Tim Teufel Explained

Tim Teufel
Position:Second baseman
Birth Date:7 July 1958
Birth Place:Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Bats:Right
Throws:Right
Debutleague:MLB
Debutdate:September 3
Debutyear:1983
Debutteam:Minnesota Twins
Finalleague:MLB
Finaldate:September 28
Finalyear:1993
Finalteam:San Diego Padres
Statleague:MLB
Stat1label:Batting average
Stat1value:.254
Stat2label:Home runs
Stat2value:86
Stat3label:Runs batted in
Stat3value:379
Teams:
Highlights:

Timothy Shawn Teufel (born July 7, 1958) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and current coach. He played Major League Baseball from to, most notably as a member of the New York Mets with whom he won a world championship in . He also played for the Minnesota Twins and the San Diego Padres. He is currently a New York Mets minor league instructor and club ambassador. Teufel became known for his batting stance, the "Teufel shuffle", in which he wiggled his buttocks back and forth before the pitcher's delivery.

Early life

Teufel attended St. Mary's High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, St. Petersburg Junior College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Clemson University in South Carolina. At Clemson, he earned All American honors and participated in the College World Series as a senior in 1980.

In 1979, Teufel played collegiate summer baseball for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). He batted .351 and set league records for home runs, runs batted in, and runs scored in a season. Teufel was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2005.[1]

At age 19, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixteenth round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign. Teufel was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the secondary phase of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft, but again did not sign. In the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft, Teufel was drafted in the second round and signed with the Minnesota Twins.

Playing career

Minnesota Twins

Teufel spent all of and with the Double-A Orlando Twins. He raised his average to .282 in, earning a mid-season promotion to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. In, Teufel lit up the International League with a .323 batting average, 1.022 OPS, 27 home runs and 100 runs batted in, resulting in a September call-up to the majors. He made his major league debut on September 3 in a 13-0 drubbing at the hands of Scott McGregor and the Baltimore Orioles.[2]

Teufel went 2-for-4 and score two runs to help the last-place Twins snap a five-game losing streak on September 6.[3] On September 16, Teufel led off the game by hitting his first major league home run off Jim Gott of the Toronto Blue Jays.[4] His second career home run came in the eighth inning of the same game. In all, Teufel went 5-for-5 with two home runs and five runs scored in arguably the best offensive game of his career.[5] By the end of the season, the Twins surpassed the Seattle Mariners to avoid a last-place finish.

The following season, Teufel snatched the starting second base job away from former Rookie of the Year, John Castino. In his rookie season, Teufel had 149 hits, 30 doubles, fourteen home runs, 61 runs batted in, and provided solid defense at second base for the Twins. The Twins improved to 81–81 in, which was good enough for a second-place finish in the American League West. Teufel finished fourth behind Alvin Davis, Mark Langston and teammate Kirby Puckett in American League Rookie of the Year balloting.

The Twins fell back into fifth place in . Following the season, Teufel was traded with minor leaguer Pat Crosby to the New York Mets for Billy Beane, Bill Latham and Joe Klink.[6]

New York Mets

Although Teufel had hit far better against right-handed pitchers in 1985, Mets manager Davey Johnson used Teufel primarily against left-handed pitching in a platoon system with Wally Backman. Teufel started quickly in with a go-ahead 14th inning single in his first game with the Mets, although they lost in the bottom half of the inning. His batting average hovered around .220 into June. On June 10, Teufel had one of the most exciting moments in the Mets' championship season with a walk-off pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Mets' reputation as a rowdy bunch was punctuated on July 19 when Teufel, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, and Rick Aguilera were arrested after a bar fight with off-duty police officers in Houston, Texas. Teufel was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $200 for his part.[7] None of the four missed any playing time, though the incident helped fuel some rivalry between the Mets and their impending 1986 National League Championship Series competitors, the Houston Astros. Teufel managed just one hit and no runs batted in against the Astros in the Championship Series, won by the Mets in six games.[8]

In game one of the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, the Mets suffered a fate similar to that which they suffered in game one of the World Series against the Oakland Athletics. In that game, usually sure-handed Mets' second baseman Félix Millán committed a third inning error that led to both of Oakland's runs in their 2–1 victory.[9] With one out and a runner on second in the seventh inning of game one of the 1986 series, Boston's Rich Gedman hit a ground ball to Teufel at second which Teufel misplayed, allowing the runner to score. Boston held on for the 1–0 victory.[10]

He hit a home run in game five of the Series, but the Mets lost that game.[11] For the series, Teufel batted .444 with four hits in nine at bats. The home run was the only postseason run batted in and run scored of Teufel's career.

was Teufel's best season statistically, as he tied his 1984 home run and run batted in highs despite playing in only 97 games. His .308 batting average, .398 on-base percentage and .545 slugging percentage were career-highs. Despite significantly outperforming Wally Backman, Teufel continued to be used in a platoon role. He was given the chance to play every day in, but spent all of April below .200 and missed three weeks from mid-May with an injury, causing the platoon to be reinstated.

Teufel was used in just one game in the 1988 NLCS. In, Gregg Jefferies was given most of the time at second base and Teufel spent half of his time at first base. His playing time further decreased in as he played in career-lows of 80 games with 175 at-bats while shifting between first, second and third base.

San Diego Padres

Teufel's average was .118 on May 31 when the Mets traded him to the San Diego Padres for Garry Templeton.[12] Teufel hit between .220 and .250 in all three seasons with San Diego while continuing to play at all three bases defensively. On April 14,, he went 5-for-5 for the second time in his career but the Padres lost the game on their way to a 101-loss season.[13] Teufel was granted free agency and retired after the 1993 season.

Coaching career

Teufel returned to the Mets as a roving instructor for and . He was named the manager of the Mets' Rookie-level minor league Brooklyn Cyclones for and was promoted to the Single-A St. Lucie Mets for and .[14] [15] After the two seasons near .500, the Mets announced Teufel was being replaced by Gary Carter for . Teufel decided to take a break from baseball for the year.[16]

He was named manager of the Savannah Sand Gnats on January 11, and was a Mets representative at the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.[17] [18] He returned as St. Lucie's manager in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, in his first season managing the Double-A Binghamton Mets, he led the team to a 66–76 record and a fifth-place finish in the Eastern League.[19] He was named manager of the Buffalo Bisons in January 2011.[20] In 2011, he was named manager of Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. On November 16, 2011, he was replaced as manager by Carlos Lezcano.[21]

Teufel returned to the New York Mets organization as the new third base coach in 2011, replacing former coach Chip Hale.[22] After the 2016 season, on November 15, 2016, it was announced that Teufel would be replaced by longtime Arizona Diamondbacks coach Glenn Sherlock. On Friday, November 25, it was announced that he would be the minor league instructor and club ambassador.[23] Following the 2022 season, Teufel and the Mets parted ways.[24]

Career stats

GamesABRunsHits2B3BHRRBIAvg.SBCSBBSOHBPSlg.Fld%
107331124157891851286379.254231938753112.404.979

External links

, or The Ultimate Mets Database, or Tim Teufel - Baseballbiography.com

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ten Legends into CCBL Hall of Fame . capecodbaseball.org . September 1, 2019.
  2. Web site: Baltimore Orioles 13, Minnesota Twins 0. Baseball-Reference.com. September 3, 1983.
  3. Web site: Minnesota Twins 5, Texas Rangers 3. Baseball-reference.com. September 6, 1983.
  4. Since "teufel" and "gott" are the German words for "devil" and "God", respectively, there was some light-hearted media attention given to their periodic matchups. At first, the devil got his due: in the same game in which Teufel homered off Gott (their first-ever matchup), Teufel also singled. But in nine subsequent matchups in 1987-88 and 1992-93, Teufel never got another hit off Gott, finishing 2-for-9 (with two walks) against the reliever.
  5. Web site: Minnesota Twins 11, Toronto Blue Jays 4. Baseball-reference.com. September 16, 1983.
  6. News: Twins Trade Tim Teufel . 9 . . . January 17, 1986 . March 1, 2012.
  7. News: Durso. Joseph. Darling, Teufel Get Probation. 27 December 2017. The New York Times. January 27, 1987.
  8. Web site: 1986 National League Championship Series. Baseball-reference.com. October 8–15, 1986.
  9. Web site: 1973 World Series, Game One. Baseball-reference.com. October 13, 1973.
  10. Web site: 1986 World Series, Game One. Baseball-reference.com. Shea Stadium. October 18, 1986.
  11. Web site: 1986 World Series, Game Five. Baseball-reference.com. October 23, 1986.
  12. News: Mets Send Teufel to Padres In Exchange for Templeton. The New York Times. June 1, 1991. 31. September 16, 2021.
  13. Web site: Pittsburgh Pirates 11, San Diego Padres 7. Baseball-reference.com. April 14, 1993.
  14. Web site: Clones' Teufel shuffle. 2002-12-09. The Brooklyn Papers. 2006-06-14. 2006-03-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20060321183713/http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/cyclones/html/action/2002season/25_48action.html. dead.
  15. Web site: Teufel, Mahler will return to St. Lucie Mets. 2006-06-14. 2005-02-06. St. Lucie Mets press release.
  16. Web site: Carter to manage St. Lucie Mets. 2006-06-14. 2006-01-10. St. Lucie Mets press release.
  17. Web site: Former World Series Champ to Manage Gnats in 2007. 2007-01-11. 2007-01-10. Savannah Sand Gnats press release.
  18. News: The Mets Choose Power With Top 2 Draft Picks. 2008-06-06. 2008-06-06. The New York Times . Ben . Shpigel.
  19. News: Teuful hired to manage Mets Triple-A team, Buffalo . 2011-01-21 . 2011-01-21 . Wall Street Journal . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110124213744/http://online.wsj.com/article/AP57dad73d5fc1453fb0387eb35af788c8.html . January 24, 2011 .
  20. News: Former Met Teufel to manage Triple-A Buffalo. 2011-01-21. 2011-01-21. MLB.com . Anthony . DiComo.
  21. http://www.metsblog.com/2011/11/16/tim-teufel-replaced-as-manager-in-caracas/=t422 Tim Teufel replaced as manager in Caracas
  22. Web site: Recap: Mets change coaching staff, Hale goes to A's . Cerrone,Matthew . October 5, 2011 . MetsBlog.com . 2012-01-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120116155722/http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/05/recap-conf-call-with-terry-sandy-on-coaching-changes/ . January 16, 2012 .
  23. Web site: Mets reassign third base coach Tim Teufel, hire Glenn Sherlock as replacement. New York Daily News. 15 November 2016 .
  24. News: Puma . Mike . Mets move on from Tim Teufel in minor league system shakeup . 16 November 2022 . . 18 October 2022.