Perhaps we’re just not as smart as the baseball elite. Maybe he wasn’t either. Or maybe it was something else.

Maybe he ate Bud Selig’s lunch or stole Bud’s “Blue’s Clues” DVD collection. Maybe he drank Labatt’s when everyone knew MLB managers only drink Budweiser. Maybe he thought “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” the next big network hit.

Who knows? We just have one question:

Why the hell did it take 11 years for Cito Gaston to get another managing job?

We’d understand more if he had a lackluster history, or had some awful incident that got him blackballed. We’d understand if he was a controversial figure. We’d understand if went all Hannibal Lecter on a fan.

But Cito Gaston? A guy that won four division titles, two world championships and has his number in the Rogers Centre? How many bad managers have gotten a second chance? Jerry Narron, anyone? Bob Boone? Buddy Bell?

Hello? What on earth were you people thinking? Heck, Cito told The Toronto Star he’s darn puzzled too:

“I’m still not sure if some teams wanted to interview me just to say they interviewed me,” Gaston said. “I’m kind of between on that one now. I still think, with the record I had, I should’ve been able to get a job somewhere, but I can’t say I’m sure why that happened. I’ve probably mellowed on a lot of things.”

Gaston’s overall record is 685-638. Yes, he did struggle his last three years in Toronto (1995-97), a combined 59 games below five hundred with two dead-last finishes. And his last season was a mess, when Gaston told management he would be out of town during end-of-the-year evaluations, forcing the Jays’ hand in his firing

But when Gaston’s teams were good, we wonder, was anyone watching? Look at 1989: He got the job after the Jays started 12-24 and fired Jimy Williams (for more reason than missing consonants). Toronto finished 77-49 to win the AL East. An 86-win, 2nd-place finish followed in ‘90, succeeded by another division title in ‘91.

Then came the greatest period in Canadian baseball history: A combined 191 wins in ‘92 and ‘93 and not only the first two World Series titles for Canada, but the titles made Gaston the first African-American manager to win the big one.

To put that in perspective, only eight managers in the history of baseball have won more titles than Gaston.

Sadly, few took note of his wins. Gaston interviewed for a few jobs, and came at least twice: The Tigers had some interest in Gaston back in 2000 (they picked Phil Garner), and the White Sox chose Ozzie Guillen instead back in 2004.

But there shouldn’t have been close: Gaston interviewed for a number of jobs, but according to The Toronto Star, Gaston thought teams might be interviewing him just to have a token black candidate, so he started telling teams he’d only take the job if he didn’t have to interview.

Heck, who can blame him. Look at the schmoes that have gotten second chances since Gaston left the game.

Take Buddy Bell. Ninety-three games below .500 in nearly three years with the Tigers. Fired in 1998. How long did he wait? Two years: The Rockies hired him as the panacea … to the tune of 24 games below .500 in two-plus seasons.

Which was the end, right? Umm .. no. In 2005, the Royals gave him a try … for 88 more games below .500.

Or Jerry Narron. Eighteen games below .500 in near two years with Texas? Good enough to get him another shot three years later in Cincinnati, leading to 23 more games below .500.

Bob Boone? Three non-winning seasons in Kansas City between 1995 and 1997 got him another shot in Cincinnati circa 2001. What happened? Nearly three disastrous seasons leading to another firing.

What’s worse? It seems the Blue Jays are only hiring Gaston because they desperately need a makeover, need to make nice with the fans. The Blue Jays are in dead last, just fired John Gibbons, haven’t made the playoffs since Gaston’s time, and are suffering through GM JP Ricciardi’s big mouth. Without that? Who knows if Gaston would have ever gotten another chance.

Now, we won’t have to think about that. And Gaston will have a chance to prove to all the baseball higher ups how dense they were.