A Masterclass with Buck Showalter: Inside Our 90-Minute Baseball Chat

If you ever wondered what it’s like to spend an evening talking baseball with Buck Showalter, imagine the best college class you ever took — if your professor also knew how to block an MLB camera with his backside and could turn any life advice into a stand-up comedy routine.

That's pretty much what happened on this week’s Down on The Korner live Zoom show, now in its third season. Buck dropped in, and for the next hour-plus, we got a masterclass on managing, leadership, baseball rules, and how not to take life (or yourself) too seriously.

(And if you’re thinking, "Why wasn’t I there?!" — good news. If you want to be part of future Zooms like this, head to our homepage and join the mailing list. Trust me, it’s worth it just for the Buck stories.)

"Harold, You’ve Seen How Big My Ass Is"

It started with one of the greatest Buck-isms of all time.

While getting ready for a game early in the season, Buck noticed a camera pointed straight into the dugout — a manager’s private HQ, where the real magic (and sometimes mild swearing) happens.

When Harold Kaufman, the Mets' Vice President of Communications, explained that the camera couldn’t just be moved — because it was part of a league-wide MLB Network setup installed in every ballpark — Buck had a solution:

"Well Harold, you’ve seen how big my ass is — because that’s all anyone’s going to see on that camera the whole game."

Problem solved. Dugout protected. Crowd entertained.

Classic Buck: resourceful, hilarious, and 100% committed to protecting his team, even if it meant giving America an extended close-up they didn’t ask for.

The "Castration" of the Manager

Buck didn’t just crack jokes — he got real about how much managing has changed. Between the three-batter rule, the race-against-the-clock replay reviews, and all the other well-intended "pace of play" tweaks, a lot of the strategic cat-and-mouse that managers used to love has been stripped away.

As Buck put it, quoting his friend Jim Leyland:

"It’s the continued castration of the Major League manager."

Meaning: the manager’s job is becoming less about thinking and reacting in the moment, and more about carrying out a pre-written script.

And Buck isn’t just pining for the "good old days" out of nostalgia. He’s pointing out that part of baseball’s beauty lived in the gray areas — in figuring things out when the game got messy. That’s where the art of managing truly lived.)

The Headphone Generation vs. Guys Like Lindor

We asked Buck about leadership, and man, he didn’t hold back — in the best way. He praised Francisco Lindor as a throwback player, a guy who "shows up the same way every day" and holds himself — and his teammates — to a real standard.

In today’s "headphone generation," as Buck calls it, that’s a rare find. Too many players, he says, just throw on the noise-cancelers and disappear into their own little worlds, dodging accountability.

"Reality doesn’t work like that," Buck said.

"You can't put on blinders in real life."

And when you find a guy who doesn't hide? A guy like Lindor? You ride with him. Buck’s message was clear: the best players don’t just hit .300 — they make everyone around them better.

Still at Peace, Still Grateful

Toward the end of the conversation, Buck got a little reflective, and it was a beautiful moment.He talked about being at peace with wherever life and baseball take him next — grateful for the people he's met, the players he's taught, the memories he's made.

And then, true to form, he closed with one last shot of humor and perspective:

"We gotta quit taking ourselves so seriously. None of us are getting out of this alive."

These highlights were just a few nuggets from an unforgettable 90 minutes with Buck. From hilarious behind-the-scenes stories to thoughtful insights on today’s game, he covered it all — and then some. To catch the full conversation, check out the replay below. Trust me, you won't want to miss a minute.

Buck Showalter: baseball savant, human quote machine, philosopher king.