Hargrove: "I'd like to try it one more time"

posted by Patrick

As Spring Training is set to begin, Mike Hargrove will not be managing a big-league camp for only the second time in 17 years. The other day, Jim Moore of the Post Intelligencer decided to give Hargrove a call to see how he was spending his free time and how he felt about not being in camp.

After admitting that he is missing being away from the game, Hargrove went on to make an interesting but not so surprising statement; "I know that I don't want to run the risk of being bored. Once this year is over, I'm going to want to do something. I'd like to try it one more time...[The competition] is what I'm going to miss the most. You can play golf or cards, and that's competition, but it doesn't reach the level or intensity of competition at the major league level. I'm not sure I'm done with that yet."

If you'll remember back to the time right before the All Star Break when Hargrove left the Seattle Mariners, his motives for leaving so unexpectedly were under question. The reasons that Hargrove gave were that he lost his motivation to manage and that he wanted to spend more time with his family. So has he all of a sudden regained his passion for managing or has he just got sick of his family? Grover's a good guy, so I hardly doubt it's the latter.

What's interesting about this relates back to his resignation press conference on July 1st of last year when he said "Will I manage again? Probably not; but maybe. I've told you guys this too: you will find kids that learned 'never say never', but I can't imagine myself managing again, so this is probably my last job."

One thing that is certain is that he probably won't be getting a big league job anytime during this season as he has agreed to manage a summer-league team in Kansas. But as for 2009, PI's Jim Moore reports that Hargrove is hopeful that he will get a call to return to his familiar spot on the bench as a big league skipper.