Jim Ingraham: Sandy Alomar Jr. is proving beyond a doubt that he's ready to be a manager

What's harder than being a major league manager? Being an interim major league manager. What's harder than being an interim major league manager? Being an interim major league manager replacing a future Hall of Fame manager. What's harder than being an interim major league manager replacing a future Hall of Fame manager? Being an interim major league manager replacing a future Hall of Fame manager — in the middle of a pandemic. Welcome to Sandy Alomar Jr.'s world. It's a delicate line he walks, subbing for dugout legend Terry Francona in this, the most unpredictable, uncertain, unprecedented baseball season ever. But Alomar's entire life has prepared him for this challenge. He grew up in a baseball family — his father played for six teams in his 15-year career as a major league infielder in the 1960s and 70s — and Sandy Jr. has spent his entire adult life as a baseball player, coach or manager. In the last 97 years nobody has caught more games for the Indians than the 950 caught by Alomar from 1990 to 2000. He was one of the leaders on those powerhouse Indians teams of the mid-to-late ′90s. His manager at the time, Mike Hargrove, feels that had Alomar's career not been interrupted by so many injuries he would have been a lock for the Hall of Fame. Only three position players in Indians history were selected for more All-Star teams than Alomar, who was selected six times. Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby and Ken Keltner were selected seven times each. So Alomar knows his way around a dugout, OK? He should have been hired as a major league manager long ago. He interviewed for a handful of jobs through the years, but the call he was waiting for never came. In 2012, the stars seemed to align in his favor. The Indians dismissed Manny Acta late in the season and Alomar, who was Acta's bench coach, became interim manager for the final six games. At the time, it was assumed by most that Alomar would then be hired as the Indians' new manager. He lacked nothing. He was knowledgeable, personable, had a great rapport with the media, players respected him, he had a good reputation throughout the game and he was bilingual. Everything seemed to be in place for Alomar to be hired as the Indians manager in 2013. Then Terry Francona fell into their lap. After getting fired in Boston, where he won two World Series, Francona spent 2012 as an analyst on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Then he got the itch to manage Cleveland, where he had a relationship with Indians officials Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti. The rest is history, including the part about fate blindsiding Alomar again. The managing job he wanted above all others, that he seemed to be in perfect position to get, eluded him. The Indians quickly hired Francona, who just as quickly hired Alomar as his bench coach. Alomar has been a member of Francona's staff ever since. This year, ironically, Alomar has been the Indians manager for more games than Francona. Due to Francona's ongoing health problems, Alomar has managed the Indians for 16 of their 27 games. In addition to Francona, the Indians are also missing bench coach Brad Mills, Francona's right-hand man, who chose to opt out of this season to be with his family in Texas. With the manager and his top assistant both missing from the dugout, Alomar has stepped in seamlessly and held everything together under the most trying of circumstances. Through it all, Alomar has been the picture of leadership and control. The team has played well under his direction. The Indians went into Saturday night's game with a record of 11-4 with Alomar as the manager. All managers need perspective to be successful. And Alomar has plenty of that, as well. "This is his team," he said of Francona. "I don't know how players see (me) right now. They know (I'm) not the manager. They know that I'm one of the coaches and they respect me a lot, but I can't wait for him to come back myself. I know as a group we've done a good job, but at the end of the day, this is Terry Francona's team." Francona has basically told Alomar to go with his gut and manage the team the way he feels it should be managed. That is easier said than done. Alomar isn't replacing a garden variety manager. He's replacing one destined for the Hall of Fame. Hopefully those who run other teams are taking notice. With all the extraneous issues flying around Alomar in this unprecedented season, this is like a graduate course in major league managing. Alomar has taken a contending team, with limited hitting, a depleted pitching staff and a hospitalized manager, and kept it squarely in the hunt. Interim or not, this is big-time managing. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on Twitter.