Former White Sox manager Jeff Torborg passes away

CHICAGO – Former major-league catcher and Chicago White Sox manager Jeff Torborg of Port Orange, Fla. passed away early this morning. He was 83 years old.

A catcher, coach, manager and then national broadcaster, Torborg spent five decades in Major League Baseball.

“Jeff was a tremendous baseball man with great character,” said White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. “He was a leader. Jeff managed a young, coming-of-age White Sox team that featured Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Ozzie Guillen, Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura among others. That core nucleus, led early on by Jeff, really turned the fortunes of the franchise around on the field with that exciting 1990 season.”

“Jeff had a great impact on my professional career,” said former White Sox shortstop and manager and 2005 World Series champion Ozzie Guillén. “He gave me confidence and taught me a lot. Jeff put the White Sox on the map in the 1990s, and he taught that group of players to fight each day to get a win.”

“It’s a sad day to lose a great man with such high character,” said Robin Ventura, who played for Torborg from 1989-91. “He was a family man who ran his team like a family. I smile as I think of him in the dugout wearing his soccer cleats as he managed his team."

Torborg played 10 career major-league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1964-70) and California Angels (1971-73). He was behind the plate for three no-hitters, including Sandy Koufax’s perfect game on June 9, 1965, Bill Singer’s no-hitter on July 20, 1970, and Nolan Ryan’s first career no-hitter on May 15, 1973, as well as Don Drysdale’s record-setting scoreless innings streak in 1968. Torborg was a member of the 1965 World Series Champion Dodgers.

He managed five different clubs over 11 seasons as a major-league manager with the Cleveland Indians (1977-79), White Sox (1989-91), New York Mets (1992-93), Montreal Expos (2001) and Florida Marlins (2002-03). Torborg was named the 1990 American League Manager of the Year after guiding the White Sox to a 94-68 record that season, a 25-game improvement from the previous year. He was a major-league coach with the New York Yankees from 1979-88.

Torborg served as an analyst for CBS Radio and FOX in the late 1990s. During his 12-year broadcasting career, he worked with the legendary 1982 Ford C. Frick Award winner Vin Scully for three World Series (1995-97).

A native of Westfield, N.J., Torborg earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Rutgers University, where he was a 1963 All-American after setting a school single-season record with a .537 batting average. Later, he earned his master’s degree in athletic administration from Montclair State University. Torborg, a member of the Westfield High School Hall of Fame, Union County Hall of Fame and Rutgers University Hall of Fame, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2010.

Torborg is survived by his wife of nearly 62 years, Suzie; three children, Doug, Greg, and Dale; daughters-in-law Karen and Christi; four grandchildren, Alexis, Jeffrey, Kelly, and Sierra; and two great-grandchildren, Lane and Lee.