Jerry McNertney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerald Edward McNertney (born August 7, 1936, at Boone, Iowa) is a retired American catcher in Major League Baseball. McNertney threw and batted right-handed, and stood 6'1" (185 cm) and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg) in his playing days.
McNertney signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1958 after attending Iowa State University. During his first three seasons in minor league baseball, he was a first baseman and outfielder and converted to catcher in his fourth professional season, 1961, while playing for the Charleston White Sox of the Class A South Atlantic League. Despite his late conversion, McNertney developed into a good defensive catcher and made his major league debut at 27 with the White Sox in 1964. He would spend nine seasons (1964; 1966-73) in the major leagues, with the White Sox, Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting .237 with 27 home runs in 590 games. McNertney was the regular catcher for the Pilots in 1969 — the only year the franchise played in the Pacific Northwest — where he reached career highs in at bats (410), home runs (8) and runs batted in (55).
After his playing career ended, McNertney was the bullpen coach for the New York Yankees in 1984 and the Boston Red Sox for the latter half of the 1988 season.
