League hoping to show he deserved another chance to manage in the big leagues. He didn't even make it through the season.</p><p>Backman resigned Tuesday as manager of the Albany-based South Georgia Peanuts after numerous run-ins with umpires, a press box argument with another team's radio announcer and a forfeited game when his team refused to return to the field after a brawl with rival Macon.</p><p>Having already served suspensions totaling 14 games, Backman stepped down after leading the Peanuts to the first-half title. They were leading the second half race, as well, with just three weeks remaining in the league's inaugural season.</p><p>"Things on the field, I can't say I will ever apologize for them," Backman said during a news conference, according to The Albany Herald. "That's always been my nature. I have some regrets. I don't know that I need to go into those."</p><p>The final brouhaha occurred Monday, when the league handed 10-game suspensions to a pair of Backman's players, outfielder Doc Brooks and second baseman Joey Hooft, saying their drug tests showed a diluted sample of a masking agent.</p><p>Backman angrily accused the league's medical director of "not doing his job properly." Jamie Toole, the SCL's chief executive officer, responded, "Unfortunately, we have a manager who cannot control his players."</p><p>After meeting over lunch Tuesday, both sides agreed that Backman should resign. Coach Larry Olenberger was named interim manager for the remainder of the season and the playoffs.</p><p>"There are a lot of bumps in the road in the first year of any league, and they are getting through those," said Backman, who attended a joint news conference with Toole. "It is tough on the players. It is tough on myself. It is tough on the coaching staff. But we have a mutual agreement that I should step down."</p><p>The brief, stormy tenure is likely to hurt Backman's chances of hooking up with a major league organization, though he said, "I hope not. That is a bridge I will have to cross down the road."</p><p>Backman had a long playing career, helping the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series, and was a top minor-league manager when the Arizona Diamondbacks hired him shortly after the 2004 season.</p><p>But Backman was fired four days later after reports surfaced that he had been arrested twice and struggled with financial problems.</p><p>He was out of the game for the past two seasons and admitted that no one wanted to hire him. Backman finally took a job with the six-team SCL, an unaffiliated league with franchises in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.</p><p>The Peanuts were in first place throughout his tenure. They won the first-half title at 33-11 and were leading the second half at 15-8 when he stepped down.</p><p>Backman also had three players signed by major-league organizations _ more than any other SCL team and one the league's primary goals.</p><p>"I've got respect for Wally," Toole said. "I think what he does on the field is secondary to no one."</p><p>But Backman's feisty demeanor kept getting him into trouble.</p><p>He received a three-game suspension for bumping an umpire during a June 12 game at Aiken, then sat out three more games for arguing in the press box with the broadcaster and general manager of the Anderson Joes on June 26.</p><p>Backman took an eight-game suspension on behalf of his coaching staff for pulling the Peanuts off the field and forfeiting a July 20 game at Macon after the bench-clearing melee. The manager had already been ejected from the game for a separate incident.</p><p>Now that he's again out a job, Backman said he plans to return to his home in Oregon. The Peanuts are assured of a spot in the SCL championship series, which begins Sept. 1, but they'll go into the postseason with a new manager.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/8/93247