Identity Crisis? Mike Matheny and Having Fun
Is St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny going through an identity crisis?
It’s one of those old adages: if you can find a job you have fun doing, you’re the luckiest person alive. In a somewhat revealing interview with Jennifer Langosch, MLB.com’s Cardinals reporter, Cardinal manager Mike Matheny admitted that having fun isn’t one of his strengths. “It’s not a strong suit of mine, the fun thing”, Matheny says. That’s a pretty cut and dry admission.
This isn’t a surprise to most people who pay attention.
Other than being a successful manager, Joe Maddon is everything Matheny isn’t.
Matheny is wound tighter than a ten day clock. So why this sudden urgency to have fun? As Langosch points out, the Cardinals did finish the 2015 season with little left in the tank.
Is this attitude change merely an attempt to lighten the burden the of the long season, or something different? It’s probably a little of both.
Matheny admits in the interview that he has always had trouble with having fun, even in his playing days. Matheny told Langosch, “I would always have guys tell me, ‘If you would just have a little more fun, you’d be a better player.’ I don’t doubt that, but in my mind, it was, ‘If I have a little more fun, then I might let something slip and I’m out of here. So I’m not going to let that happen.'”
Matheny is dyed-in-the-wool serious. This is a full-fledged identity crisis, and it could pose a problem.
Call me crazy, but I think this has a little bit to do with Matheny’s counterpart in the Windy City. Other than being a successful manager, Joe Maddon is everything Matheny isn’t: outspoken, a jokester, laid back, a media rockstar and maybe most importantly–at least to Matheny–Maddon is the manager of the team favored to win the World Series.
An identity crisis is fine, especially if change is needed. But it’s not fine if it’s forced. This seems forced. As Matheny told Langosch, “we’re going to be a little more intentional on figuring how to lighten the mood.”
How can you intentionally lighten the mood? How can you intentionally have fun? The problem with trying to force fun is that it isn’t fun at all.
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I’m all for a lighter mood for the Cardinals; they probably do need it. There is a lot of pressure in this town, and any chance to escape that pressure by laughing and having fun is probably welcomed. That should happen naturally, though, and Matheny’s intentional ‘fun having’ could just make everything more uptight…and frankly weird. There are plenty of players capable of keeping everything light. Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martinez are two that come to mind. Let them be themselves. Matheny isn’t Joe Maddon; the Cardinals aren’t the Cubs.
If the Cardinals are going to succeed this season, they’re going to do it by being themselves. I hope that Matheny figures this out, and I hope his attempt to lighten the mood doesn’t end up making the mood more heavy. The Cardinals have enough weight to carry, and the last thing they need is the burden of trying be something they aren’t.
Next: Evaluating the Starting Pitchers in Cardinals Camp
The Cubs have their way; the Cardinals have theirs. May the best way win.