Dale Sveum
Sveum as 3rd base coach for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2006
Chicago Cubs – No. 33
Infielder/Manager
Born: (1963-11-23) November 23, 1963 (age 48) Richmond, California
Batted: Switch	Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 12, 1986 for the Milwaukee Brewers
Last MLB appearance
October 3, 1999 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics (through May 30, 2012)
Batting Average	.236
Home Runs	69
RBI	340
Record as manager	25-37
Winning %	.403
Teams
As Player Milwaukee Brewers (1986–1991) Philadelphia Phillies (1992) Chicago White Sox (1992) Oakland Athletics (1993) Seattle Mariners (1994) Pittsburgh Pirates (1996–1997) New York Yankees (1998) Pittsburgh Pirates (1999) As Manager Milwaukee Brewers (2008) (interim) Chicago Cubs (2012-Present) As Coach Boston Red Sox (2004–2005) Milwaukee Brewers (2006–2011)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion in 2004

Dale Curtis Sveum (pronounced /ˈsweɪm/ SWAYM; born November 23, 1963, in Richmond, California) is a former Major League Baseball player and the current manager of the Chicago Cubs.

Playing career[link]

A talented athlete, Sveum was an All-State and All-American quarterback while attending Pinole Valley High School, in addition to being a fine baseball player. Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1st round (25th pick) of the 1982 amateur draft, he went on to play 12 seasons in MLB, hitting .236 with 69 home runs.

Sveum's best season came in 1987, when he hit 25 home runs and drove in 95 runs while batting mostly in the ninth spot in the Brewers' lineup. On April 19 (Easter Sunday), he hit a walkoff home run at County Stadium to give Milwaukee a 6–4 victory over the Texas Rangers, their twelfth in a row. The moment is perhaps the greatest of Sveum's career, and the game one of the most remembered in Brewers history. Later that year, he enjoyed the best single game of his career when, on July 17, he hit three home runs and had six RBIs, leading his team to a 12–2 thumping of the California Angels.

The following season, Sveum had a career-threatening collision with teammate Darryl Hamilton in which his leg was broken. He missed the rest of the 1988 season and all of the 1989 season. He was never the same player after the incident^{[citation needed]}, and was replaced on the Milwaukee roster by Gary Sheffield.

During his career, Sveum had the distinction of playing for five separate managers who would, at some point in their careers, win a league Manager of the Year Award. These managers were Tony La Russa ('83, '88, '92, '02), under whom Sveum played in Oakland, Joe Torre ('96, '98), in New York, Lou Piniella ('95, '01, '08), in Seattle, Jim Leyland ('90, '92, '06) in Pittsburgh, and Gene Lamont ('93) in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

Coaching career[link]

Prior to coaching in Milwaukee, Sveum managed the Double A team in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization from 2001–2003, compiling a 213-211 record. He was named Top Managerial Prospect in the Eastern League by Baseball America in 2003.^[1]

Sveum was the third base coach for the Boston Red Sox from 2004–05, working under manager (and former Brewers teammate) Terry Francona, and was part of the 2004 World Series championship team. In Boston, he was known for being aggressive with sending runners, though this often led to runners being thrown out at home plate. He left the Red Sox to rejoin the Brewers as the team's bench coach. On October 30, 2007, Sveum left his role as the Brewers' bench coach to become the team's third base coach.^[2] On September 15, 2008, he was named interim manager of the Milwaukee Brewers after manager Ned Yost was fired. Sveum led the team to a 7-5 record to close out the 2008 regular season, which was enough for the Brewers to make the playoffs for the first time since their World Series run in 1982. Under Sveum's leadership, the Brewers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in 4 games in the 2008 NLDS. As Ken Macha took over the Brewers for the 2009 season, Sveum stayed on as the team's hitting coach.

On November 16, 2011 the Chicago Cubs offered Sveum their vacant managerial position.^[3] The following day, on November 17, 2011, Sveum accepted an offer to become the new manager of the Chicago Cubs, and was introduced on November 18, 2011.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

v t e Chicago Cubs managers Chicago White Stockings (1870–1889) Spalding Ferguson Flint Anson Chicago Colts (1890–1897) Anson Chicago Orphans (1898–1901) Burns Loftus Chicago Cubs (1902–present) Selee Chance Evers O'Day Bresnahan Tinker Mitchell Evers Killefer Maranville Gibson McCarthy Hornsby Grimm Hartnett Wilson Johnson Grimm Frisch Cavarretta Hack Scheffing Grimm Boudreau College of Coaches Kennedy Klein Durocher Lockman Marshall Franks Gómez Amalfitano Elia Fox Frey Vukovich Michael Lucchesi Zimmer Altobelli Essian Lefebvre Trebelhorn Riggleman Baylor Lachemann Kimm Baker Piniella Quade Sveum The College of Coaches included Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe, Lou Klein, Charlie Metro, and Bob Kennedy

Craig Wilson is a columnist for USA Today. He has been a feature writer at the newspaper for over two decades. He has written his The Final Word column each Wednesday since 2000. He is also the author of It's the Little Things: An Appreciation of Life's Simple Pleasures (Random House, ISBN 0-375-75896-8).^[1]

Prior to joining USA Today, Wilson was a columnist for the Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, New York.^[2]

He was an AFS exchange student to Great Britain in 1966.

External links[link]

• Final Word
• Final Word archive
• transcript of chat with Wilson

References[link]

This article about a United States journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ron Washington
managing a Texas Rangers game during the 2007 season
Texas Rangers – No. 38
Shortstop / Manager
Born: (1952-04-29) April 29, 1952 (age 60) New Orleans, Louisiana
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 10, 1977 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
July 7, 1989 for the Houston Astros
Career statistics (through May 28, 2012)
Batting average	.261
Hits	414
Runs batted in	146
Games managed	859
Win–loss record	458-401
Winning %	.533
Teams
As Player Los Angeles Dodgers (1977) Minnesota Twins (1981–1986) Baltimore Orioles (1987) Cleveland Indians (1988) Houston Astros (1989) As Coach Oakland Athletics (1996–2006) As Manager Texas Rangers (2007–present)

Ronald Washington (born April 29, 1952, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and the current manager of the Texas Rangers. Prior to managing the Rangers, Washington coached in the New York Mets and Oakland Athletics organizations.

Playing career[link]

Washington was signed by the Kansas City Royals on July 17, 1970. He spent the next ten seasons in the minor leagues with three different organizations (Royals, Mets & Dodgers). He earned a brief September callup with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 hitting .368 (7 for 19). He wouldn't return to the major league level until 1981 with the Minnesota Twins where he would remain until 1986. He then played one season each for the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Houston Astros before retiring from Triple-A Oklahoma City in 1990. He was a middle infielder for most of his career. On May 28, 1988, while playing for the Indians, Washington broke up Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Odell Jones' no-hit bid after 8 and 1/3 innings with a pinch-hit single.^[1]

Coaching career[link]

Following his retirement as a player, Washington worked in the New York Mets organization for five years. After being hired as the Oakland Athletics first base coach in 1996 under his former Astros manager Art Howe, Washington then served as infield and third base coach for the A's between 1997 and 2006. As infield coach Washington has been credited for developing much of the A's young infield talent in the last decade, including six-time Gold Glover Eric Chavez, and former MVP and A's shortstop Miguel Tejada. In 2004, Chavez expressed his appreciation by giving Washington one of his Gold Glove trophies, signed "Wash, not without you."^[2]

Washington plays a significant role in the events of the book Moneyball, a book detailing how the A's have been successful despite a small budget. Washington is shown in a positive light for the way he trained Scott Hatteberg to field first base for the first time in his career. Washington is also, however, portrayed as too old-fashioned and traditional in his lack of acceptance of general manager Billy Beane's sabermetric strategies. He was portrayed in the film adaptation of the book by Brent Jennings.

Manager[link]

Ron Washington in April 2011

On November 6, 2006, the Texas Rangers announced that Washington had accepted their offer to manage the team^[3] replacing Buck Showalter, who was fired a month earlier. Washington beat out four other candidates for the job: Rangers bench coach Don Wakamatsu, then New York Mets third base coach Manny Acta, Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman^[4] and former Rangers catcher John Russell.^[5]

At the beginning of the 2007 season, it was rumored that there was a rift between Washington and Rangers star Mark Teixeira. Asked about it, Washington responded,

A lot of times we make three outs on four or five pitches... I just can't see that late in the game when you're four or five runs down. You're at the point where the starter is out of the game, you're in the middle (of the bullpen), these are the guys you want to get to. I've never asked him (Teixeira) to do it when the closer is in the game. But the middle guys, you want to make 'em throw... He feels like he's going to only get one pitch in that type of situation to do something with. He wants to take advantage of it. I've got no problem with that. But can you guarantee with that one pitch that you're going to do something with it? I don't think any ballplayer on earth can guarantee that. You might pop it up, miss it, roll over it, jam yourself. Then you make one out on one pitch. I want to see him get a pitchers' strike right there.^[6]

Teixeira was traded to the Atlanta Braves in July 2007 and had been rumored to have been on the trading block before reports of tensions with Washington, as his agent, Scott Boras, had refused to negotiate a contract extension beyond the 2008 season. Reports also suggested tensions between Washington and catcher Gerald Laird. Questioned about the rumors, Washington conceded that the pressure he put on Laird was "a lot to put on a young kid... (But) that's what we've got. He's got to grow up fast."^[7]

On August 6, 2007, Washington was ejected for the first time of his managerial career after arguing with umpire Bill Miller over a called third strike to Michael Young, who also was ejected. On March 17, 2010, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported that Washington tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season and has admitted to using cocaine.^[8]

Washington would become only the second manager of the Rangers franchise, after Johnny Oates, to take his team to the post-season after winning the AL West in 2010; the team's first division title in 11 years. On October 12, 2010, Washington became the first manager in franchise history to win a playoff series, with a 3–2 victory in the ALDS over the Tampa Bay Rays. On October 22, 2010, Washington's Rangers defeated the New York Yankees in the ALCS in six games, to advance to their first World Series in franchise history, before losing to the San Francisco Giants in five games. He also became the third African American to manage a team into a World Series, joining Cito Gaston, who managed the Toronto Blue Jays to the World Championship in the 1992 and 1993 World Series, and Dusty Baker, who managed the Giants in the 2002 World Series.

Referring to Washington, second baseman Ian Kinsler said: "I just love the way he never holds his emotion back, especially when he's managing. He hangs on every pitch, and it's great to know that your manager is in every single pitch and cares that much."^[9] In 2009 his salary was about $750,000.^[10] On November 4, 2010, Washington agreed to a two-year contract extension.

On October 15, 2011, Washington managed the Rangers to their second World Series in as many years, when the Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. The Rangers eventually lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games, after twice being one strike away from the title in game 6. On January 30, 2012, Washington agreed to another two-year contract extension. He will manage the American League in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game in July.

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2007
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2008
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2009
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2010
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Ron Washington managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com