A minor league manager's role isn't necessarily to win, new Buffalo Bisons manager Gary Allenson explained to The Niagara Gazette in January 2014.
Developing players takes precedence, Allenson told The Gazette.
"It's different in every game," Allenson told The Gazette then. "You have your guys who are prospects out there that you know you're going to leave out there. If it comes down to whether you're going to develop a player or winning at the minor level, and you have to choose between one or the other, you're going to develop the prospect."
Allenson knew from experience. By that point, he'd been managing in the minors, with stints as a major league coach, for much of the previous quarter century.
Before that, he spent parts of seven seasons in the majors himself, as a player.
Allenson's long career in baseball began 1976, taken by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the draft out of Arizona State University.
Allenson began with the Red Sox at AA Bristol. He made AAA Pawtucket full time in 1978, then Boston in 1979.
In Boston, Allenson saw 108 games in 1979 and hit .203. The catcher then returned for 36 games in 1980 and 47 in 1981. In an April 1981 game, he hit a three-run home run and blocked the tying run at the plate late, UPI wrote.
"You don't think I'm going to give anybody part of the plate for the tying run, do you?" Allenson told UPI after that game.
Allenson continued with the Red Sox through 1984. He then moved to the Blue Jays for 14 games in 1985 to end his big league career.
Allenson started his career as a minors manager by 1987 at short-season Oneonta, with the Yankees. He returned to the Red Sox by 1989, managing at single-A Lynchburg. He made AA New Britain for 1991.
For 1992, Allenson made the jump back to Boston as bullpen coach. He stayed in Boston three seasons. He later returned to the majors as a base coach with the Brewers in 2000.
By 2003, he was back in the minors, managing at AAA Ottawa. In 2005, he was at AA Carolina, working to get his players to hit better with runners on second and third, The Raleigh News and Observer wrote.
"I sound like a broken record. I'd just like to see them do a better job of hitting with guys in scoring position," Allenson told The News and Observer. "As a team, we're not doing it. We're relying too much on (trying to hit) the home run. You can't count on that all the time."
Allenson arrived at Buffalo in 2014. He's last recorded as managing at AA New Hampshire in 2017.
- UPI, April 20, 1981: Boston Red Sox catcher
- Raleigh News and Observer, July 6, 2005: Cats' Ungs returns in the nick of time
- Niagara Gazette, Jan. 17, 2014: Bisons introduce new manager Allenson
Made the Majors:1,369-33.1%-X
Never Made Majors:2,769-66.9%
5+ Seasons in the Majors:557
10+ Seasons in the Minors:337
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