Manager Terry Francona's face was literally all over Cleveland Guardians spring training on Thursday.
Everyone at the Guardians’ facility is wearing a shirt that says “American League’s most handsome manager” pic.twitter.com/vliGdfPaGR
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) March 2, 2023
While Buck Showalter of the New York Mets was ranked as MLB's most handsome manager by Gambling.com in January, "Tito" ended up in a respectable fifth place. Francona placed first among all managers in the junior circuit though, with a "Beauty Score" of 7.96.
Aside from earning the surprise title of American League's Most Handsome Manager, it's been an eventful winter for the 63-year-old.
In mid-January, Francona's scooter (which he uses to travel to Progressive Field for home games) was stolen outside his Cleveland apartment. Fortunately, the scooter was recovered and returned within days of the theft.
In February, while preparing his annual spring training speech to the team, the 2022 AL Manager of the Year suffered a bevy of mishaps. In the lead-up to his eventual successful speech, Francona broke (and swallowed) a tooth on undercooked pasta, spilled coffee all over the speech he was writing and had trouble working the copier machine in his office.
Putting together the Francona T-shirts must have been a lot of work for somebody in the organization, and it looks like no matter what obstacles are thrown his way, the team has their manager's back.
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