The start of Derek Shelton’s first season as a Major League manager was supposed to play out as if he had written the script himself.
Shelton was going to put on his No. 17 Pirates jersey and take his place in the visitors’ dugout at Tropicana Field, less than 10 miles from his home in Treasure Island, Fla., in front of friends and family.
Then he would fly to Wrigley Field in his native Illinois. Then he’d manage his first game at PNC Park, looking out of the home dugout to see a packed house and Pittsburgh’s scenic skyline.
None of it went according to plan. Nothing about this year has. But it almost seems fitting that Shelton’s managerial debut was delayed four months and rescheduled, finally, for Friday night in St. Louis.
His professional coaching career began 23 years ago. He spent the last 15 years coaching in the Majors.
One of Shelton’s mentors once told him that, if he stuck with it long enough, he could be a big league manager. That conversation happened 18 years ago.
“This was the goal,” Shelton said. “Once I started to get into this, I think [Friday] night was what I wanted to do.”
He has waited a long time for it.
The day he was introduced as Pittsburgh’s manager, Shelton described himself as a “very poor Minor League catcher” in the Yankees’ system from 1992-93.
“I’d say he’s a good evaluator of talent,” said former Yankees executive Mark Newman, laughing, “and that doesn’t destroy his reputation.”
Shelton underwent elbow surgery after the 1993 season, ending a playing career that had barely begun. But he made an impression on coaches and executives in the Yankees’ organization.
Newman knew Shelton’s father, Ron, who had coached Newman when he was a freshman at Southern Illinois University, where Shelton later played. Newman quickly recognized the characteristics of a coach in Shelton, too.
“He was bright and hard-working, and he had a personality that attracted players to him and coaches — genuine, authentic, respectful of other people,” Newman said in a phone interview.
“His demeanor and temperament as a player were just fantastic.
He always did what he was asked to do and really built great relationships throughout the organization.”
