FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Familiarity may breed contempt, but yesterday, it made Grady Little the 43rd manager of the Red Sox and fourth in the last eight months.
Less than 18 hours after interim general manager Mike Port said it was "less than likely" the Sox would end their managerial search yesterday, Little was unveiled as the winner of the week-long search, edging out the better-known and more experienced Felipe Alou.
"It's almost like promoting from within," said CEO Larry Lucchino of the decision to go with Little, a Red Sox coach for three seasons from 1997-1999. "There's something about someone who knows your system, knows your people, knows your personalities, knows your division, knows your league, knows your media. That was a significant part of this."
Port and Lucchino reviewed the candidates late into the night at the executive offices of the City of Palms Park. After conferring with principal owner John Henry and team chairman Tom Werner, the decision was made to go with Little, who served as Jimy Williams's bench coach in his previous stay in Boston.
Little got a two-year contract with multiple club options.
Reportedly, Henry had become enthralled with Alou during a lengthy interview Saturday and was said to favor his hiring. But Lucchino, who knew Little from their time together in San Diego in 1996, convinced Henry that Little was the better choice for the Red Sox.
"At the end of the day," Lucchino said, "we chose Grady Little to be our manager because Grady did it the old fashioned way -- he earned it."
Indeed, Little has 2,000 games of minor-league experience on his résumé, and a working knowledge of the system made him the pick.
The hiring culminated several days of intense speculation after the new owners fired Joe Kerrigan last week, citing his lack of experience as the chief factor.
Red Sox players were no more in the loop than anyone else. They knew who had been interviewed, but when Port and Lucchino called a team meeting yesterday morning shortly after 11:15 am, there was geniune suspense in the air.
Lucchino decided to milk the moment a little. "I learned a little from (fellow owner and television producer) Tom Werner," he said.
He stashed his new hire in an equipment room, and as the players looked to the front of the clubhouse to see the identity of their new manager, Lucchino had Little come in from behind.
When the players turned around, in the middle of the room stood Grady Little.
Instantly, the room erupted in applause. So much for questions about how the new man would be received.
Even though Little had spent the last two seasons on the Cleveland Indians' coaching staff, he's well known to the core of the team's best players -- Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Nomar Garciaparra, Brian Daubach, Tim Wakefield and Derek Lowe.
"The transition is going to be easy," predicted Little. "I was here before and I'm familiar with a lot of the players. There are very few in that clubhouse I don't know."
"I think he knows pretty much the way we do things," said Martinez, "and how we handle ourselves. He's going to fit right in."
"I don't think he's going to change the team much," agreed Varitek.
That was a consideration, since the Sox are already more than halfway through spring training and exactly three weeks away from Opening Day. For a team which already has new owners and a new general manager, the last thing the Red Sox needed was a manager trying to negotiate a steep learning curve.
Little knows the personnel, and what he doesn't know, he can quickly find out from bench coach Mike Stanley, whom he respects greatly, and third base coach Mike Cubbage, against whom he managed in the International League.
Nor will he need to get up to speed in the dugout. He's managed nearly 2,000 games in the minor leagues.
Little has learned from some of the best. He worked under Bobby Cox in the Braves system and beside Williams in the Red Sox dugout. Cox and Williams, it's worth noting, are Nos. 1 and 2 in career winning percentage among active major-league managers with 400 or more games.
He also coached for one season under San Diego's Bruce Bochy, one of the game's most highly-regarded managers.
"I've worked under some good people," Little said, "and I'm going to bring a little bit (of all them) with me. But I'm also going to bring a whole lot of Grady Little."
Meaning: a relaxed, folksy approach, heavy on the joke-telling and light on the rules.
"If a person's doing any job," Little said, "I figure they're going to be most productive when they're relaxed in trying to get the job done. I can keep a club relaxed."
After the catastrophe that was the 2001 Red Sox season, the Sox needed a cleansing and got one with the subtraction of a couple of clubhouse malcontents.
Little inherits a talented team -- one his predecessor Joe Kerrigan might have brought to 90 to 100 wins -- with a number of the game's most accomplished stars: Martinez, Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez.
He's coached the first two in Boston, and the latter in Cleveland, so again, familiarity won't be an issue. And Little understands the psyche of the modern superstar.
"I've always been a players' manager," he said unapologetically after his interview last Friday. "Players play for me, and they play hard."
He won't have a policy of appeasement when it comes to the big names, but he understands he needn't be a taskmaster, either.
"I treat everyone fairly," he said, "but maybe not the same."
Like most managers, he adjusts his style to his player's talents, not the other way around. The Sox will run more than they did last year, but that's not a reflection of his penchant for stolen bases as much as it is the presence of Johnny Damon and a healthy Nomar Garciaparra.
He takes over with no delusions about the expectations in Boston, where they're not thirsty for a winnner so much as they're parched.
"Losing is not an option for me," he said. "It never has been. (I'd tell fans): 'Buckle up. We're going to have a good ride.' "
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