SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Dance music, laughter and exuberant cheers erupted from the Rockies’ clubhouse Wednesday morning.
Welcome to Bud Black’s version of team building.
Colorado’s new manager wasn’t about to divulge what went on behind those closed doors. The players kept mum on the specifics, too. There are things not to be shared with outside media, but it was clear there was quite a floor show in the Rockies’ opulent clubhouse. When the players emerged to go to practice, smiles were a mile wide and energy was flowing.
It think it’s fair to say things feel different here at Camp Black.
“For me, I’ve come to learn from my time with the Angels, and even during my days as a player, that (spring training) is a time for us to come together as a group, and learn more about each other, outside of baseball,” Black said. “There is a human element to this game … to bring us together, and humanize what we do is important for a team.”
Team building, of course, is nothing new. It was a big deal to former manager Walt Weiss, but I get the sense that Black’s spring training is going to be a bit looser and more freewheeling.
The Rockies’ complex here at Salt River Fields includes an enormous auditorium with a big-screen projection system. Typically, meetings are always held there, so Black’s decision to bring front-office types, administrators, clubhouse attendants and trainers into the players’ domain for Wednesday’s break-the-ice session was a little bit out of the box.
Black, along with Cubs manager Joe Maddon, picked up his team-building skills from Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Black was the pitching coach and Maddon the bench coach for the 2002 World Series championship team.
Scioscia became legendary for his antics to instill what Black refers to as “esprit de corps.”
Tyler Kepner, the longtime baseball writer for the New York Times, recalled a famous anecdote that summed up the “Angel Way.”
“Scioscia holds a lively team meeting before every spring training practice, often giving players off-field assignments to foster team bonding. In one well-worn tale from 2000, pitchers Scott Schoeneweis and Jarrod Washburn attended an ostrich festival in Chandler, Ariz., then brought a live ostrich into the clubhouse. A terrified teammate, Ramon Ortiz, leapt into his locker, howling in Spanish about the biggest chicken he had ever seen.”
As I wrote in my feature on Black shortly after he was hired by the Rockies in November, Black does more than just talk about team building. For example, during spring training 2012, after the Padres traded for Casey Kelly, a pitcher who could have played quarterback at Tennessee, Black blocked out one morning of practice for a football competition, with passing drills for every player who had been a high school quarterback.
So while Black is not reinventing the wheel during his first spring training with the Rockies, he is already putting his personal stamp on the team.
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