Bombers' Owner/GM Hires New First-Time Manager

Mike Coveyou, Owner and General Manager of the Oak Ridge Bombers announced today that he is stepping back from direct involvement in the baseball operations of the club.  Current manager Bill Rigney is being promoted to General Manager and Billy Martin will become the team's Manager.  Coveyou said that he has been impressed with Rigney's understanding of talent, but disappointed with the performance of the team on the field the past few seasons.  In 1966, the club started with a 15-4 record, but failed to make the playoffs, while in 1967 they again failed to make the post-season in spite of having a 15 game winning streak midway through the season.  The performance of the Bombers during the 1968 season was purely mediocre; when confronted with that description, Coveyou said that "mediocre" is an excessively kind description of the team's play.  Coveyou said that he has been very impressed with Bill Rigney's evaluation of talent and have leaned heavily on his knowledge, particularly as decisions were made about drafting players.  Coveyou also said that "Bill has been forthright about the team's performance and frustrated in his inability to get the sort of results he thinks we should be achieving with the talent we have.  I am grateful that he is willing to step away from the field and he suggested that we hire a field manager who might fire up the players in the manner of Bill's mentor, Leo Durocher." 

Bill and I have selected Billy Martin be the next Manager of the Oak Ridge Bombers.  Since Billy has only one season's experience as a Manager, at the AAA level, we expect him to lean on Bill Rigney's experience, but we also expect Billy to be his own man, especially in forging relationships with the players.