Background and career
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III (born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager. He served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), Baltimore Orioles (2010–2018) and New York Mets (2022–2023). He also is a former professional Minor League Baseball player and television analyst for ESPN and the YES Network. Showalter has earned a reputation for building baseball teams into postseason contenders in short periods of time. He helped the Yankees rise from the bottom half of the AL East to first place before a players' strike prematurely ended the 1994 campaign. Under his watch, the Diamondbacks made their first-ever playoff appearance in only the second year of the team's existence. Despite this reputation, Showalter has never appeared in a World Series; coincidentally, he left both the Yankees and Diamondbacks just prior to seasons when they won the World Series. Since Dusty Baker's win in the 2022 World Series, Showalter has become the winningest active manager in MLB never to win a World Series. In 22 seasons, he has reached the postseason six times, reaching the League Championship Series once. A three-time American League (AL) and one-time National League (NL) Manager of the Year, he is the third manager to win four Manager of the Year awards, the seventh to win the award in both the American and National Leagues, and the only one to win the award with four different teams and in four different decades.
Showalter was born in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, on May 23, 1956, and grew up in nearby Century. His father, William Nathaniel Showalter II, served 23 years as a teacher and principal at Century High School, from which the younger Showalter graduated. Before becoming a teacher, his father had been a Little All-American fullback in 1940 at Milligan College, and had considered a career in the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but chose to become a high school coach instead.
Showalter was known as "Nat", and had not acquired the nickname "Buck" prior to turning professional. Showalter played college baseball at Chipola Junior College (now Chipola College) in Marianna, Florida, in 1976. From there he transferred to Mississippi State University to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
In 1976, Showalter played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) for the Hyannis Mets, where he won the league batting title with a .434 batting average, and was named league MVP. In 2002, he was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame. Showalter was an All-American and set the Mississippi State record for batting average in a season by hitting .459 during the 1977 season.
He was selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 1977 MLB draft, and spent seven seasons in the Yankees' minor league system where he had a career average of .294 with 17 home runs and 336 runs batted in. He never played in the major leagues, rising no higher than Triple-A Columbus (one rung below the majors).
Showalter was hired as manager of the Single-A minor-league Oneonta Yankees of the New York–Penn League in 1985, leading them to 114 victories in two seasons. In August 2017, he was named as an inductee in the New York–Penn League Hall of Fame. In 1987, Showalter became manager of the minor league Fort Lauderdale Yankees, leading the league with an 85–53 record in his first season. In 1989, Showalter managed the Double-A Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Eastern League, where he was named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America.
