Big Lead Sports Bar

10/20/2008

PIRATES HIRE JOE KERRIGAN AS PITCHING COACH

The Pirates managed to steal some headlines from the Steelers, Penguins, and Panthers today, as they named Joe Kerrigan as their new pitching coach.

Kerrigan was a first-round pick of the Expos in 1974, made his MLB debut in 1976, and played in the bigs until 1980. He began his coaching career in 1983 with the Expos as a bullpen coach, where he stayed until 1987. He then worked in the Montreal minor league system until 1992, getting promoted to Expos pitching coach from 1992-96.

In 1997, Kerrigan joined Boston as their pitching coach, later moving to the manager position vacated by Jimy Williams' firing in August 2001. Kerrigan managed the final 43 games of the season (going 17-26) and was replaced by Grady Little in the offseason.

From 2003-2004, Kerrigan was the pitching coach for the Philadelphia Phillies, and was the New York Yankees' bullpen coach in 2006 and 2007. Most recently, Kerrigan was a TV personality for the Phillies.

Kerrigan is known for his work with Pedro Martinez in Boston. Other pitchers who worked under Kerrigan include Mariano Rivera, Brett Myers, Kevin Millwood, Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe, Dennis Eckersley, Bret Saberhagen, Dennis Martinez, David Cone, Hideo Nomo, and John Wetteland. Hopefully he can favorably add the names "Ian Snell" and "Tom Gorzelanny" to his resume once his time in Pittsburgh is over.

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