December 11, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Former Toronto Blue Jays roving minor league hitting instructor Merv Rettenmund passed away on Saturday at the age of 81.

He died of cancer at his home in San Diego, Calif., according to Bob Nightengale, of USA Today.

Following a successful 13-season big-league playing career in which he registered a .381 on-base percentage and earned two World Series rings, Rettenmund became a highly respected hitting coach for six different big-league teams.

He once described his job as a hitting coach as “50 percent comedian, 25 percent psychologist and 25 percent teacher.”

With the Blue Jays, he worked as a roving minor league instructor from December 2002 to June 2006. In the spring of 2003, he was sidelined after he was hit by a ball during a drill. He continued working for two weeks before discovering he had ruptured his spleen.

“I gave up dip (tobacco), I stopped drinking and I’ve been lifting weights, and now I feel like heck,” he joked with reporters when asked about his spleen injury. “That proves a point.”

Raised in Michigan

Born in Flint, Mich., on June 6, 1943, Rettenmund was raised in an athletic family. As a child, he regularly went to Tiger Stadium and dreamed of suiting up for the Tigers. He was a two-sport athlete in high school, starring as both a slugger on the baseball team and as a speedy half-back on the gridiron.

He earned a football scholarship to Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., where he proceeded to break the school’s single-season rushing record. His running skills convinced the Dallas Cowboys to select him in the 19th round of the 1965 NFL draft.

But Rettenmund also excelled on the diamond at Ball State and when the Baltimore Orioles offered him $15,000 to sign in November 1964, he opted for a pro baseball career.

Honing skills with Orioles

Showcasing both power and speed, he rose through the Orioles’ minor league ranks and made his MLB debut on April 14, 1968. He played 31 games with the O’s that season before spending the entire 1969 campaign in the big leagues.

The following year, the right-handed hitting outfielder topped the O’s with a .322 batting average and clubbed 18 home runs in 106 games. He also belted a home run in Game 5 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds to help the O’s clinch the championship.

For an encore, he batted .318 to again lead the O’s in 1971. He also set career-highs in games (141), hits (156), RBIs (75), stolen bases (15) and walks (87). The O’s repeated as American League champs but lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.

Rettenmund’s production dipped the following two seasons and he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in December 1973. With the Big Red Machine, he had to battle for playing time but was part of their World Series-winning team in 1975.

Prior to the 1976 season, Rettenmund was traded to the San Diego Padres where he would set a Padres’ record with 22 pinch-hits in 1977.

On March 25, 1978, he signed with the California Angels where he spent his final three seasons in a bench role.

By this time in his career, Rettenmund had faced most of the greatest pitchers of his era, and he was asked by a reporter if he’d rather face Jim Palmer or Tom Seaver.

“That’s like asking if I’d rather be hanged or go to the electric chair,” quipped Rettenmund.

Moves into coaching ranks

Rettenmund joined the Angels as their hitting coach in 1981 and then served as a roving hitting instructor for them in 1982.

The ensuing year, he was hired to be the Texas Rangers hitting coach, a position he’d hold for three seasons.

In 1986, he returned to the minors to share his wisdom as a roving instructor for the Oakland A’s prior to being promoted to Tony La Russa‘s big league staff in 1989, where he helped the club to a World Series title.

Becomes Padres hitting guru

In 1991, he was hired by the Padres to be their hitting coach and he was employed in that role until 1999. In his nine seasons with the Padres, the club’s hitters won five National League batting titles (Tony Gwynn won four (1994 to 1997) and Gary Sheffield won one (1992)).

Rettenmund’s charisma and sense of humor made him popular with the players and the press. In 1999, the Padres allowed country singer Garth Brooks to participate in spring training. Rettenmund was asked to evaluate Brooks’ swing.

“Well, he starts in the hitting area slow, then it slows down some more,” Rettenmund replied with a chuckle.

After nine seasons as the Padres hitting coach, Rettenmund landed the same role with the Atlanta Braves, where he worked for two seasons before moving on to the Detroit Tigers in 2002.

Hired by Blue Jays

On December 9, 2002, Rettenmund was hired to be a roving minor league hitting instructor with the Blue Jays. While in the Blue Jays organization, he worked with prospects like Aaron Hill, Russ Adams, Alex Rios, and Simon Pond (Vancouver, B.C.).

Early in the spring of 2004, Pond credited much of his improvement to Rettenmund.

“Merv talked about slowing it down . . . slowing my whole approach down,” Pond told the Toronto Star. “I’ve always tried to get my pitch and hammer it, but with his philosophy, I started hitting the ball even harder.”

Pond led the Blue Jays with 23 hits that spring and cracked the club’s Opening Day roster.

Similar to working with Brooks in Padres camp, Rettenmund drew another celebrity assignment in the spring of 2005 when 44-year-old Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci decided to participate in Blue Jays camp for five days and write about it.

“Your swing is good,” Rettenmund told Verducci. “Your timing is terrible.”

Back to Padres

One June 14, 2006, Rettenmund was rehired by the Padres to be their hitting coach and he stayed in that position for parts of two seasons.

He retired in 2007. In his post major league life, Rettenmund and his wife, Susan, enjoyed travelling around the world. But he never stopped teaching hitting. Even in recent years, he was an in-demand private hitting instructor in the San Diego area.

“The only thing I know about baseball is that no one will ever figure it out,” Rettenmund liked to say.

He certainly figured it out more than most.

Rettenmund is survived by his wife, his two daughters and his grandchildren.