Old Managers Never Die, They Just Buy Expensive Trucks and Drive to Wine Country

The first thing Mike Hargrove did after quitting the Mariners? He followed Alan Jackson's advice and bought a Ford truck. Jim Moore of the P-I talked to Hargrove's car salesperson:

Jerry Korum of Korum Ford in Puyallup read that the Hargroves always said when they retired, they would get a red truck, call it "Retired Red," load up their belongings and drive off into the sunset.

Korum called the Mariners and told them he had a red truck that might interest the Hargroves. It was a 2007 Ford F-150, half-ton, Super Crew FX4, fire-engine red, four-door with black leather seats, a sunroof, Sirius satellite radio, reverse sensor and 20-inch wheels.

"It had every option you could think of," said sales manager Vern McDonald.

The Hargroves went to the dealership and bought the truck at a reduced price.

Then Hargrove and his wife Sharon drove to California, to see their son Andy, who's playing A-Ball for the M's Cal League farm team. According to Moore, Hargrove had only ever seen five of Andy's baseball games, including little league. Which is crazy, because our Dad hates baseball, and even he managed to get to more than that in our brief little league career.

We've digressed. Mike made it to Andy's game on Friday, and Andy hit his first home run of the season. Mike was there the next night, too, and Andy hit another one. Hargrove the younger told the Victorville Daily News:

It was awesome. When I hit that home run, coming around and going back to the dugout my mom, my wife Lori and my dad were sitting right there. I looked at him and tried to give him a smile and wink and he had a smile on his (face).

Awwwwww!

According to Sharon, Hargrove has been avoiding major league ball--he hasn't listened to or watched any Mariner games. He did take time out, though, to address rumors that Ichiro pushed him out. Hargrove told the Washington Post, "If [a demand to push Hargrove out] had been a factor, they would've had to fire me. I wouldn't have resigned. My Texas redneck blood would've come out real quick."

Hargrove and his wife are slowly making their way towards Cleveland, where they live and where he'll play in a charity golf tournament. If his redneck blood is coming out at all, it's while contending with traffic, as wife Sharon told Moore.

"Mike's been kind of a jerk," Sharon said. "I tell him, 'Welcome to the real world. You don't have a bus driver to take you through all of this.' "