Jeff Torborg: 1941-2025

The author of one of the greatest White Sox surprise teams in history, and a catcher of note in his own right, has left us

On Sunday night, the White Sox announced that former catcher, manager, and broadcaster Jeff Torborg passed away today, at age 83. Among his many accomplishments in baseball, Torborg as manager led the 1990 White Sox on a miracle run in 1990, challenging the juggernaut Oakland A’s and finishing with 94 wins.

Torborg played for 10 seasons with the Dodgers and Angels from 1964-73, then managed Cleveland before taking the White Sox job in 1989.

Torborg was a backup catcher in Los Angeles for most of his career, winning a World Series in 1965 and on September 9 of that year catching Sandy Koufax’s perfect game against the Cubs. Sticking in southern California but moving to the Angels, Torborg also caught a Nolan Ryan no-hitter, in 1973. Having also caught Bill Singer’s Dodgers no-hitter in 1970, Torborg remains just one of 18 catchers to received as many as three no-hitters in his career.

Torborg definitely fit the no-hit, field-general category of catchers, and as such sat out of the big leagues for just one season before hopping on with Cleveland’s coaching staff in 1975. He took over for Frank Robinson during the 1977 season and remained Cleveland’s manager through 1979.

New general manager Larry Himes hand-picked Torborg as White Sox manager after he’d spent most of his post-Cleveland time on the Yankees’ coaching staff. After just 69 wins in 1989, the White Sox shocked the baseball world in 1990, holding first place for 11 days and as late as July and remaining within five games of first until the final six weeks of the season; the 104-win A’s proved too potent for Torborg’s up-and-coming charges. Still, Torborg was named the AL Manager of the Year for the 25-win improvement seen by the Sox.

After falling back to 87 wins and seeing the Minnesota Twins fly past the White Sox for the division and an eventual World Series win, new GM Ron Schueler fired Torborg to hire his “own” manager; to the public, Torborg was being released to take a Mets job closer to his New Jersey roots, where his mother was said to be ailing — but Torborg never wanted to leave his young and on-the-rise White Sox.

The skipper failed with the Mets, lasting just 38 games into the 1993 season and fired with more than half of his guaranteed deal on the books. Later, in 2001, Torborg took the Montreal Expos job and went south to Miami with the club when it relocated for 2002.

Overall, Torborg never managed a team into the playoffs, going 634-718 in his career and seeing his only two winning seasons of his 11 as a skipper on the South Side.

Torborg also worked as a broadcaster, on CBS radio, for Fox Sports, and working as a color man in Atlanta in 2006.