Garth Ray Iorg ( ; born October 12, 1954) is an American former professional

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 ...

player who played his entire career (1978, 1980–1987) for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He has also worked as the first base coach for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

Career

After attending the

College of the Redwoods College of the Redwoods (CR) is a public community college with its main campus south of Eureka, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and serves three counties. It has two branch campuses, as well as three additiona ...

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Iorg was drafted in the 8th round (181st overall) in the

1973 Major League Baseball Draft The 1973 Major League Baseball draft took place during the 1973 MLB season. The draft saw the Texas Rangers select David Clyde first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1973 Major League Baseball dra ...

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 ...

. He was selected by the

from the Yankees organization in the

1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft The 1976 MLB Expansion Draft was held November 5, 1976. This expansion draft was conducted by Major League Baseball to stock the major league rosters of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, new major league expansion franchises establ ...

. He made his MLB debut on April 9, 1978. In his debut season in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, he wore

uniform number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to id ...

29. He was in the minor leagues in 1979, and in 1980, he was recalled to the Blue Jays wearing uniform number 16 until his retirement. Iorg was called up to the Jays in the 1978 season and played 19 games mostly at second base. He played nine seasons for the Jays, batting .258/.282/.347 with 20 home runs in 931 games played. He was a utility player who spent most of his career as the right-handed half of a third-base platoon with

Rance Mulliniks Steven Rance Mulliniks (born January 15, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball player. Playing career Drafted as a shortstop, Mulliniks made his major league debut in for the California Angels, batting .269 in 78 games. He saw limi ...

called "Mullinorg". During his major league career, he also appeared at 2B, 1B, SS, DH and OF. Although he was an emergency catcher, he never played this position at the major league level. After he retired, he played

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for the Bradenton Explorers in the

Senior Professional Baseball Association The Senior Professional Baseball Association, referred to commonly as the ''Senior League'', was a winter baseball league based in Florida for players age 35 and over, with a minimum age of 32 for catchers. The league began play in 1989 and had ei ...

. Iorg was most recognizable for his strange batting stance, on the toes of his front foot and leaning back toward the

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 catc ...

as the ball was being pitched. Usually a singles hitter, Iorg had the highest

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 ...

(.313) and a .469

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

on the Blue Jays in their division-winning 1985 season. In his final major league

plate appearance In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

, Iorg made

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

's last out of the 1987 season, when a win would have tied the Blue Jays with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

for the

American League East The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). T ...

title, forcing a

one-game playoff A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff, tiebreaker game or knockout game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a ...

. The Jays collapsed during the last week of the season, losing their last seven games. At the time of his retirement, Iorg was the Blue Jays's career leader in

pinch hit In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, Am ...

s. After the end of his playing career, Iorg went into coaching. He managed at every minor league level in the Toronto Blue Jays system. He also worked for the Sosnick Cobb Sports Agency and was the agent for a handful of young players. Iorg was hired by the

as a roving instructor and served as a third base

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

for the final 12 games of the 2008 season, after

Dale Sveum Dale Curtis Sveum ( ; born November 23, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager. He most recently served as the bench coach for the Kansas City Royals. As a player, Sveum saw action in 12 major league seasons b ...

became the interim

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He stayed with the team until the 2014 season, when he was fired on October 10. He was later the manager of the now-defunct

Texas AirHogs The Texas AirHogs were a professional baseball team based in Grand Prairie, Texas from 2008 to 2020. The AirHogs were members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Be ...

baseball team in

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...

Personal life

Iorg is the brother of

Dane Iorg Dane Charles Iorg ( ; born May 11, 1950) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from (–) for four teams, including eight seasons spent with the St. Louis Cardinals. Wh ...

, another former Major League Baseball player. They played against each other in the

1985 American League Championship Series The 1985 American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup in Major League Baseball's 1985 Major League Baseball postseason, 1985 postseason played between the 1985 Kansas City Royals season, Kansas City Royals and the 1985 Toronto Blue ...

. He is also the father of three sons who either play or have been drafted into professional baseball, including Cale Iorg, who represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike the tw ...

. His daughter played

NCAA softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

. Iorg is the founder of the Yard Baseball School in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He is honored in his home town of Blue Lake,

, which named its baseball field after him and his brothers. Iorg is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

.Deseret News

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iorg, Garth 1954 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from Humboldt County, California Bradenton Explorers players Cardenales de Lara players Charleston Charlies players College of the Redwoods Corsairs baseball players Daytona Beach Explorers players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Johnson City Yankees players Latter Day Saints from California Major League Baseball third base coaches Major League Baseball third basemen Milwaukee Brewers coaches People from Arcata, California Syracuse Chiefs managers Syracuse Chiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players West Haven Yankees players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela 20th-century American sportsmen