in mid-August last year, put together a list of "35 to 40 candidates," which didn't include Matheny.

"I had him in the back of my mind, over to the side," said Mozeliak. "He was the outlier."

As the list of candidates was whittled down, Mozeliak threw out Matheny's name to owner Bill DeWitt, who found the name intriguing.

Then, Matheny was joining Francona, Sandberg, Oquendo, Triple-A Memphis manager Chris Maloney and Joe McEwing, a former Cardinals player now a coach with the Chicago White Sox, in the interview process.

"When I called him about coming in for the interview, I tried to help him manage the expectations," said Mozeliak. "I told him it would be a good experience that he could get a feel for what the process is like. ... Andfault to find with the legacy left by La Russa, who got his managerial start with the Chicago White Sox, became a household name in Oakland, who spent 16 of his 33 managerial seasons in St. Louis and managed more games for the Cardinals (2,591) than he did for the White Sox and A's combined (2,506).

"In the interview process, what stood out was he understood the direction we are trying to go," said Mozeliak.

And 11 months later, Matheny has only reaffirmed the confidence Mozeliak had in the hire.

Matheny took a team that lost its offensive catalyst, Albert Pujols, to free agency, didn't have its rotation ace, Chris Carpenter, until the final days of the regular season, but never looked for excuses to fail, always pushing for reasons to