Dodgers Expected to Announce Former Player as New Manager

The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to hire the team’s first minority manager Monday.

Former Dodgers outfielder Dave Roberts, who has an African American father and Japanese mother, is expected to be announced as the team’s manager Monday, people familiar with the situation told the Los Angeles Times, speaking anonymously because his contract was being finalized.

“I’m so proud of the Dodgers,” Maury Wills, one of the most prominent African American players in the franchise’s storied history, told The Times.

Roberts, 43, will receive a three-year contract with the team holding an option to keep him for a fourth season, the newspaper reported. He will be one of only three minorities to manage in the major leagues; the others are Dusty Baker, who was hired by the Washington Nationals this month, and Fredi Gonzalez of the Atlanta Braves.

Roberts is perhaps best known for a stolen base in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series; the steal sparked a historic comeback for the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees and led to the franchise’s first World Series championship in 86 years.

He will replace Don Mattingly, who has managed the Dodgers for the last five seasons. Mattingly was hired as manager of the Miami Marlins.

Roberts has no previous major league managerial experience. He spent the last five years as a coach with the division rival San Diego Padres.

The other finalist was Dodgers’ farm director Gabe Kapler, who also has never managed in the major leagues, The Times reported.

City News Service