Richard Francis Donnelly (born August 3, 1946) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

coach. On March 7, 2014, he was named third-base coach of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

, replacing

John Stearns John Hardin Stearns (August 21, 1951 – September 15, 2022), nicknamed "Bad Dude", was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets from 1975 to 1984 after playing a single ...

.mlb.com
/ref> He served in the post for two seasons, through , before his release on October 9, 2015. Donnelly was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) coach for over 25 years, and was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

during his active career in minor league baseball. Donnelly had been slated to spend as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of the

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which opened in 1960 ...

of the Pacific Coast League, the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate.''Tacoma_News-Tribune
''_However,_Stearns_underwent_hiatal_hernia.html" ;"title="Tacoma News-Tribune">''Tacoma News-Tribune
'' However, Stearns underwent hiatal hernia">Tacoma News-Tribune">''Tacoma News-Tribune
'' However, Stearns underwent hiatal hernia surgery prior to spring training on February 24, and his slower-than-expected recovery caused him to step down to a scout (sport), professional scouting post with the Mariners. Donnelly was then named to take his place on the staff of manager

Lloyd McClendon Lloyd Glenn McClendon (born January 11, 1959) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1987 to 1994 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and the ...

, whose playing tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1990–1994) coincided with Donnelly's service on

Jim Leyland James Richard Leyland (born December 15, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He serves as a special assistant to the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Leyland led the Florida Marlins to the ...

's coaching staff. Prior to joining the Mariners' organization in 2014, Donnelly spent three seasons (2011–2013) as manager of the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island Boar ...

of the

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

, Short Season-A

farm club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Early life

Donnelly graduated from Steubenville Catholic Central High School in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

where he played baseball and basketball. He attended college at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

Playing career

Donnelly was signed as a catcher by the Minnesota Twins in 1967 and played four seasons in the Twins' and Washington Senators' minor league systems, compiling a .224 career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with two home runs and 73

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

in 313 games played.

Coaching career

Donnelly managed in the Texas Rangers farm system from 1972 to 1979 and 1981 to 1982. He was honored as the

Western Carolinas League Portion of plaque displaying likeness of John Henry Moss at Municipal Stadium, Hagerstown, Maryland The Western Carolinas League was a Class D (1948–52; 1960–62) and a low Class A (1963–79) full-season league in American minor league base ...

Manager of the Year from 1972 to 1974. He led the Class A

Gastonia Rangers The Gastonia Rangers were a class A minor league baseball team located in Gastonia, North Carolina. The team played first as the Rangers in the Western Carolinas League (1973–1974). In 1983 and 1984, they played as the Gastonia Expos, as an affil ...

to the league title in 1974. He managed the Rangers Class AAA affiliate from 1976 to 1979 and 1981 to 1982. Donnelly was the bullpen coach for the Texas Rangers in 1980. He served as the first base coach for the Rangers from 1983–1985. Donnelly spent 14 seasons on

's staff with three organizations—

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

(1986–1996),

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

(1997–1998) and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

(1999). He earned a

World Series ring A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series ...

with Florida in 1997. He remained with the Rockies through 2002. He was a third base coach for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003 to 2005 and for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in 2006 and 2007, then worked in player development for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2008 to 2010. From 2011 to 2013, Donnelly was the manager of the short-season Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. He was named manager of the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers on January 16, 2014. He became the Seattle Mariners third base coach on March 7, 2014. Donnelly rejoined the Brooklyn Cyclones for their 2018 season as the Bench Coach to manager

Edgardo Alfonzo Edgardo Antonio Alfonzo (born November 8, 1973), nicknamed Fonzie, is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder from to , most notably as a member of the New York Mets, wi ...

. The Mets promoted Donnelly to Manager of the

Kingsport Mets The Kingsport Mets were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League from 1921 to 2020. They were located in Kingsport, Tennessee, and were last named for the team's major league affiliate, the New York Mets. The team played its home ga ...

for 2019.

Personal life

Donnelly is on the Board of Directors for the

International Racquetball Tour The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is the leading professional racquetball organization for men's competition. It was founded in 1991 and is the successor to previous iterations of the tour by different names. Professional Men's racquetbal ...

and is an avid racquetball player. When asked which sport he favors between baseball and racquetball, he answered racquetball without hesitating. Perhaps the best known story of Donnelly is his experience coaching the Florida Marlins in the 1997 World Series. His 18-year-old daughter, Amy, died of a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

in 1993. Amy attended a 1992 playoff game in which Rich was coaching. She noticed that he would cup his hands over his mouth while yelling out instructions to runners on second base. After the game, she asked, "Dad, what are you telling them? That the chicken runs at midnight, or what?" After her death, "The Chicken Runs at Midnight" was engraved on her tombstone and it became the family motto. In 1997, as a member of the Florida Marlins, he met

Craig Counsell Craig John Counsell (born August 21, 1970) is an American former professional baseball player who is the manager for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Counsell became the Brewers' manager in May 2015; he became the longest-te ...

, a player his son Tim nicknamed "Chicken" because of his unique batting stance. In the 11th inning of Game 7, Counsell reached base and was able to advance to third base as the inning progressed. Edgar Rentería then hit a single on which Counsell scored, winning the World Series for the Marlins. Rich's sons Tim and Mike, who were honorary bat boys that evening, rushed to their father in celebration. Tim pointed out to the stadium clock which read 12:00 midnight, telling his father, "The Chicken ran at midnight, Dad." Donnelly believes that Amy was sending him a message from Heaven, and this experience has strengthened his faith in God. Donnelly's son, Michael, was killed at age 38 in a car accident on January 7, 2018. Michael and a few others had stopped to help a motorist push their disabled car off the highway when a car struck Michael and a woman. The mother-of-two was saved by Michael, who grabbed her shirt and pulled her into his body, shielding her from the brunt of the impact. Lyndsee Longoria, the woman that Michael saved, keeps in contact with Donnelly, who comforted her in the difficult months after the accident. In November 2018, she gave birth to her third child, whom she named Michael Donnelly Longoria. Rich Donnelly has six living children. ''The Chicken Runs at Midnight'' by Tom Friend is a book about Donnelly's story, released on October 2, 2018. The book was featured on the documentary ''Champions of Faith'', highlighting the stories of Catholic MLB players.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Rich 1946 births Living people American racquetball players Baseball catchers Baseball coaches from Ohio Baseball players from Ohio Brooklyn Cyclones managers Catholics from Ohio Colorado Rockies (baseball) coaches Denver Bears players Florida Marlins coaches Los Angeles Dodgers coaches Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Milwaukee Brewers coaches Orlando Twins players Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pittsfield Senators players Red Springs Twins players Sacramento Solons managers Sportspeople from Steubenville, Ohio St. Cloud Rox players Seattle Mariners coaches Texas Rangers coaches United States national baseball team people Xavier University alumni