Mike Jirschele

Michael John Jirschele (/ˈdʒɜːrʃəli/; born March 3, 1959 in Clintonville, Wisconsin) is a coach for the Kansas City Royals. He previously served as the manager for the Omaha Storm Chasers baseball team, his 12th season in Omaha and 15th season as a minor league manager. He also played minor league baseball for 13 seasons.

Personal life

Jirschele is one of eight children. His three brothers, Doug, Pete and Jim, all suffered from muscular dystrophy.^[1] He works in a furniture store in the baseball offseason. ^[2]

He and his wife, Sheri, have three children and four grandchildren.^[3]

Player

Jirschele went to high school at Clintonville. He was named as an all-state quarterback on the football team and pursued by the Wisconsin Badgers football team.^[4] After graduating high school, he was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round of the 1977 draft.^[4]

An infielder, Jirschele played minor league baseball from 1977 to 1985 and from 1987 to 1990, hitting .225 with 102 doubles, 31 triples and 35 home runs in 999 games. He played at the Triple-A level for six seasons, but he never reached the major leagues.^[5]

Manager and Coach

Jirschele began his minor league managing career in 1992, heading the GCL Royals in the Gulf Coast League and leading them to the league championship. In 1993, he managed the Rockford Royals of the Midwest League, and in 1994 he managed the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League, leading them to the league championship. From 1995 to 1997 and from 2003 to 2011 he has managed the Omaha Storm Chasers franchise, known as the Royals through the 2010 season.

On September 15, 2010, Dan Bernstein of the Boers and Bernstein Show on Chicago’s WSCR 670 “The Score” told a story about an incident while he was a broadcaster for the 1993 Royals Single-A affiliate Rockford Royals. The incident involved Mike Jirschele who was the Manager. While interviewing a player in the dugout, several times, Jirschele placed his genitalia on Bernstein’s tape recorder. ^{[6] [7]}

On May 23, 2011, Jirschele won his 1,000th game as a minor league manager. He was named the winner of the 2011 Mike Coolbaugh Award as the minor league manager of the year.^[4][8]

On October 25, 2013, Jirschele was announced as a coach for the Kansas City Royals for the 2014 season.^[9] Later, he became the Royals' third-base coach.

In Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, with the Royals down by one run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, Alex Gordon hit a single to left field. Left fielder Gregor Blanco misplayed the ball and Gordon at third base, Jirschele stopped Gordon. The next batter was Salvador Perez, who popped out to third baseman Pablo Sandoval in foul territory to end the game and the series. Fans debated whether Jirschele should have sent Gordon home.^[10] The Kansas City Star tested this out with a college baseball team, and five of six times, the runner was out (the one time the runner was safe was the fault of an overthrow).^[11]

The Royals returned to the playoffs in 2015 after winning the American League Central. In Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, after the Royals had given away a two-run lead and allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to tie the game, Eric Hosmer singled to right field with Lorenzo Cain on first base. When Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista threw to second base, Jirschele sent Cain home to score the run that would send the Royals back to the World Series, where they defeated the New York Mets in five games to win the team's second championship.^[12]

References

External links

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