BALTIMORE – Two planets in Buck Showalter’s baseball universe finally collided Friday night, and try as he might, the four-time Manager of the Year finally assigned the moment some significance.
At 67, Showalter might be in the final chapter of his managerial tome, and it is not unfolding as he’d pen it. Showalter’s New York Mets just waved the white flag on a ballclub featuring the biggest payroll in baseball history, so his return to Camden Yards – where he revived a moribund franchise and guided the Baltimore Orioles to three playoff berths in five years – was not covered in glory.