It does not take long for Merv Rettenmund to pick the highlight of his playing career with the Orioles.
“Without a doubt, 1970, when we won the World Series,” Rettenmund said. “We never made personnel changes” during the season.
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Rettenmund was an outfielder that season for the Orioles, who beat the Reds in five games in the 1970 Fall Classic.
The former Towson resident was in Washington this past weekend as the new hitting coach for the San Diego Padres. Rettenmund took over for former hitting coach Dave Magadan on June 15, after Magadan was relieved of his duties by the Padres.
The Padres swept a three-game series from the Nationals, and enter the All-Star break in first place in the western division of the National League with a record of 48-40.
Another former Oriole, Tony Muser, is the bench coach for the Padres. Muser, a former first baseman, played in Baltimore from 1975-77 and was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 1997-2002.
“Tony, he is a great sounding board for me,” San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said. “He has managed. He does a great job. He is such a good baseball guy. We talk all of the time. He is a calming influence.”
Muser, 58, hit .317 in 80 games (but just 82 at bats) for the Orioles in 1975. He hit .227 in 136 games for the Birds the next season, then hit .229 in 120 games in 1977.
Rettenmund, now 63, made his Major League debut with the Orioles in 1968. In the World Series year of 1970, he hit .322 with 18 homers and 58 RBI in 106 games. The right-handed hitter played with the Orioles through 1973, then was traded to the Reds prior to the 1974 season.
“I was just telling my wife the other day, if I hadn?t been traded I still might be living in Baltimore,” said Rettenmund, who keeps in touch with Boog Powell, Terry Crowley, Curt Motton and Don Buford, among other former teammates.
Rettenmund began this season as a roving instructor in the Toronto Blue Jay player development system. He said he was “shocked” when he got a call from the Padres to take over for Magadan.
THE RETTENMUND FILE
Team: San Diego Padres
Title: Hitting coach
Years with Orioles: 1968-73
Did you know? When Rettenmund took over for Dave Magadan a few weeks ago, San Diego executive vice president/general manager Kevin Towers said in a statement: “Changing any member of the coaching staff is always a difficult decision to make, especially when it takes place in-season, but we felt this was a change that needed to be made. With the addition of Merv ? someone who is familiar with our organization, having been a coach with both the 1996 and 1998 playoff teams ? the club adds an individual with great baseball wisdom and a long-standing success as a hitting coach.”
