Danny Schmitz is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

for coach Ron Oestrike from 1974 to 1977 before playing professionally from 1977 to 1984. He then served as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan (1988–1990) before becoming the head baseball coach of the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

(1991–2020).

Playing career

Schmitz was a four-year letterman at second base for

, which he helped to a pair of

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

appearances including the 1976 final. After his senior season, in which he batted .339 and served as a co-captain, he was drafted in the 20th round of the

1977 Major League Baseball Draft The 1977 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1977 MLB season. The draft saw the Chicago White Sox select Harold Baines first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1977 Major League Baseb ...

by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. Schmitz would go on to play six seasons in the minors, reaching Class AAA in his second season but never reaching the majors. He spent brief time in the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

systems, including a season as a player-coach with the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

before retiring and turning full-time to coaching.

Coaching career

Immediately after ending his playing career, he served as manager of the Twins' class-A affiliate

Visalia Oaks Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

. He served in that position for three years before returning to Eastern Michigan as an assistant coach. While back with the Hurons, he helped lead EMU to a pair of second-place finishes in 1988 and 1990. He was hired at Bowling Green for his first head coaching job at the collegiate level, just the Falcons ninth coach and fifth since 1928. While with Bowling Green, the Falcons have claimed four

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

regular season titles, seven division titles, and three

Mid-American Conference baseball tournament The Mid-American Conference baseball tournament is the conference baseball championship of the Mid-American Conference, Division I members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2024, the top six finishers participate in t ...

championships. Schmitz has seen 29 players sign professional contracts, while his teams have amassed over 600 wins. Following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020,

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

announced the termination of the baseball program due to budget cuts during the pandemic, just weeks later, the school announced that it had fund-raised enough money to revive the program effective immediately. On June 3, 2020, it was announced that Schmitz would step down from head coach and step into an advisory role with the program.

Head coaching record

This table shows Schmitz's record as a college coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Danny Living people 1955 births Sportspeople from Detroit Baseball second basemen Bowling Green Falcons baseball coaches Columbus Clippers players Eastern Michigan Eagles baseball coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles baseball players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Nashville Sounds players Oneonta Yankees players Tacoma Yankees players Tidewater Tides players Toledo Mud Hens players West Haven Yankees players Baseball players from Detroit 20th-century American sportsmen

Playing career

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References