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Cal Ermer
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Calvin Coolidge Ermer (born November 10, 1923, in Baltimore, Maryland) is a scout for the Minnesota Twins and a former coach and manager in American Major League Baseball.
Most of Ermer's 60-year career in baseball has been spent as an employee of the Twins and its predecessor franchise (before 1961), the Washington Senators. His only major league game as a player, in 1947, came with Washington (he was hitless in three at bats and handled seven fielding chances flawlessly as a second baseman). Ermer then played and managed in the club's farm system - handling Senators/Twins farm clubs over five different decades: 1947; 1950-57; 1965-67; 1974-76; 1978-85. During his managing career, he also served as a skipper in the minor league systems of the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees, and in 1958 won The Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year award while with the Birmingham Barons (then a farm team of the Detroit Tigers).
In June
1967, Ermer was promoted from the Twins' AAA affiliate, the
Denver Bears of the
Pacific Coast League, to replace Minnesota manager
Sam Mele with the club stalled in sixth place with a 25-25 record. Under Ermer, the Twins caught fire, winning 66 of 112 games and jumping into a four-team
American League pennant race that went down to the season's final weekend. Needing only one win in two games at Boston's
Fenway Park to clinch a tie for the championship, the Twins lost both contests to the
Red Sox, who became improbable league champions.
Ermer was brought back for 1968, but a big off-season trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers backfired, Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew was injured, and the Twins tumbled to 79-83 and a seventh place finish. At season's end, Ermer was fired and replaced by Billy Martin - the volatile Martin's first major league managing job.
Ermer never again managed in the major leagues (his final record: 145-129, .529) but - in addition to his extensive minor league managing career - he also built a major league resume as a coach for the
Baltimore Orioles (1962),
Milwaukee Brewers (1970-72) and
Oakland Athletics (1977). He ultimately returned to the Twins to manage their AAA farm club, then the
Toledo Mud Hens, for many years before moving into a scouting role for the club. As a minor league pilot, Ermer won 1,906 games, losing 1,728 (.524) over 26 seasons.
