Nottle steps down as X's skipper
By Terry Hersom Journal sports editor | Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Two more years and Ed Nottle will mark his 50th season in professional baseball.
Nottle intends to reach that milestone. He just won't be doing it here.
Tuesday, after many weeks of speculation, Nottle confirmed he is stepping down after managing the Sioux City Explorers through 10 of their first 15 seasons.
Hoping to clear the air on a variety of subjects, the 67-year-old Philadelphia native emphasized the decision to leave was totally his decision and that he thoroughly intends to pursue another managing job.
"The only bittersweet is I almost feel like a quitter,'' said Nottle, who guided the X's through their first eight seasons (1993-2000) and returned for a second tour of duty last year. "But I can live with that. I've been here 10 years, never won a championship. Tried.
"I honestly think I've worked as hard as I could at what Ed Nottle works at, whether it's surrounding towns, whether it's this or that. And I really just think it's not going to work through me any more.
"I said in the paper some months ago, 'They've heard all my songs, they've heard all my speeches.' I almost can't do any more charities because I've leaned on every human I know in Siouxland that spent money for my charities. I just think it's probably the right time.''
X's General Manager Shane Tritz, responsible for the business end of the club, said he will miss Nottle.
"It was his decision,'' said Tritz. "There wasn't much you could say or do, I guess. He sayshe didn't want to be here. He wanted to move forward. I, myself, have enjoyed the two years with him. We never had any issues. We talked all the time. I helped him, he helped me. I couldn't force him to be here.''
Since his return last season, Nottle's biggest concern has been the decline in attendance from the Explorers' early years. The club averaged over 3,000 fans a game in each of its first five seasons, hitting a high-water mark of 3,587 in 1996, even though a 26-58 record that year is still easily the worst in franchise history.
He had an active role in those early attendance successes, venturing out to area communities to promote group sales while making countless public appearances from schools to nursing homes.
The eight-year attendance average when Nottle left after the 2000 campaign was 3,127. Seven years later, the average is still 2,690 after 653 home dates, but the annual figures have dipped below 2,600 the last six years in a row.
The X's drew 1,922 a game last season and improved only slightly to 1,974 a game this year.
"What I'd say to the people of Siouxland is, 'take advantage of Lewis and Clark Park or you're going to lose it,' '' said Nottle. "When I came back, I really wanted to get it back to what I thought were wonderful days here in Siouxland in a gorgeous park with a lot of people I cared about.
"And it just doesn't seem like I can get that done. I really think if they go in other avenues, including another manager, who maybe has some new ideas and maybe isn't the old guy (it might make a difference).''
Nottle, too, believes he can have a greater impact in a new environment. At an age when most people have already retired, his plans are quite the opposite.
"The only two dreams I ever had in my life that I wanted was to pitch and manage in the big leagues,'' said Nottle, who came very close to both. "My granddaughter asks me how many more years I think I can do this and I tell her 'all of them.' That's my final goal -- all my years to be in professional baseball.''
A hard-throwing reliever, even as a 140-pound youngster, he earned a spot on the Chicago White Sox' 40-man roster in 1963, when there were only 16 major league teams. Despite a highly successful exhibition season, though, he was left off the 25-man regular season roster and returned to the minor leagues.
After a lengthy minor league pitching career, he began a steady climb through the ranks as a minor league coach and then a manager. Successful stints with the top farm teams for the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox had him on the verge of the big-league managing jobs for both clubs. Either time, though, he was faced with an enormous disappointment.
"I'd have been down without independent ball,'' said Nottle, who was out of baseball two years when he took the Sioux City helm in 1993 to help the Northern League become one of America's first independent professional leagues.
"I treasure what an independent team can do in a community that a national association team can't,'' he said. "It's because you can demand things as a manager that you can't (in the affiliated minors). You don't have to worry about a general manager in New York or a farm director in Pittsburgh.
"But the day you go into independent ball, at my age, you have to go to bed at night and not daydream about managing the Red Sox or Oakland. There were no more dreams.''
Nottle said he replaced the dreams with "trying to be somebody'' in the communties where he worked. After leaving Sioux City in 2000, he spent one year in Duluth, Minn., a former Northern League city, and four more with Brockton, Mass., of the Can-Am League, winning a league championship in 2003.
Among jobs Nottle might pursue, one of them probably isn't the new American Association franchise in Wichita, which is moving to independent baseball after a long history in the affiliated minor leagues. He has had no contact with the new team's ownership group.
Nottle, who makes his off-season home in Evansville, Ind., his wife's hometown, did say he met last week with the principal owner of a Can-Am League team that expects to make a managerial change in the near future.
Tom Carcione, Nottle's pitching coach the last two seasons, has reported accepted a job as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, an NCAA Division I school in DeKalb, Ill.
Tritz said Billy Williams, the X's hitting coach the last three years, has indicated he'd like to return next season. Williams was the team's interim manager for the final month of the 2005 campaign, when Steve Shirley took a leave of absence.
"Billy will be here in some capacity, but nothing's been giving to Billy,'' said Tritz, deflecting suggestions that Williams could be the new manager. "Before he left (for his off-season home in California) we let him know we'd like him back in some capacity. By no means is that saying Billy's the manager.''
Nottle intends to reach that milestone. He just won't be doing it here.
Tuesday, after many weeks of speculation, Nottle confirmed he is stepping down after managing the Sioux City Explorers through 10 of their first 15 seasons.
Hoping to clear the air on a variety of subjects, the 67-year-old Philadelphia native emphasized the decision to leave was totally his decision and that he thoroughly intends to pursue another managing job.
"The only bittersweet is I almost feel like a quitter,'' said Nottle, who guided the X's through their first eight seasons (1993-2000) and returned for a second tour of duty last year. "But I can live with that. I've been here 10 years, never won a championship. Tried.
"I honestly think I've worked as hard as I could at what Ed Nottle works at, whether it's surrounding towns, whether it's this or that. And I really just think it's not going to work through me any more.
"I said in the paper some months ago, 'They've heard all my songs, they've heard all my speeches.' I almost can't do any more charities because I've leaned on every human I know in Siouxland that spent money for my charities. I just think it's probably the right time.''
X's General Manager Shane Tritz, responsible for the business end of the club, said he will miss Nottle.
"It was his decision,'' said Tritz. "There wasn't much you could say or do, I guess. He sayshe didn't want to be here. He wanted to move forward. I, myself, have enjoyed the two years with him. We never had any issues. We talked all the time. I helped him, he helped me. I couldn't force him to be here.''
Since his return last season, Nottle's biggest concern has been the decline in attendance from the Explorers' early years. The club averaged over 3,000 fans a game in each of its first five seasons, hitting a high-water mark of 3,587 in 1996, even though a 26-58 record that year is still easily the worst in franchise history.
He had an active role in those early attendance successes, venturing out to area communities to promote group sales while making countless public appearances from schools to nursing homes.
The eight-year attendance average when Nottle left after the 2000 campaign was 3,127. Seven years later, the average is still 2,690 after 653 home dates, but the annual figures have dipped below 2,600 the last six years in a row.
The X's drew 1,922 a game last season and improved only slightly to 1,974 a game this year.
"What I'd say to the people of Siouxland is, 'take advantage of Lewis and Clark Park or you're going to lose it,' '' said Nottle. "When I came back, I really wanted to get it back to what I thought were wonderful days here in Siouxland in a gorgeous park with a lot of people I cared about.
"And it just doesn't seem like I can get that done. I really think if they go in other avenues, including another manager, who maybe has some new ideas and maybe isn't the old guy (it might make a difference).''
Nottle, too, believes he can have a greater impact in a new environment. At an age when most people have already retired, his plans are quite the opposite.
"The only two dreams I ever had in my life that I wanted was to pitch and manage in the big leagues,'' said Nottle, who came very close to both. "My granddaughter asks me how many more years I think I can do this and I tell her 'all of them.' That's my final goal -- all my years to be in professional baseball.''
A hard-throwing reliever, even as a 140-pound youngster, he earned a spot on the Chicago White Sox' 40-man roster in 1963, when there were only 16 major league teams. Despite a highly successful exhibition season, though, he was left off the 25-man regular season roster and returned to the minor leagues.
After a lengthy minor league pitching career, he began a steady climb through the ranks as a minor league coach and then a manager. Successful stints with the top farm teams for the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox had him on the verge of the big-league managing jobs for both clubs. Either time, though, he was faced with an enormous disappointment.
"I'd have been down without independent ball,'' said Nottle, who was out of baseball two years when he took the Sioux City helm in 1993 to help the Northern League become one of America's first independent professional leagues.
"I treasure what an independent team can do in a community that a national association team can't,'' he said. "It's because you can demand things as a manager that you can't (in the affiliated minors). You don't have to worry about a general manager in New York or a farm director in Pittsburgh.
"But the day you go into independent ball, at my age, you have to go to bed at night and not daydream about managing the Red Sox or Oakland. There were no more dreams.''
Nottle said he replaced the dreams with "trying to be somebody'' in the communties where he worked. After leaving Sioux City in 2000, he spent one year in Duluth, Minn., a former Northern League city, and four more with Brockton, Mass., of the Can-Am League, winning a league championship in 2003.
Among jobs Nottle might pursue, one of them probably isn't the new American Association franchise in Wichita, which is moving to independent baseball after a long history in the affiliated minor leagues. He has had no contact with the new team's ownership group.
Nottle, who makes his off-season home in Evansville, Ind., his wife's hometown, did say he met last week with the principal owner of a Can-Am League team that expects to make a managerial change in the near future.
Tom Carcione, Nottle's pitching coach the last two seasons, has reported accepted a job as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, an NCAA Division I school in DeKalb, Ill.
Tritz said Billy Williams, the X's hitting coach the last three years, has indicated he'd like to return next season. Williams was the team's interim manager for the final month of the 2005 campaign, when Steve Shirley took a leave of absence.
"Billy will be here in some capacity, but nothing's been giving to Billy,'' said Tritz, deflecting suggestions that Williams could be the new manager. "Before he left (for his off-season home in California) we let him know we'd like him back in some capacity. By no means is that saying Billy's the manager.''
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Tom Benson wrote on Sep 27, 2007 11:24 AM:
former player, Derek Kopacz wrote on Sep 26, 2007 3:40 PM:
JM wrote on Sep 26, 2007 10:30 AM: