Jeff Torborg, who managed five major league teams after a 10-year career as a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, has passed away. He was 83.
The Baseball Hall of Fame was first to report the news on its Twitter/X account Sunday.
The Hall of Fame remembers 1965 World Series champion and 1990 AL Manager of the Year Jeff Torborg, who passed away Sunday morning.A 10-year veteran of the Dodgers and Angels, Torborg caught Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, Bill Singer’s no-hitter and Nolan Ryan’s first no-hitter. pic.twitter.com/PdLdY0f9sQ
— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (@baseballhall) January 20, 2025
As a player, Torborg batted .214 with eight home runs and 101 RBIs in 574 games from 1964-73. He is most famous for having caught no-hitters thrown by both Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers — a perfect game in 1965 — and Nolan Ryan with the Angels.
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Ryan and Koufax rank first and second all-time in most no-hitters thrown with seven and four, respectively. Torborg also caught Bill Singer’s no-hitter for the Angels in 1970. He’s one of four players in MLB history to have caught three no-hitters.
Former MLB catcher and Chicago White Sox manager Jeff Torborg passed away this morning in Westfield, N.J. He was 83 years old.Torborg was named the 1990 A.L. Manager of the Year after guiding the Sox to a 94-68 record that season, a 25-game improvement from the previous year. pic.twitter.com/cKpNNdLod7
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) January 20, 2025
As a manager, Torborg skippered five teams: Cleveland (1975-79), the Chicago White Sox (1989-91), the New York Mets (1992-93), the Montreal Expos (2001) and the Florida Marlins (2002-03).
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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 compared to the previous season.
Torborg was 35, the youngest manager in the majors, when he got his first crack with Cleveland in 1977 after Frank Robinson was fired. The first opportunity nearly came with the Dodgers, the team that signed him out of Rutgers in as an amateur free agent in 1963.
Very sad to hear of the passing of former Mets manager Jeff Torborg. Extremely nice man with a good sense of humor. Upon seeing the busts of Mets Hall of Famers in Shea’s Diamond Club he said “They should have one of me. I was the biggest bust they ever had!” RIP.
— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) January 20, 2025
Future Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton openly lobbied for Torborg to replace retiring manager Walter Alston in 1976, but the job went to Tommy Lasorda instead. Lasorda would manage the Dodgers for 21 years, and was inducted to the Hall of Fame by a Veterans Committee in 1997.
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Torborg’s baseball career took him on a tour of the big leagues. After his playing career was over, Torborg spent another 30 years in the game as a manager, coach, and broadcaster.
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.To his entire family, my deepest sympathy. Jeff, I will miss you pic.twitter.com/VHA30fswkZ
— Ozzie Guillen (@OzzieGuillen) January 20, 2025
In addition to his managerial stops, Torborg was a coach for the New York Yankees from 1979-88, and a broadcaster with CBS and Fox from 1995-2000. He retired with a career managerial record of 634-718.
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In 1992, Rutgers University retired Torborg’s number 10 jersey. In 1994, he was inducted into his alma mater’s Hall of Fame. Torborg had lived with Parkinson’s Disease since 2010. He also beat skin cancer in 2002 — missing one spring training workout that year to have surgery to remove a growth.
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