“The time you spend waiting for a biopsy result, the guys walking in the streets of Baghdad…that’s being under pressure, I’ve just been involved in a game,” Little told the audience attending the Boys and Girls Club of the Sandhills annual dinner Wednesday.
Little is the former manager of the Boston Red Sox. He is now the assistant to the general manager and scouting consultant for the Chicago Cubs.
The media and team owners all like to second-guess coaching decisions made during the heat of games, he said.
“Those who have no responsibility in the outcome, consequently have all the answers afterward,” he said. “If you have not been in that arena, then you can’t tell me what decision I should have made.”
Little managed the Red Sox from March 2002 until October 2003, when he was fired after losing the game seven of the American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees. He and his wife, Debi, spent the offseason at their home in Pinehurst.
Little said he had won 95 games during the regular season. Losing game seven of the ALCS after having a 5-2 lead cost the Red Sox a shot at the World Series.
“I took a lot of criticism for the calls I made in game seven,” he said. “But I got a lot of gratitude for decisions I made leading up to that moment.”
Little, 52, looks forward to his new job as assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. Over his 25-year career, his teams won about 1,300 games, 200 of them while Little managed the Red Sox, according to Jim Halstead in introducing him as the keynote speaker.
The national major league managers’ organization even named him Manager of the League in 1994, he said.
Many major league ball players were members of Boys and Girls Clubs throughout America.
“For many players, what they do off the field makes the difference,” he said. “Many baseball players were in Boys and Girls Clubs as youths. They continue to do talks, donate equipment and participate in national advertising campaigns to help the Clubs.”
Halstead said Little is “still the same Grady, down to earth, modest, congenial, a good…man.” The Littles are active community volunteers with such groups as the Sandhills Food Bank, he said.
An outside committee judged Pinecrest student Jessica Shamberger as Senior Volunteer of the Year. She will represent the club.
For the first time, another committee chose Annielle Fairley as Junior Volunteer of the Year. She’s a fifth-grader at Southern Middle School.
Adult Samantha Harrington was named Volunteer of the Year.
Executive Director Hoyt Bynum presented Little with artwork done by wood burning.
Members of the Pinecrest Patriots baseball team served as ushers and helped serve the meal in the club’s new gym. Sandhills Community College President and board member John Dempsey served as master of ceremonies. Board members David Woronoff and Peggy Miller conducted an auction and distributed door prizes as the after-dinner fund-raiser.
