Jeff Torborg

Jeffrey Allen Torborg (born November 26, 1941) is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball. Torborg was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent 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,[1][2] and on May 15, 1973, Torborg also caught the first of Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters.

Jeff Torborg
Torborg with the Yankees in 1982
Catcher / Manager
Born: (1941-11-26) November 26, 1941
Plainfield, New Jersey
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 10, 1964, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1973, for the California Angels
MLB statistics
Batting average.214
Home runs8
Runs batted in101
Managerial record634–718
Winning %.469
Teams
As player

As manager

Career highlights and awards
Torborg with the Dodgers in 1964

College

Torborg grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, where he was the catcher on the Westfield High School baseball team.[3] He caught at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. 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. In his three-year career from 1961–63, the Torborg batted .390. 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).

Coaching, managing, and broadcasting career

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 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.

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

For the rest of the 1990s, Torborg kept busy working as a sportscaster for the likes of CBS Radio and Fox. Torborg returned to managing, first with the Montreal Expos in 2001 and then the Florida Marlins in 2002.

In 2003, Torborg was fired from the Florida Marlins after they started off the season with a 16–22 record. Jack McKeon was hired to replace him and led the team to a 2003 World Series victory. Torborg then returned to broadcasting for Fox. He served as the color commentator for Atlanta Braves games on FSN South and Turner South in 2006, where he was partnered with Bob Rathbun. However, neither Torborg nor Rathbun was retained for the 2007 season.[4]

Managerial record
TeamFromToRegular season recordPost–season record
GWLWin %GWLWin %
Cleveland Indians19771979 358157201.439 —
Chicago White Sox19891991 485250235.515
New York Mets19921993 20085115.425
Montreal Expos20012001 1094762.431
Florida Marlins20022003 20095105.475
Total 1352634718.469 —
Ref.:[5]

Personal life

Torborg is of Danish descent. His son, Dale, is a former professional wrestler and his daughter-in-law, Christi Wolf, is a bodybuilder and former professional wrestler.

For more than 25 years, Torborg lived with his family in a home in Mountainside, New Jersey.[6]

Torborg has Parkinson's disease, and no longer signs autographs.[7]

References
  1. "Jeff Torborg". baseballlibrary.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  2. "Baseball Slate – May 2008 – Most No-Hitters Caught (As of 5–19–08)". Archived from the original on May 22, 2008.
  3. Merkin, Scott. "Ozzie takes fine in stride" Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Major League Baseball, May 30, 2010. Accessed March 5, 2011. "Torborg was a three-year starting catcher at Westfield High School and an All-American at Rutgers."
  5. "Jeff Torborg". Baseball Reference. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  6. Vecsey, George. "Sports of The Times; Torborgs Aren't Selling The House" Archived August 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, October 12, 1991. Accessed August 15, 2016. "They built the house. Well, not with their own hands, but they had it built for them, and that is nearly the same thing, after 26 years.... The home in Mountainside is not far from Westfield, the New Jersey town where Jeff Torborg was born."
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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