Sad news yesterday; former Cubs manager Herman Franks passed away at the age of 95. The Tribune did a nice obit for him.My favorite Herman Franks story is one I have told a few times at Just One Bad Century. Herman was old school, in the Leo Durocher mold (read the obit to see where Leo mentored him), and he couldn't deal with the crybaby players on the 1979 Cubs. At the end of the season he resigned because they were "selfish, coddled and uninspired."
"Some of these players are actually crazy. They don't want to talk to the newspaper people, and they want separate buses for themselves and reporters. It's silly things like this that get you fed up."
He singled out Bill Buckner, Ted Sizemore, Barry Foote and Mike Vail as the worst of the "whiners."
Wish we had a dozen more managers like Herman Franks. May he rest in peace.
