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Tony Torchia

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Anthony Lewis "Tony" Torchia (born December 13, 1943, in Chicago) is a former minor league baseball player and manager. He was a left-handed throwing, right-handed batting first baseman who played 13 seasons in the minors. Originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers after playing for Miami Dade College, he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox after his rookie season, 1962, and he would spend 24 years in the Boston organization.[1] Torchia played in 1,435 minor league games and batted .294 with 89 home runs.

Torchia holds the distinction of having been the only man who has served as a player, coach and manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox.[citation needed] After he retired as a player in 1974, he coached for the "PawSox" in 1975 (under skipper Joe Morgan). He then managed Boston farm clubs from 1976 to 1984, ranging from Class A to Triple A. His first team, the Winston-Salem Red Sox, won the 1976 Carolina League pennant. He skippered the Bristol Red Sox of the Double-A Eastern League for five seasons (1978–82), winning league titles in 1978 and 1981. Torchia returned to Pawtucket as the third manager in the club's Triple-A history in 1983. He spent two seasons there, winning the 1984 Governors' Cup, emblematic of the championship of the International League.

Torchia then was named bullpen coach for the Boston Red Sox in 1985, his only full campaign in Major League Baseball. He managed Boston's Double-A New Britain farm club in 1986 before leaving the organization for good. He later sued the Red Sox and co-owner Haywood Sullivan, claiming he was demoted and subsequently fired for seeking psychotherapy for depression in 1985.[2]

Beginning in 1987, Torchia coached and managed at the minor league level for the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros and Montréal Expos.[1] His 1988 Riverside Red Wave, a San Diego affiliate, won the Class A California League championship. Torchia later managed the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League in 1994, the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League in 2002, and finally the Mid-Missouri Mavericks in the independent Frontier League in 2003.

References

  1. ^ a b "Tony Torchia Profile". MWL Guide. March 20, 1999.
  2. ^ Associated Press (June 16, 1989). "Torchia Says Red Sox Fired Him for Seeking Therapy" – via LA Times.

Further reading

Preceded by Bristol Red Sox manager
1978–1982 		Succeeded by
Franchise relocated
Preceded by Pawtucket Red Sox manager
1983–1984 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Boston Red Sox bullpen coach
1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New Britain Red Sox manager
1986 		Succeeded by
Dave Holt
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