WMBD/WYZZ-TV - PEORIA, Ill. -- Former Peoria Chiefs manager Jim Tracy was named the National League Manager
of the Year Wednesday after leading the resurgent Colorado Rockies to the playoffs.

Tracy took over the Rockies on May 29 when Clint Hurdle was fired. The team was 18-28 and went 74-42 over the final 116 games of the regular season before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the playoffs..

Tracy, 53, was the Chiefs skipper in 1987 and 1988 going a combined 141-139 with players Jerome Walton, Shawn Boskie, Derrick May, Mike Harkey and Heath Slocumb. He began the 2009 season as the Colorado bench coach and took over on an interim basis in May.

He previously managed the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Tracy is the second ex-Chiefs skipper to win a manager of the year award. Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon, who managed in Peoria in 1984, was the American League manager of the year in 2008.