Rick Renick obit

Former Twins player, coach Rick Renick dead at 81

 

He was not on the list.

Rick Renick, a former Twins player who later became the third base coach for their 1987 World Series championship team, died Saturday, Jan. 31, at age 81.

Renick, who was living in Sarasota, Fla., played five seasons for the Twins from 1968 to 1972 before returning to the organization in 1987. Third base coach Tom Kelly became the interim manager in September 1986 when Ray Miller was fired, and when Kelly retained the job for the 1987 season, he chose Renick, his former minor league teammate who was working with the Montreal Expos, as his third base coach over former Seattle Mariners manager Chuck Cottier, who was owner Carl Pohlad’s preferred choice.

Renick was the lone new coach on the 1987 staff.

“There seems to be good camaraderie, a good feeling, a good bunch of guys,” he said at 1987 spring training in Orlando. “When you have people who put a lot of heart and soul into their work, it’s a good thing to be around.”

Renick’s intuition proved correct, as the team went on to its first division championship since 1970, when Renick played for the Twins. After the 1987 Twins clinched the AL West title in Arlington, Texas, Renick said: “This one’s so special. In ’70 we were supposed to win. This team here, we were supposed to finish fifth. But I told them in spring training. I told they were good enough to do it. They didn’t know how good they could be.”

The Twins went on to beat the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series, then the St. Louis Cardinals for Minnesota’s first World Series championship.

Renick, who earned a reputation as an extremely aggressive third base coach and also worked extensively with hitters, remained with the team for the next three seasons as well, but after the Twins finished in last place in the AL West in 1990, he was fired by General Manager Andy MacPhail and replaced the following season by Ron Gardenhire. Renick declined an opportunity to stay as a coach in the Twins farm system, instead opting to join the Chicago White Sox.

As a player, Renick signed with the Twins in 1964 after his sophomore season at Ohio State and made his major league debut on July 11, 1968 against the Tigers at Metropolitan Stadium. In the second inning, he hit a home run to left off Mickey Lolich to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in an eventual 5-4 victory, making him the first Twins player to homer in his first major league at-bat.

Primarily a third baseman and left fielder, Renick appeared in 276 games for the Twins over the next five seasons — his only major league playing experience — and appeared in the 1969 and ’70 ALCS with the team. He was a career .221 hitter with 20 home runs and 71 RBI in 553 at-bats. His best season was 1970, when he hit .229 with seven home runs with 25 RBI in 81 games.

Renick spent the 1973 season with Class AAA Tacoma Twins and was a player-coach through the 1976 season. He was a player coach for Class AAA Denver Bears (a Montreal Expos farm team) in 1977 and ’78 before retiring as a player. In 11 minor league seasons, he hit 140 home runs with 513 RBI in 947 games. He also played for the Orlando Twins, Wilson Tobs, and the Charlotte Hornets.

In 1979, he became a minor league hitting instructor for the Kansas City Royals. He managed Montreal’s Class AA farm teams from 1982 to ’84 before becoming an Expos coach in 1985. He was with such teams as the Memphis Chicks, Vancouver Canadians and Jacksonville Suns.

After leaving the Twins, Renick worked in the White Sox system from 1991 to ’96 and was named American Association Manager of the Year at Class AAA Nashville in 1993 and ’96.

Renick returned to the major leagues in 1997 as the bench coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he stayed for four seasons. He returned to the Expos as a coach in 2001, then spent his final major league season in 2002 as bench coach for the Florida Marlins.

Renick’s wife, Libby, died last March at age 80. They had three sons, including Josh Renick, a Twins 11th-round draft pick in 2001. He spent three seasons in their farm system and three more with the then-independent St. Paul Saints.

He also managed in the high minors for the Expos and Chicago White Sox; as skipper of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, Renick was named American Association Manager of the Year in 1993 and 1996.

 

Teams

As player

Minnesota Twins (1968–1972)

As coach

 

Kansas City Royals (1981)

Montreal Expos (1985–1986; 2001)

Minnesota Twins (1987–1990)

Pittsburgh Pirates (1997–2000)

Florida Marlins (2002)

Career highlights and awards

World Series champion (1987)