Best moments from Tito's final year in Cleveland

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The time has come.

Guardians manager Terry Francona will enjoy his final game as the Guardians’ manager on Sunday afternoon against the Tigers. That means the end of not only an incredible legacy but all the entertaining stories that he shares constantly throughout a given season.

In honor of his amusing ways, let’s look back on the top six Francona moments just from the 2023 season.

6. The stolen scooter … the first time
Francona’s scooter was parked outside of his apartment building in January for Guards Fest when it was stolen. It remained missing for a few days, but one night, he was informed by Cleveland police that the scooter was found and would be returned to him the next day. When he went to pick it up at Progressive Field, he couldn’t have had a bigger smile on his face.

In sweatpants, a sweatshirt and slip-on shoes, Francona greeted five policemen with a hug, thanking them for retrieving his “hog” in one piece. He hopped back on the saddle and sped out of the ballpark.

5. The lost keys
Picture this: You’re driving up and down the roads of Goodyear, Ariz., and you look off to the side and see the manager of the Cleveland Guardians on his hands in knees in the grass outside of a hotel searching for his car keys.

At least one person out there witnessed this in March. Francona spent 45 minutes searching the grass and retracing all of his steps and couldn’t find his keys that he used the night before. So, he had to call good friend and Guardians replay coordinator Mike Barnett (the victim of most of Francona’s jokes and pranks) to give him a ride until someone could bring him his spare key from his house in Tucson, Ariz.

“So, I yelled at him the whole way in,” Francona joked. “It had to be his fault.”

4. The scooter accident
As you probably heard over the last few days, Francona’s scooter was once again stolen. This time, it was beaten with a baseball bat and…well…defecated on. This time, he had to part ways with his beloved hog. He then rode a different type of scooter to and from the ballpark for the last week of the season, but it was one that was much harder for him to control.

When he was coming home with dinner one night, he hit a pothole and was thrown over the handle bars in front of a group of fans. When one rushed over to see if he was hurt, his response was, “See if my dinner’s OK!”

3. The broken tooth
Ah, yes, the only person who could find a way to break a tooth on a piece of pasta.

Francona was preparing for his annual spring speech to his team, so he decided to stay home and perfect his words. He threw a cup of pasta in the microwave and began eating it. When he got to the bottom, he realized not all of the noodles were cooked fully.

“I felt something. And I’m like, nah, it’s raw,” Francona said. “As I’m swallowing, I’m going, ‘God, that tasted awful.’”

What he tasted was the top half of his molar. The raw pasta noodle snapped Francona’s tooth.

“I’m not sure what that says for the health of my teeth,” he joked.

2. The most handsome manager
This will forever be the worst award he’s ever won.

Gambling.com used an app to rank MLB’s 30 managers by their looks just before Spring Training started. It calculated that Francona was the American League’s most handsome manager with a score of 7.96 out of 10. When his friends and colleagues saw this headline, they wouldn’t stop blowing up his phone, joking with him. So, during camp, the Guardians’ staff and players all wore T-shirts that said “American League’s Most Handsome Manager” with Francona’s picture in the middle.

“That’s the first time I don’t want a free shirt,” he joked.

1. The final game
Not much needs to be said here. We all just witnessed Francona’s final night at Progressive Field on Wednesday. It was enjoyable for all who are close to him to see him have to be in the spotlight, knowing how much he dreads it. But for him to get the recognition he deserves with his players surrounding him for his final ovation on the field after a victory, it just doesn’t get more special than that.