Jeff Torborg

Jeffrey Allen Torborg (born November 26, 1941) is an American former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball.

In his three-year career from 1961–63, the Torborg batted .390.

Torborg was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1963.

He was a 1963 All-American, setting the school record for season batting average; his .537 batting average was the highest for 100 at-bats and under.

His .537 average was the highest ever recorded up to that time and since then, only two college players have hit for a better average.

His slugging percentage that year (1.032) is also a single-season standard.

He led the team with 21 RBI and six home runs.

As a player, he was signed as an amateur free agent by Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963.

On September 9, 1965, Torborg caught Sandy Koufax's perfect game.

On July 20, 1970, he was the catcher receiving Bill Singer's no-hitter, and on May 15, 1973, Torborg also caught the first of Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters.

Torborg grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, where he was the catcher on the Westfield High School baseball team.

He caught at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

On March 13, 1971, his contract was sold by the Dodgers to the California Angels.

He was traded from the Angels to the St. Louis Cardinals for John Andrews at the Winter Meetings on December 6, 1973.

On March 25, 1974, he was released by St. Louis Cardinals.

After a successful ten-year career as a catcher with the Dodgers and Angels, Torborg switched to coaching.

In 1977, he became the manager of the Cleveland Indians (a position he held for three years).

He was a coach on the New York Yankees from 1979 to 1988.

In 1989, Torborg left the Yankees to become the manager of the Chicago White Sox.

A year after he took the helm, the White Sox won 94 games, which was a 25-game improvement from the team's 1989 season.

For his efforts with the 1990 White Sox, Torborg won the American League Manager of the Year Award.

Torborg would stay with the White Sox for one more year before moving to the New York Mets on a four year deal of $1.7 million that dwarfed his previous deal of $250,000 a year.

Torborg wasn't as successful with the Mets as he was with the White Sox.

For the rest of the 1990s, Torborg kept busy working as a sportscaster for the likes of CBS Radio and Fox.

His number (#10) was retired in 1992.

He still holds the career slugging percentage mark of .684.

During his career, the Knights were 15–4–1, 14–4 and 11–5 for a three-year mark of 40–13–1 (.741 winning percentage).

A year after leading the White Sox to an 87–75 record, Torborg's 1992 New York Mets posted a 70–92 record.

After starting the 1993 season with a 13–25 record, the Mets fired Torborg and replaced him with Dallas Green.

At CBS Radio, Torborg served as a color commentator for three World Series (1995–1997) alongside Vin Scully.

While at Fox, Torborg served as a color commentator from 1996–2000.

Torborg returned to managing in May of 2001 to replace Felipe Alou with a three-year deal.

When Jeffrey Loria (who had owned the Expos) bought the Florida Marlins in 2002, he brought his friend Torborg to serve as manager to replace Tony Perez.

Torborg also had his son Dale serve in the organization, as he was hired to serve as strength and conditioning director.

The team went 79-83 that year.

In 2003, Torborg was fired from the Marlins after only 38 games following mounting criticism over the handling of the starting pitching, which saw injuries to three pitchers (A. J. Burnett, Josh Beckett and Mark Redman) in the span of two weeks.

Following a loss to Colorado, which dropped them to 16-22 with their seventh loss in the past eight games, general manager Larry Beinfest informed Toborg of his firing, while stating to the press that "This is a better team than we've played. The fans here in South Florida deserve to have hope this summer. There is enough time left to turn it around and get back in it."

Both of the Torborgs were let go along with pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.

Jack McKeon was hired to replace him and led the team to a 2003 World Series victory.

Torborg expressed no bitterness for the firing, noting that due to the fact that he his wife were at the Jersey Shore because of the firing, he happened to be present when one of his neighbors (a two-year-old boy) fell off a dock; Torborg and a young man helped the boy out of the water before a nearby nurse saved the boy.