By: Brian Frank
It may surprise many Buffalo baseball fans to learn that Jeff Manto, one of the greatest sluggers in Bisons history, actually started out on the mound. Manto was drafted by the New York Yankees as a pitcher out of Bristol High School in Bristol, Pennsylvania in 1982.
“The scout told me in later years, that he wanted to draft me just in case I would have said yes,” Manto said in a recent interview with The Herd Chronicles. “I was a 35th round pick, so I was getting no money. I had a full scholarship to Temple, so I took the Temple offer.”
Manto pitched for Temple during his freshman season before transitioning to be a position player during his sophomore year.
“All through high school, I played three sports, basketball, baseball, and football at a high level,” he said. “I was always active, playing all summer, and it really didn't stop. I was one of those typical kids growing up in those years where once the sport started, you just kept on playing. Then I got to college and I just pitched, and that was it. I really didn't understand what that entailed – and so I just pitched. It was just like, wait, we don't get to play the field? I'm thinking, I don't love pitching. I like it, but I don't love it.”
“Then our senior shortstop left and I asked the coach if I could play shortstop,” he continued. “He didn't realize that I was a position player as well. (Temple head coach James) ‘Skip’ Wilson said, ‘Alright, well, let me hit some ground balls.’ So he hit me ground balls. He said, ‘Okay, let me see you take that in practice.’ From that day on, things change drastically. That was the fall of my sophomore year.”
Manto was struck by the intensity of Division I baseball.
“I didn't realize how competitive and how serious guys played baseball,” he remembered. “When I first got there, I thought, hey, we’re just going to play some baseball. I didn't realize how good it was. I didn't realize how serious it was.”
Manto went on to have one of the most prolific careers in Temple baseball history. According to the Temple website, he led the team in batting average (.377) and triples (35) in 1984. In his final college season in 1985, he hit .441 with 16 home runs, which was a Temple record at the time. He finished his career as Temple’s career leader in most total bases (147), highest career slugging percentage (.791), and highest slugging percentage in a season (.855). He was a member of two Atlantic 10 Conference Championship teams and played in two NCAA regional tournaments.
“The memories are my friends, my teammates,” Manto said. “I still talk to them today. I still hang out with them today. We're in touch quite a bit. I think the camaraderie was something that was second to none.”
He was selected by the California Angels in the 14th round of the 1985 MLB June Amateur Draft.
“I was at home,” he remembered of the moment he was drafted. “I got a call from the Angels. (Angels scout) Al Goldis called me and said they drafted me in the 13th round and he would be getting back to me once the draft was over to negotiate a contract. Then, about a week later, he came to my house and said, ‘Here's $14,000 to sign. I’m going to walk around the block and when I come back, I want a decision.’ By the time he left the house, I knew I was going to sign. I left for Palm Springs soon after.”
It was around this time that Manto was given the nickname “Mick.”
“It was early in my minor league days where nobody pronounced the T in Manto,” he explained. ‘So, as they would say, Jeff ‘Mano.’ Where's ‘Mano’? Then all of a sudden, ‘Mano,’ became ‘Mantle.’ Oh, why don’t we just call him Mickey Mantle. That’s how it started with Mickey and then it went to Mick. Then when Chris Berman said it one night on TV, that's when it was blessed, if you will. Then from that day forward…”
Manto with the 1988 Midland Angels.
Manto worked his way up through the Angels minor-league system, winning the Texas League Most Valuable Player Award in 1988 with the Midland Angels. He was traded to the Cleveland organization following the 1989 season and made his major-league debut with Cleveland in 1990. He collected his first big-league hit in a game against the Yankees at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Manto borrowed a bat from one of his teammates to face Yankees starter Jeff Robinson and collected his first major-league hit.
“I got myself in a fastball count, and got a base hit up the middle,” he remembered. “It was in Cleveland, so that was pretty cool.”
About a week later, he collected his first major-league home run. It came against Yankees reliever Jimmy Jones in the ninth inning of a game at Yankee Stadium.
“The story behind that was, we had a batting tee set up in the clubhouse. I wasn't doing so well, and (veteran relief pitcher) Jesse Orosco came up to me when I was hitting off the tee in like the second inning. He goes, ‘Hey, Mick, let me tell you something. It’s none of my business but your hands are in an awful position. If I was pitching against you, this is what I would do.’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah. You would never be able to hit me.’ Then he goes, ‘Why don't you move your hands closer to your body?’ I'm like, ‘Really?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, try that.’ So, I tried it, and it felt good.”
Manto later entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and came to the plate in the ninth to face Jones.
“And sure enough, I hit a home run. Jesse Orosco called the dugout from the bullpen. He asked me, ‘Hey man did you have your hands in?’ I was like ‘Yeah, yeah, thanks for your advice!’ It was pretty cool.”
“That (moment) was really special for a lot of reasons,” he said of his first big-league home run. “One, it's Yankee Stadium. Then number two, when I played in New York, all my family and friends were there, and all those college guys I talked about earlier. So, to have a home run there – and into the monuments. Then another thing was, when I got the video later with Phil Rizzuto announcing, that was pretty cool.”
One of Manto’s biggest moments in the major leagues came during the 1995 season, a year when he drilled 17 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. In early June, he tied a major-league record (most recently tied by Dodgers catcher Will Smith) by homering in four consecutive at-bats.
“The thing is, I didn't really realize it was happening because it took three days to happen,” he said. “I had a sac fly or two in between. It was against two different teams. I believe it started on a Sunday, picked up on a Monday. It was June 8th, 9th and 10th. So, I had no idea that it was (going on). I knew I had four home runs, I just didn't realize what was happening. Then, my last at bat, I flew out to deep right field, to the warning track, and as I circled first base, I looked up at the scoreboard, and that’s where it mentioned that I had tied a record. So that was kind of cool.”
After playing in the big leagues for Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and Seattle, Manto first found his way to Buffalo in 1997, during his 13th professional season. He’d already played for nine organizations, been in the majors with five teams, and had a brief stint in Japan. The 32-year-old slugger had been struggling in Syracuse, hitting just .205 with three home runs in 40 games, when he was traded to the Cleveland organization and joined Buffalo.
“When I first came to Buffalo, I didn't realize what I was walking into,” he recalled. “I wanted to go home (because he was struggling) and all of a sudden there was a second wind. I said, ‘Okay, I'll give this one more try.’ I remember walking in the tunnel and seeing Bucz (Bisons general manager Mike Buczkowski), and he welcomed me. He said, ‘Hey, just so you know, we try to win here. So, it might be a different atmosphere for you.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He goes, ‘We try to win. This is a little bit different than most Triple-A organizations.’ I'm like, ‘Really?’”
“Then sure enough, after the game, I met up again with (Bisons manager) Brian Graham, and he sat me down and said ‘Hey, man, they're serious. They play to win here. We have to win.’ And I'm thinking, this is awesome. It rejuvenated me to where there was a purpose, there was a second wind, a second life, if you will, because I wasn't playing well in Syracuse. I wasn't happy in Syracuse. But once I got to Buffalo, winning definitely cured it all, that's for sure.”
Manto loved playing for Graham, who was in his third season at the helm of the Herd.
“Brian was one of the guys who really in hindsight, taught me the most (of anyone) about baseball,” Manto said. “Probably the most intelligent guy I know in baseball. He was as fair as anybody I've been around. For instance, he told the veteran players in team meetings, ‘I treat everybody differently.’ That was the first time I heard that. Then he explained it. He said, ‘Rookies, you have to be here 15 minutes before stretch. You veteran guys get here by four o'clock.’ Just stuff like that. There was a lot of leeway for people he trusted and he treated everybody fair. If somebody screwed up, he didn't bury anybody, he treated them fair. And obviously, he’s just a winner.”
Manto endeared himself to Western New York baseball fans almost immediately. On July 14, in front of a huge crowd in downtown Buffalo, Manto put on one of the most impressive power displays in the ballpark’s history. After the annual Independence Eve fireworks were postponed due to high winds, many fans redeemed their tickets to see the rescheduled fireworks on July 14, boosting the Tuesday night attendance to a whopping 19,255. Manto put on a show for the large crowd becoming the first player in ballpark history to hit three home runs in a game.
“Talk about walking on air,” Manto said. “It's almost like I kind of knew what was coming. I mean, the first home run, then the second home run, and then the way the crowd reacted, and the players reacted – they all left the dugout after the third one. Instead of high fives and handshakes, they all just left. The crowd went crazy. It was just an awesome, awesome feeling.”
Ready to take a big swing in downtown Buffalo. Photo Courtesy of the Buffalo Bisons Baseball Club.
Manto's three-home run performance propelled him to win the American Association Player of the Week Award for an incredible fourth time in just six weeks. By August 2, when Cleveland purchased his contract and promoted him to the big leagues, he was batting .320 with 20 home runs and 54 RBIs in 54 games with the Herd. The Bisons were 4 1/2 games behind Nashville when Manto joined the team. By the time he left for Cleveland, Buffalo had surged into first place with a 7 1/2-game lead. Manto finished the season with Cleveland, while the Bisons went on to win the American Association Championship.
“I’ll tell you what, everybody on that team was a winner,” Manto said of the ’97 Bisons. “(Current Bisons manager) Casey Candaele was there. It was just absolutely a loaded veteran team, and there were some good players, some good personalities, and just a whole lot of fun, because we won. And we were able to play how we played because of Brian (Graham). It was a great experience.”
In 1998, Manto started the season with Cleveland but was later claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers. Detroit attempted to send him down to Triple-A Toledo, but he elected to become a free agent and signed a minor-league contract with Cleveland.
“I think that it was always known that I wasn't going to go to the free agent market or go to any other place at that point other than Buffalo,” he said. “I knew I was extremely comfortable in Buffalo. The people treated me great, and I would be a fool to go elsewhere. When I got there again, it was just a great winning atmosphere.”
Buffalo had a new league and a new manager in 1998. After Triple-A baseball was reorganized during the offseason, the American Association was disbanded, causing the Bisons to join the International League. Also, after three seasons in Buffalo, Brian Graham moved up to the big leagues to be a coach in Cleveland. Jeff Datz took the helm in Buffalo after managing in Double-A Akron the previous season.
“He was incredible,” Manto said of Datz. “We're good friends. He was the only manager that ever yelled at me. I made a smart comment about taking infield and he had none of that. But he was, again, one of those guys where he just let guys play. He was disciplined. A very intelligent guy, and he knew how to run a pitching staff, which was obviously with that staff we had, it was awesome. It was great playing for him.”
As he had the previous season, Manto went on a tear when he arrived in Buffalo, leading another Bisons' surge up the standings. In early July, he hit grand slams in back-to-back games. A few weeks later, he hit another. By the time he was called up to Cleveland, he was batting .314 with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs in just 48 games. During his time in Buffalo, the Bisons climbed into second place, going from 10 1/2 games back to just six games behind Syracuse.
“(That season) was just a great competitive atmosphere,” Manto said. “Guys turned it on. It was a blast. Moving runners over, bunting guys over, stealing, making plays. The pitching was off the charts. It was a professional, big time grind from where we were to get to where we got. It was unbelievable.”
In late August, Manto was sent back down to Buffalo, where the Bisons were making a push for first place in the I.L. North. Despite being eight games back with 27 games remaining, the team closed the gap and, by September 6, trailed first-place Syracuse by just half a game with two games left in the season.
When Buffalo fell behind in the late innings, during what was supposed to be the season’s penultimate game, Manto recalls shouting across the diamond to teammate Torey Lovullo and telling him the Bisons would end up winning. Manto ended up coming to the plate in the top of the ninth inning with the Bisons trailing 7-5 and blasted a three-run home run to lead the Herd to an 8-7 win. The victory, combined with a Syracuse loss, put the Bisons in first place by a half game.
Neither Syracuse nor Buffalo could play the next day due to inclement weather, so the Bisons ended up winning the division by a half game. Adding to the Bisons good fortune, power outages in Syracuse forced the first three games of the Herd’s first-round playoff series to be played in downtown Buffalo. The Bisons swept the SkyChiefs in three games, making any trip to Syracuse unnecessary.
Buffalo then took on Durham in a five-game series to decide the Governors’ Cup Championship. Buffalo won the first two games at home, but Durham won games three and four back in North Carolina, forcing a decisive game five.
“It was absolutely as intense as any series I've ever played,” Manto remembered. “It really was. There's some things that went our way. It was incredible. I remember Russ Morman hit a ball so far in Durham that would have put them ahead, and would have broke our backs a little bit, and Jacob Cruz goes back on it, and we're looking and we're all saying, ‘Where is he going? That ball's way out of here.’ And I'm telling you, the flags turned around and blew this ball back. The wind was blowing in and, like, ‘Oh no, we got a chance.’ And Jacob Cruz catches it and that gave us some new energy. We came back and won that game and went to game five and just put it all together. It was absolutely intense and just a boatload of fun. Both teams were really good. And, you know, we go to game five and that's always a lot of fun.”
Prior to the decisive final game, Manto delivered a pre-game pep talk for the ages in an attempt to inspire the Herd to victory.
“I was just basically saying, hey, just enjoy this moment, you know, because we're not coming back here again,” he said. “This team is never going to be together again. So, enjoy this moment. And if you want to play in the big leagues, this is what the stress is like every day. If you ever play in the big leagues, you're going be used to it, because the intensity and the stress levels are just as high every night.”
Buffalo took game five by a score of 3-1 behind a solid start by Jason Jacome to become Governors’ Cup Champions. The victory also advanced the Herd to the first Triple-A World Series in Las Vegas against the New Orleans Zephyrs. Unfortunately, before the series, Buffalo's roster was reshuffled, with several players called up to Cleveland and young, inexperienced prospects from Double-A stepping in. As a result, Buffalo lost the series to New Orleans three games to one. Despite the team's struggles, Manto remained a clutch performer, going 8-for-15 (.533) in the series with two doubles, a home run, and five RBIs.
“We had no chance,” Manto lamented. “Cleveland took a lot of our players and they wanted to showcase some of our young talent. It was just a crying shame. We were like why are they doing this? Because it was an ESPN series with a lot of attention and they wanted to showcase their young guys. And once that happened, we had no chance.”
In 1999, Manto began the season with Buffalo before being called up to Cleveland in June. He was then claimed off waivers by the Yankees, but after they acquired Jim Leyritz at the trade deadline, Manto was released. He rejoined the Cleveland organization shortly after and was assigned back to Buffalo.
“It was a lot of moving, a lot of contemplation about what I wanted to do,” he said of the ’99 season. “I remember just saying, okay, is this all worth it? That started the contemplation of retiring. Like, what am I doing? Where am I going? Is this really worth it? And all of a sudden, I just got rejuvenated again a little bit and played it out as best I could. It was a year of contemplation.”
Manto hit .296 with 23 home runs and 44 RBIs in just 66 games for the ’99 Bisons. Remarkably, over his first three seasons in Buffalo, he homered once every 9.1 at-bats. To put that into perspective, Babe Ruth hit a home run every 11.76 at-bats during his major league career.
Circling the bases. Photo courtesy of the Buffalo Bisons Baseball Club.
Although Manto announced his retirement at the end of the 1999 season, he was persuaded to return in 2000 to play in the big leagues for the Colorado Rockies.
“Finally, at the end of my career, the stars lined up,” he said. “Buddy Bell, who liked having me around on his teams, got a job in Colorado. Then Charlie Manuel got a job in Cleveland, and I'm thinking to myself, wow, this is a perfect storm. Buddy called me and he goes, ‘Hey, listen, you're going to make my team if you come out here.’ When Buddy Bell says something, you can believe him. So, when he told me I had a chance, a strong chance, to make their team, I said, you know what, I'm going. I want to take the chance. He promised it and came through. I actually made the team out of spring training.”
After making the Rockies roster and playing in the big leagues early in the season, Manto was designated for assignment and became a free agent. He then returned to the Bisons to finish his playing career where he’d created so many memorable moments.
“It was a grind,” he said of his final season. “I couldn't get going. Couldn't do anything. I struggled. I could not turn it on. I couldn't get there. Everything was great off the field, nothing was wrong. Everything was great in Buffalo. I just could not turn it on. That’s when I knew I’d had enough. Nothing I did was exciting me. The wins were just wins, and it was just like, you know, I can't be doing this. I thought to myself, I don't even know how I even did it to be honest with you, I thought I just can't get this done. And that was it. I remember sitting at my locker thinking. It felt like I lost 80 pounds. It just felt good not to have all that stress. That was like 16 years of heavy stress, constant, just constant. I was like, you know what? That's enough. I can't do this. And that was it.”
The following season, the Bisons retired Manto’s number 30, making him only the third player in team history to have his number retired, joining franchise icons Ollie Carnegie and Luke Easter.
“It's as good a compliment as I could ever receive,” Manto said. “It really is. I said it in my speech that it's a lot more than the number being retired. It made me realize the impact I had on people's lives. I thought I was going through just playing baseball, just doing what you're supposed to do, I had no idea that I was impacting people's lives to the point where they would retire my number, which is humbling, to say the least. So, when I got the call that they retiring my number, I was like, you know what, that's really special. A really special moment. You never, obviously, go into a career hoping to get your number retired. You just hope to play well, and then when that happens, it's extremely humbling.”
Manto has also been honored by being inducted in eight Halls of Fame – the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame, Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, International League Hall of Fame, Rochester Red Wings Hall of Fame, Temple University Hall of Fame, Bristol High School Hall of Fame, Bucks County Hall of Fame, and Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He entered the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
“You know, just being a part of that organization and being somebody who will be remembered is an honor,” he said of entering the Buffalo Baseball Hall. “It's something that, it's not just anywhere, it’s Buffalo, you know? And that's what's special about it, to be in such a Hall of Fame with those players that are listed there, and I'm sure, with the players that are going to go in, is really, really special.”
Signing autographs at Sahlen Field. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles
After his playing career was over, Manto began coaching and managing, including being the hitting coach at the major-league level for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2006 to 2007 and the Chicago White Sox in 2011, as well as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles from 2014 to 2019. Coaching was something he aspired to during his playing days.
“I always enjoyed talking baseball, hitting baseballs, practicing baseball, and through the people I hung out with, I really believed I got a lot of knowledge from other people that I wanted to share. I was never one to hold information back. I enjoyed it so much to where I think it just became natural.”
Manto was manager of the Major League Baseball Draft League’s Trenton Thunder in 2021, when the Bisons used Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton as their temporary home field to allow the Blue Jays to use Sahlen Field while the U.S.-Canada border was closed because of the pandemic. The Thunder had to use Rider University’s baseball field as their home field to allow the Bisons to use Arm & Hammer Park. The irony of losing his home field to the team that retired his number was not lost on Manto.
“We talked about that,” Manto chuckled. “Bucz (President of Rich Baseball Operations Mike Buczkowski) and I texted. I said I can’t believe I’m doing this. This is crazy. You talk about full circle, right?”
While managing the Thunder, Manto had the opportunity to manage his son, Jeff Manto Jr., a former Villanova University infielder.
“It was not as fun as I thought it would be,” Manto said. “It was a lot of stress. You’re trying to manage and play everybody. I tried to play everybody equal. And it's like, okay, you know, does he have five games? Do I give six games, because that guy only has three games. So, it was always a battle making sure that I looked at him as another player. But it was extremely hard to do. So, it really was stressful.”
Now, Manto is the head baseball coach at Cornwell-Egan Catholic High School in his hometown of Bristol, Pennsylvania, where he won the 2024 Courier Times/Intell Baseball Coach of the Year. He also runs the Manto Player Development Center in Bristol, which provides personalized instruction in baseball and softball.
“I really do enjoy it,” he said of working with young players. “One of the fun parts about it is telling them stories that they've never heard before, and mentioning players that they've maybe never heard of. Just to give it a taste of authenticity that this is what really happens. This is not something I read in a book. It's not something I saw on YouTube. This really happens. If you make this move off the field, this is what happens. So, you can give them a real-life story, and it's kind of nice watching their eyes light up.”
He also recently completed his final classes and graduated from Temple University.
“That was 37 years that it took me to get out of school,” he chuckled. “Not bad.”
Manto is able to make the trip back to the Queen City from time to time, as he did last summer for Mike Buczkowski’s induction into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame.
“First of all, I miss that toll booth,” Manto chuckled about the old toll booths at the entrance to the 190. “I remember I used to go through that toll booth all the time. I think it was lane four or five. I would wait and I didn't care how long the line was, if I had two hits the night before, I waited to pay my toll. So, every time I go through that area, I laugh because I would have went through that lane if it was still there.”
Manto still sees lots of familiar faces when he returns to the ballpark where he made so many memories.
“The friendships and the people,” he said of what stands out when he returns to Sahlen Field. “They really make your career. They really do. They appreciate what you do on the field. They care about your family off the field. They bend over backwards to make you feel welcome. That's why it's so nice to go back there. The fans are so loyal. It’s just a really, really special place to be.”
“It's always good memories,” he continued. “You start flashing back and reminiscing about stories and things people did and the people that you met. It's always a warm feeling when I go back there.”
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