The Matheny Manifesto—A big league approach to little league coaching
In 2015 I saw a brief book review that made my heart race. Former professional baseball player Mike Matheny (at the time, St. Louis Cardinals Manager; now with the Kansas City Royals), with the accomplished sportswriter Jerry B. Jenkins, had just released “The Matheny Manifesto.”
Finally, I thought. Here’s someone with credibility, experience, and a knowledge of sports at all levels speaking out about new-school youth sports and wondering what happened to love of the game. Surely some parents, especially baseball fans, would pay attention.
I purchased it on my next trip to the bookstore and read it in two days.
I am sure the book has helped many people think differently about youth sports and some of them may have changed their approach with their own kids or the teams they coach. But given the reaction Matheny received when he delivered his actual manifesto to a group of little league parents, I’m pretty sure not nearly enough parents were inclined to read it.
In 2008 a group of parents asked Matheny to coach the youth baseball team his 10-year-old son would be playing on. Matheny knew what he was getting into. And he knew had to be true to his own values—the ones he had learned through and applied to his own sports experience and how he was raising his family. He wasn’t interested in traveling teams with fancy gear or catering to parents who thought their child should be moved to a specific position.
The parents’ choice
His coaching style wasn’t going to be what some of the parents were expecting. He decided to be upfront with them so they could make a choice: abide by his rules or put their son on another team.
He invited the parents to meet in the family room of his home, and the mood was light until he began reading the five-page letter—his manifesto.
He started by saying something I’ve heard the many coaches in my life say: he’d prefer to coach a team of orphans. Because the biggest problem in youth sports is parents. The room grew silent and still as he shared his philosophy, his values, and the focus of his coaching.
Matheny detailed his expectations for himself, the boys—and the parents. First and foremost, he planned to give the boys a solid foundation. His primary goals as their coach were to:
“1. teach these boys how to play baseball the right way
2. make a positive impact on them as young men
3. do all this with class”
He wanted them to understand and respect the game
He expected the boys to show up for practice on time and ready to play. More importantly, he wanted them ready to learn—not just their own position, but the responsibility of all of the other positions as well.
He expected the boys to “not show any emotion whatsoever toward the umpire.”
He explained family was more important than the game and acknowledged there would be times a boy would have to miss practice or a game—he just asked for advance notice.
And he asked the parents to be “silent sources of encouragement.”
His philosophies and practices were very much like the ones I grew up with, the ones I saw slipping away in the early 2000s. Matheny validated what I had seen and thought about the shifting values in youth sports.
You can read how the season went for him and the boys in The Matheny Manifesto—A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and in Life.
Spoiler Alert: Not everyone was on board
I was hopeful his book would make a big impact. But just as a few parents opted immediately or part-way through the season to remove their son from the team, not every sports parent is going to pull Matheny’s book off the shelf.
Not every sports parent is going to be interested in Matheny’s book, this post, or any of my blog posts, for that matter. But I keep writing because I know there are parents who do want to hear these messages. Parents who need to know they are not the only ones who think this way. Parents who are looking for something different for their child’s sports experience.
Matheny is one of many authors on this topic. I’ll share others in the coming months. Because no single one of us is going to make change happen, but when more of us speak up, when more coaches and parents act—change can happen.