Michael Scott Trombley (born April 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

. During an 11-year major league career, Trombley pitched for the

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 ...

(– and ),

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

(–) and

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

(2001).

Education

Trombley attended Minnechaug Regional High School (1985) and

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

(1986). He attended

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

and graduated in 1990. In 1988, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Falmouth Commodores The Falmouth Commodores are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Commodores play their home games at Arnie All ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

Minnesota Twins

He was drafted in the 14th round by the

in 1989. He made his major league debut for the Twins in 1992, with the team in a pennant race. He went 3-2 with a 3.30 ERA in 46 innings, which earned him the team's rookie of the year award. Trombley played with many well-known players in 1993, including

Kirby Puckett Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett was instrumental in helping the Twins t ...

Rick Aguilera Richard Warren Aguilera (born December 31, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1985 to 2000. Aguilera won a world championship as a member of the ...

and

Dave Winfield David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he playe ...

. Early in his career, Trombley gave up

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

designated hitter

Eddie Murray Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie", is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, designated hitter, and coach. Spending most of his MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, he ranks fourth ...

's 3000th hit on June 30, 1995. He was sent to

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

for a short time, which drove him to start using a split finger fastball. In 1996, Trombley was recalled from AAA Salt Lake City to the Twins in 1996, and would be one of the most prominent

relief pitchers Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

in the league. He finished in the top six in appearances from 1998 through 2000. In 1999, when he was a free agent, Trombley posted 24 saves, which led to him signing a three-year deal with the

for $7.75 million. His departure left the Twins looking for a closer. The team had hoped to keep Trombley; Twins general manager Terry Ryan said, "That certainly puts a hole in the back end of our bullpen, so we're going to have to start making alternative plans.". Trombley pitched 634 innings for the Twins and ended his Twins career with 30 wins, 34 losses, and 34 saves.

Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers

Trombley played for the

for three years, until he was traded to the

in 2001. He would pitch for the Dodgers for one year and return for a short time for the Twins, before retiring in 2002.

Post-Major League career

Currently, Mike and his wife Barbara are owners and managing partners of Trombley Associates in Wilbraham, MA. Trombley Associates is a full service financial planning company. They have three children, Tory, Kyle and Alexandra.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trombley, Mike 1967 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Springfield, Massachusetts Duke Blue Devils baseball players Edmonton Trappers players Falmouth Commodores players Fort Myers Miracle players Kenosha Twins players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Orlando Sun Rays players Portland Beavers players Salt Lake Buzz players Visalia Oaks players