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SALT LAKE CITY — Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona has taken two once-struggling Major League Baseball franchises to the World Series.
But before he was the American League’s manager of the year, he and Utah coach Bill Kinneberg were best friends. The two met in 1977 and have remained close ever since.
That made the phone call to speak at the Utes’ night with Terry Francona fundraiser last Thursday an easy one to make.
“Any time I can help, I like to,” Francona said. “I get to see Jan (Kinneberg) and the kids, but not just that, I get to see his team and the people that care about him — that are trying so hard to get this stadium going and raise some money.”
“If I can help a little bit, I am really happy to do it.”
Francona is no stranger to Utah; he spoke this past week to the Ute baseball team for the third time — something he joked weighed heavily on his mind.
“I had to change my speech; all my material, they’ve heard it,” he said. “It was actually kind of fun. I went back and thought about some things and some changes in my life and things that are important to me.”
While Kinneberg and the Utes were making a run to last year’s Pac 12 title — the first conference championship by any Utah male sports team since joining the Pac 12 in 2011 — they had a watchful eye in Francona, who kept tabs on the Pac 12 coach of the year-winning Kinneberg.
“As they got deeper and deeper — when they started out last year, they didn’t start out real well,” he said. “I know that is hard on a coach.
“As they got towards the end, Brad Mills and I were like, they’re going to do this. They’re going to find a way to win. It was just so much fun to watch and I don’t know if people realize how hard it is. Going to the Pac 12 is a big jump, and then to win it, I just think it was a phenomenal accomplishment.”
The Indians came extremely close to winning their first World Series title since 1948 before the Chicago Cubs won in an epic seven-game series this past season.
But Francona focused on the ride rather than the agony of defeat in one game.
“I think the journey is really fun,” he said. “I tried to remind my players all the time: don’t wait for it to be over, because there is only one team that will win and it is hard to win. Enjoy the journey.
“The journey was unbelievable because I am so fond of our team; they are easy to like. They gave everything they had. They left nothing, they were out of gas at the end and that is the way it is supposed to be.”
Pitchers and catchers report next week, and spring training is right around the corner — bringing Francona a new level of expectations for a team so close to making history.
“If we are doing our job correctly, we are going to care about the expectations we have, and not externally,” Francona said. “Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not so good. If we let that affect us, then shame on us But that is something we will talk about in our first meeting. I think our guys are strong enough mentally that they have pretty lofty expectations.”
