The first U.S. President of color is elected, and now there’s the hiring of the first Asian American MLB manager. Racism really doesn’t exist anymore!

Don Wakamatsu introduced as Mariners manager

By Geoff Baker and Larry Stone

Seattle Times staff reporters

Don Wakamatsu was introduced as the Mariners’ new manager today at Safeco Field.

Wakamatsu, 45, served as the Oakland Athletics bench coach last season. Before that, he was a coach for the Texas Rangers from 2003 to 2007.

The announcement was made by Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik, who said he started with a list of 35 candidates before narrowing it to a list of seven to interview.

Zduriencik said it was important to bring in a manager “who would not only see the immediate, but the big picture, of this organization.”

Zduriencik also said it was important that he have a good relationship with the new manger, and that the manager understand the player-development side of the organization.

“I welcome the challenge here to bring a world champion to Seattle,” Wakamatsu said.

Wakamatsu said during the interview process he talked with Zduriencik about the need to “build an organization that will sustain winning.”

Before going to the Rangers, Wakamatsu was a minor-league catching coordinator and roving instructor with the Angels, who earned him a World Series ring after winning the 2002 championship. Wakamatsu still wears the ring daily.

Wakamatsu will be the first Asian-American manager in the major leagues. He is a former big-league catcher who played in the Mariners organization as a minor-leaguer in 1995 and 1996.

The other six finalists were told Tuesday by Zduriencik they wouldn’t be getting the job.

The disappointment was evident Tuesday afternoon in the voice of Joey Cora as he came to terms with the fact that somebody else had been given the job of managing his once-beloved Mariners.

“I was very disappointed, obviously,” said Cora, the former Mariners infielder who played a key role on the 1995 team that lost to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series. “I thought I would have been a great fit to help restore the Mariners with pride and reenergize the fan base. It seemed like it was all falling into place. But it is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Some team officials were highly supportive of bringing Cora back to replace Jim Riggleman, who was not interviewed for the job he took over on an interim basis after John McLaren was fired June 19. But Zduriencik was given total control over his first managerial hire and allowed to move forward with Wakamatsu, who becomes the team’s fourth manager in just more than 16 months.

Cora wished Wakamatsu well and said he accepts Zduriencik’s decision.

“He’s the GM,” Cora said. “He’s trying to restore the franchise to where it was and he thinks that he has a better chance of doing it with the other guy. It is what it is.”

Cora, who had been turned down twice previously for manager jobs, said he’ll put the Mariners out of his mind and focus on “a great situation” he has in Chicago as White Sox bench coach under manager Ozzie Guillen.

As for whether he anticipates managing any time soon, Cora was blunt: “I thought this was it, to be honest with you. It couldn’t be any more fitting. I don’t know what the future holds.”

Red Sox third-base coach DeMarlo Hale, like Cora, has been down this road of rejection before on the managerial front and says it won’t be tough to move on.

“You understand the process and you understand that there was only one person they could pick,” Hale said. “It’s not difficult at all. You’ve got to look at it as an opportunity. They’ve chosen another candidate, gone in another direction.”

Arizona Diamondbacks third-base coach Chip Hale said it was tough waiting for the final word.

“To be honest, I’m extremely disappointed,” Hale said. “But I learned a long time ago, especially playing baseball in college and professionally, to be disappointed but not discouraged. There’s a big difference in those two words. There will be other opportunities. This was a great learning experience. The Mariners are a great organization. That’s why I was so excited.”

Hale has crossed paths with Wakamatsu throughout his baseball career and feels he’ll do well in his new job.

“Don and I played against each other in high school,” he said. “He was at Arizona State when I was at Arizona. I also managed against him in the minors. He’s a wonderful baseball guy, and has done a lot of different things, which is great when you become a big-league manager. He’s a very class act. I’m sure he’ll do a good job.”

The other finalists were Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills; Cardinals third-base coach Jose Oquendo; and San Diego Class AAA manager Randy Ready.

Mills told The Boston Globe on Tuesday night: “I’d be lying to you if I told you I wasn’t disappointed because I think it’s going to be a good situation up there. They’ve got a lot of good things in store to happen.”