As coach William Grady Little (born March 30, 1950) is an American former manager in Major League Baseball, currently working in the front office of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He graduated from Garinger High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, before he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 15th round of the 1968 MLB Draft.
[5][6] However, the 2003 season (and Little's entire tenure with the Red Sox) is mostly remembered for his controversial decision during Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
Little was the target of great angst in the aftermath of the Red Sox' loss (which turned out to be the final manifestation of the so-called Curse of the Bambino).
Critics pointed out that Martinez' ERA almost tripled when his pitch count exceeded 100, and the Red Sox had three well-rested relief pitchers (Alan Embree, Mike Timlin, and Scott Williamson) in the bullpen waiting to take over in the eighth inning with a three-run lead.
In fact, the strong performance of the bullpen in relief of Martinez that day would seem to suggest that Little's decision was ultimately responsible for the Game 7 ALCS result.
In his post mortem of Little's ouster, sportswriter Rob Neyer argued that Little had ignored reams of data that showed Martinez was not the same pitcher after 105-110 pitches.
When Little's contract was not renewed by the Red Sox, the independent minor-league Brockton Rox announced plans to give away Grady Little bobble arm dolls to the first 1,000 fans to attend the May 29, 2004, game.
Little and new general manager Ned Colletti were widely credited for bringing a fresh outlook to a team that had been wracked by instability over the previous decade.
The Dodgers won 88 games in 2006 and earned the NL wild-card spot in the playoffs during Little's first season; however, they were swept by the New York Mets in the NLDS.