Tom Trebelhorn

Thomas Lynn Trebelhorn (born January 27, 1948) is a former manager in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers (1986–91) and Chicago Cubs (1994). He was the manager of the Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes from 2008 to 2012.

Personal life

Trebelhorn was born in Portland, Oregon. Trebelhorn is married to former Summerfest director and Milwaukee mainstay Bo Black.

Playing career

Trebelhorn was drafted in the sixth round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft by the Bend Rainbows, a newly formed short-season Class A team independently owned by the Hawaii Islanders, a AAA club that was itself affiliated with the California Angels.^[1][2] He spent five years as a minor league catcher and infielder for the Islanders (and by extension their affiliates the Angels and, later, San Diego Padres) and Oakland Athletics organizations.

Managerial career

Overview

After his playing career ended, he served in several managerial and coaching stints in the minor league organizations of the Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates before being named as the first base coach of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1984. While coaching in the Oakland Minor League Organization, he was instrumental in teaching future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson the intricacies of base stealing, based on remarks made by Henderson at his induction ceremony to the 'Hall' on July 27, 2009.

He was named manager of the Brewers' top farm team, the Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Coast League, in 1985, whom he guided to the league title. The following year saw him back in the majors as the club's third base coach. He was awarded the Brewers' managerial position after the retirement of George Bamberger with nine games remaining in the 1986 season. The following year, his first full season as manager in the major leagues, saw the Brewers begin by winning their first 13 games on their way to a strong third place finish, a great improvement over recent seasons which garnered him Manager of the Year awards from Baseball America and Sports Illustrated. Subsequent years were not as good, however, and he was fired after the 1991 campaign.

Trebelhorn was named bench coach of the Chicago Cubs in 1992. He was promoted to manager in 1994, but was fired following a last-place finish. While Trebelhorn's tenure as Cubs manager was short, it was memorable. Following a slow start in which the Cubs failed to win their first 10 home games, Trebelhorn promised reporters that if the Cubs lost the next game, he'd answer questions from fans in front of the firehouse across Waveland Avenue from Wrigley Field. True to form, the Cubs lost the next game. True to his word, Trebelhorn marched across the street shortly after the game and held court. "OK, what do you guys want to know?" he said.

In 1995, he returned to the minor leagues as the first manager of the Tri-City Posse of the newly formed Western Baseball League, directing the club to the league finals.

Following this, he was hired to be the minor league coordinator of instruction for the Baltimore Orioles, his first front office position. He served in this role for three years, and afterwards as the Orioles' director of player development and director of organizational instruction for one year each.

In 2001, Trebelhorn was promoted to be the Orioles' third base coach. Midway through the 2005 season, he was transferred to the position of bench coach, taking over the role from Sam Perlozzo, who was named interim manager. In 2006, Trebelhorn returned to his former position of third base coach. For the 2007 season, he once again took over as the Orioles' bench coach. He was fired at the end of the 2007 season.^[3]

Return to minors

He took on the role of manager again in 2008 for the Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes,^[4] a position in which he continues to serve as of the 2012 season.

In 2009, Trebelhorn was selected by the Italian national team to be a coach for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.^[5]

Managerial record

References

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com – Career managing record

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Salem-Keizer Volcanoes official website