Jeff Torborg treated everyone he met well, made many friends and raised a great family. He will be greatly missed
He was the right man, at the right time for the right franchise.
Jeff Torborg, former major league catcher and former White Sox manager, passed away on Sunday, at the age of 83. He was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease the last several years, but with an aggressive physical therapy plan and helped by his son Dale, a former member of the White Sox strength and conditioning staff, had been able to function surprising well.
This one is personal for me. I’ve known Jeff since 2010, when I first interviewed him. He always had time for me when I’d call over the years, and had tremendous stories of his days with the Dodgers and Angels (where he caught Sandy Koufax’s perfect game and a Nolan Ryan no-hitter) along with his time on the South Side.
Torborg is the only man in baseball history to have caught epic games from both Koufax and Ryan, as well as a no-hitter from Bill Singer.
I consider him, Billy Pierce and Roland Hemond to be one of the three finest men I ever was blessed to know and call a friend.
Jeff was hired by then Sox GM Larry Himes before the 1989 season. He had previously managed Cleveland, and had been on the Yankees coaching staff for a number of years.
Given the state of the franchise in the late 80s — the possibility of moving to Florida and the desultory results on the field —I asked Jeff why he was even interested in the ballclub.
“I had done my homework on the organization and the players involved with it; I thought they had a good future,” he said. “I was also on the short list for both the Houston and Seattle jobs, although it never got to the point where I was being interviewed by them. I had my first interview with Larry Himes and Al Goldis here in Florida. They taped it and I knew that Jerry Reinsdorf listened to all the interviews they had done. When the second interview came up, I flew to Scottsdale and met with Mr. Reinsdorf. He asked me if I was going to have to go back and talk with the other teams that had interest in me and I said no, that my first priority, the job I wanted, was here with the White Sox. It was a very good organization, a good family situation for me, and I loved the city. Remember, I played on both sides of town when I was with the Dodgers and the Angels.”
Torborg took over a team that had talent, but it was young and needed time to grow. He immediately instituted his philosophy of “team and family,” which he first learned from the Dodgers. Jeff told me that philosophy was accepted by the organization.
“Larry Himes believed in the same thing, and the players accepted it,” he said. “I did some things that I thought would work for everybody involved. For example, wives weren’t allowed to travel on road trips; I changed that and let them come along. I mean, why wouldn’t you want guys to be with their family on the road instead of going out someplace? It was so well-accepted that in September, when I said that the wives couldn’t come along anymore, some of the guys were really upset over it. I said they couldn’t come anymore because we expanded the roster in September and there wasn’t room on the team plane. I called a meeting and told the guys that it was written down in the team rules; I wasn’t trying to pull something over on them, and that if this was going to be a problem, then next season we wouldn’t do it again. I didn’t hear a thing after that!”
The 1989 season started poorly for the Sox, but the second half saw the start of the turnaround that would lead into the 1990 season.
Torborg, again thinking outside the box, reflected on a situation that he thought was one of the catalysts for the change on the field.
“The thing that I remember that really helped bring this along, and part of why we played much better in the second half of 1989, was because of something that happened right before the All-Star break. We were in Kansas City and had a day off before that series. I told the guys, ‘Look, I want you to come out here on your off day for a practice. I want to emphasize the things we worked on in Spring Training … relay throws, hitting the cutoff man, bunting, and so on. If you do this and really work hard, instead of having you guys come back early for a practice before we start the second half, you can have all three days off.’
“So we get to the ballpark — it’s very hot in Kansas City in July. I told the guys to wear anything they wanted for the practice. I turned it over to the coaches, and went back to my office to start working on lineups and stuff for the series. After about an hour I went back outside and figured that everybody would be gone, but I saw their clothes were still in the lockers. So I went on the field and the guys were done with the workout but were still on the field, just playing ball! They were having a great time, so I said to myself, ‘OK, let’s do something with this.’ So I ordered pizzas and we had soda and beer, sat around the locker room and had a really great time.’
“I wish I could tell you that we played great against the Royals, but they beat us three straight. But after we got back [to Chicago] the guys played better. We won eight straight, which caused Tommy Paciorek to shave his head. We lost to Roger Clemens in Boston, and then won three more in a row, that’s 11 of 12. What we did in Kansas City helped turn it around a little bit.
“We had fun, too. During the second half, someone got a bobble head doll, we called it the Sammy-doll, because Sosa had this thing he did with his neck and it looked like a bobble head. We took it with us, and we were playing the Red Sox when it accidentally got knocked off a shelf in the dugout and broke. I said, ‘Somebody better get that fixed in a hurry,’ so it was taped up or glued up and we hit a home run, I think it was Iván Calderon, to win the game. It was little things like that, that helped bring this team together.”
The 1990 season was the last in the original Comiskey Park, and the Sox shocked the baseball world by winning 94 games and fighting the Oakland A’s for the divisional lead well into September. Torborg was named American League Manager of the year for his efforts.
The stories and remembrances Torborg had of that year were still vivid in his mind, starting with a game in Texas that turned Bobby Thigpen into a record-setting relief pitcher.
“We blew a 4-0 lead in the ninth inning, and Bobby and I are sitting in our dugout at opposite ends just completely shattered over what happened. Then on the center field scoreboard they were showing a live interview with Pete Incaviglia and he said, “when Bobby comes in, all we have to do is look for the hard stuff.” With that, Bobby’s head snapped up like he was hit in the face with a 2×4. I had told him that he needed another pitch to set up his fastball, but this really had an impact on him. We worked with him, and the very next night I bring him in to another game situation, bases loaded, nobody out and we’re up 5-4. Incaviglia’s the hitter: Bobby throws him a first-pitch slider, gets the double play. Gino Petralli pops out. Bobby struck out the side in the ninth inning and we win the game.”
A turning point mentally for that team came in Oakland when the Sox swept the A’s, got under Dave Stewart’s skin (he was quoted as saying only Carlton Fisk, Calderon and maybe Ron Kittle could “carry his jock”) and showed they weren’t intimidated by the World Champions.
“The A’s beat us up pretty good in Chicago, but when we went to Oakland that was a great series. We wound up sweeping them when Danny Pasqua hit an opposite-field home run in the 10th inning to beat Stewart, 3-2. I always had great respect for Dave; he actually was in the dressing room icing his arm down because he thought the game was over. Dave Henderson hit a two-run home run to tie the game in the ninth inning and Dave came back out to pitch the 10th. The guys used to sit in the dugout watching how a great team like the A’s played; after we swept them I told the players, “Now you know how to do it.”
The Sox won games that season in the most incredible ways, or things happened to set up wins. That year they won a game on a wild pitch, Carlton Fisk got hit in the back with the bases loaded on a curve ball, Ron Kittle got hit on the hip at first base with a ball, then Cal Ripken threw it off his catcher’s glove to allow a run, Iván Calderon faked Toronto’s right fielder into making a nonchalant throw to the relay guy then broke for home and scored. Torborg would suicide squeeze at the drop of a hat and even squeeze with Ron Karkovice at third base. The nickname for the team became the “Doin’ the Little Things” White Sox, masters of fundamental baseball. Joe Morgan gave that club the ultimate compliment when during an ESPN telecast he said the White Sox “play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
“We had to play that way,” Torborg said. “We didn’t have the big home run hitters: Fisk led us with 18 and Calderon led us with 74 RBIs. But we had eight players with more than 50 RBIs. We forced the issue; we stressed the fundamentals and we didn’t beat ourselves. And I’ll tell you something about Karkovice — he was the best bunter on the team.”
Of course the most bizarre, wild, strange, unbelievable win was when Andy Hawkins of the Yankees threw a no-hitter against the Sox on July 1 yet the home team won, 4-0, as the Yankees made consecutive errors in the eighth inning allowing all the runs to score.
“What I most remember about that game was turning to [pitching coach] Sammy Ellis in the dugout and saying “You know, we’re going to get no-hit and still win this game, I’ve got this feeling.” I think I said it in the seventh inning.”
The 1990 season also saw the start of a feud between the Rangers and White Sox, which culminated in 1993 when Robin Ventura charged Nolan Ryan in Texas after he hit him in the ribs. Torborg explained what led to that.
“I remember when Craig Grebeck and Ozzie Guillén hit homers off Nolan and his teammates were giving it to him from the dugout when it happened. I knew Nolan well, of course, since I caught him with the Angels and knew the type of competitor he was.
“Then that Sunday it started to rain before the game was supposed to start. It wasn’t a downpour but a steady rain. It was the last time Texas was coming into Chicago and we asked them if we postponed it would they fly back in on an off-day to play? They said no, so we said we’ll wait as long as we have to because if we can’t get the game in we’re going to have to make it up next week when we went to Texas and I knew, just knew, that if we did, we were going to face Ryan in twilight, and I wanted to avoid that. The umpires were furious with us.
(Persistent rains caused a delay before the first pitch was even thrown. The wait lasted seven hours and 23 minutes, before the game was “officially” called off on Aug. 12, 1990.)
“The next week in Texas, sure enough, we get Ryan in the makeup game, in twilight. It’s hard enough to see him during the day but under those conditions … and he was still mad from what happened the week before. He threw at Grebeck and hit him during the game and I yelled out of the dugout at him. I said, ‘Throwing at Grebeck doesn’t show me anything.’ I told Greg Hibbard, ‘Look if we get in a situation where there are two out and nobody on base, the next guy goes down.’ It was a 1-0 game and I couldn’t afford to do something at the wrong moment. It turned out the situation came up and it happened to one of the nicest guys around, Steve Buechele. He charged the mound, and it was a really ugly fight. It wasn’t your usual baseball fight.“
Then, of course, came the closing of the original Comiskey Park, which drew national attention and brought out a multitude of stars from music, politics, Hollywood and professional sports. Among those in the park that day were Governor Jim Thompson, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Ron Howard, George Wendt, John Candy, Wayne Gretzky, Billy Cunningham and Maureen O’Hara. The Oak Ridge Boys sang the National Anthem and the rock group Styx sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
Torborg remembered that day very well.
“It was the most emotional moment I had ever been through in baseball. There was such energy in the park. Not one fan set foot on the field when the last out came. The fans stayed in their seats and sang, and just refused to leave. I know we all took a victory lap around the field to say thanks to the fans for supporting us.”
Himes was fired that September by Reinsdorf, and Ron Schueler was hired. The 1991 season saw the Sox get white-hot in July and trail the Twins by three games, but at the trade deadline Schueler did nothing and the Sox faded down the stretch. Although they still won 87 games, the step back created the bizarre situation of Schueler encouraging Torborg to consider other offers.
“Later in the season we were in Minnesota for a two-game series. It was a must-win series for us because we were running out of time, and I heard Peter Gammons report on ESPN that my job was in jeopardy. I was thinking, ‘Where is this coming from?’ Then the last homestand of the year when we played the Twins again, Ron Schueler came into my office before it started and he closed the door. I was wondering what was going on. Ron said to me, ‘The Mets called me today and they want to talk with you about the managing job.’ I told him, ‘Ron, I appreciate it, but I have no interest.’ Ron said, ‘Well, think about it, and I’ll come back in a few days. We’ll talk again.’ I’m sitting there wondering what is going on, because I said I had no interest.
“So right before the last games, we had a makeup doubleheader; Ron comes back and asks if I thought about the Mets offer. I told him again that I had no interest but then I said ‘Ron, I’ve got to ask you because this has come up, where do I fit in with you and the organization?’ He looked at me and said, ‘I think both of us would feel bad if you turned it down and then something happened.’
“When he said that I had to think twice about what was happening. Ron and I never had a cross word between us that season, but he wanted to hire his own guy. So when the Mets called, I took the offer. It was the best thing for me financially, but it was the worst move professionally I could have made. Ironically, about a half-hour after I told the Mets I’d take the job the Yankees called and said they were firing Stump Merrill and offered me the position. I told them I had already given my word to the Mets and couldn’t go back on it. But I didn’t want to leave the Sox in the first place. Why would I? This was a good, young team ready to win; my wife and I loved Chicago, and our son Dale was just starting out at Northwestern.”
Torborg would manage the Mets, although not for very long, and would also manage the Expos and Marlins, having the unfortunate luck to have to work for an owner in Jeffery Loria who ruined both franchises.
Torborg also gave former Sox shortstop Guillén his first coaching job. (Guillén, of course, eventually would manage the Sox to the World Series title in 2005.) Guillén, for his part, said upon hearing the news, “I am heartbroken. My mentor and my friend has passed away. Someone who truly understood me and gave me a chance to lead, to be a captain. So much of my way of managing and being in a clubhouse came from him.”
Longtime Sox organist Nancy Faust was contacted Sunday evening and said this about Jeff: “He was gracious and humble and he had the love and respect of all of us.”
There were very few people in baseball that had the respect that Jeff Torborg did. He treated everyone he met well, made many friends and raised a great family. He will be greatly missed.