NEW YORK: Buck Showalter of the New York Mets and Cleveland's Terry Francona were named Major League Baseball's 2022 Managers of the Year on Tuesday, historic repeat awards for veteran bench bosses. Showalter, the first Mets manager to claim the trophy, joined Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa as the only skippers to win the award a record four times with his National League managerial victory. Francona captured the American League trophy for a third time, with both awards decided by votes from a media panel.

Showalter, a 66-year-old American, became the first skipper to win a Manager of the Year award with four different clubs and he did it with awards in four different decades. He won the AL Manager of the Year award in 1994 with the New York Yankees, in 2004 with the Texas Rangers and in 2014 with the Baltimore Orioles. By taking the NL award, Showalter became only the eighth manager to win Manager of the Year in both leagues, a list that includes Cox, La Russa, Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland, Bob Melvin, Joe Maddon and Davey Johnson.

Francona, a 63-year-old American, guided the Boston Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. He won the American League Manager of the Year award for the third time after taking it in 2013 and 2016, all with Cleveland. In the team's first season after dropping the nickname Indians for its racist connotations in favor of Guardians, Francona took the youngest roster in MLB-with 17 rookies and one of the league's lowest payrolls-and turned it into an AL Central championship squad.

They went 92-70 and won the division by 11 games before losing to the New York Yankees in the playoffs. Showalter, who has never managed in the World Series, had been out of MLB for three years before signing a three-year deal last December to manage the Mets. He guided them to a 101-win season and their first playoff appearance since 2016, although they lost the NL East division crown to Atlanta on a tie-breaker.

Marlins make history

In another development, Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins became the first major US professional sports team with women in the two top executive roles by promoting Caroline O'Connor to president of business operations. The Marlins, who already have Kim Ng as general manager, said they believe they are the first team to have women in complete charge of day-to-day operations.

"I think it's huge," O'Connor said. "I think it makes our organization unique and stand out and shows what women can do and the roles that they can hold." O'Connor, who has spent five years in the Marlins organization, will oversee sales, partnerships, marketing, human resources and diversity, finance, communication, legal, security and ballpark facilities.

O'Connor, a former director at Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank, was named the Marlins' senior vice president in 2017 and chief operating officer in 2019. "We are fortunate to have someone with Caroline's business acumen and vision leading our day-to-day business operations," Marlins owner Bruce Sherman said in a statement. "Her passion and drive for success is unmatched in our game and the South Florida market. Her leadership will continue to guide the Marlins organization toward our goal of sustained success."

Attendance jumped 12% from 2022 to 2019, the last full season for fans to attend games, despite the Marlins going 69-93 and finishing 18 games out of a playoff spot. "Bruce has put a lot of trust in us, and he really looked at merit and who can do the job," O'Connor said. "I'm really excited about it." Ng was named general manager of the Marlins two years ago, becoming the first woman to hold such a role among major North American sports teams. - AFP