After a firestorm of a first week, Beasley hopes to get back to being himself — because everybody else is taken.
If so, the 55-year-old Beasley is the product of a hardworking Virginia logging family, firmly entrenched in their faith. His dad, James, started the business. Three of Beasley’s four brothers still work in the business. In the winters, he still hauls trees out of the forest. Beasley and his wife of 30 years, Stacy, regularly attend Jerusalem Baptist Church in Sparta, Va., where he knows the pastor like a brother, mostly because he is one — his older brother, Jared. And when he found himself awake at 5:30 a.m. one morning this week in the middle of the tumult, he tuned into his regular prayer group to help recenter himself.,” Tony said. “It was about not getting sidetracked and worrying about everything that’s going on around you. I needed that.
“He made me feel important,” Beasley said. “He made me feel like I had value, and he stuck his neck out for me. When he believed in someone, he was willing to lay everything on the line.” Stargell suggested to Beasley he consider managing. Players respected and related to Beasley, Stargell told him. Beasley, unsure of himself, resisted. Stargell would have nothing of it. He told Pirates GM Cam Bonifay he had a managerial prospect on his hands. The Pirates named Beasley manager of their short-season Class A club in Williamsport, Pa., for the 2001 season. Stargell died in April.