New York Mets Manager Terry Collins brought his baseball team to Detroit. Collins is a former touch football and fast pitch softball celebrity from the late 1970s.MyBayCity Photos Courtesy of Tom Baird) NY Mets Manager Collins Is Former Local Rec Softball, Football Standout
July 3, 2011
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Terry Collins, formerly of Midland, Michigan, recently returned to Michigan for a 3 day stop in Detroit to take on the Detroit Tigers as the manager of the New York Mets. The 1967 Midland High School graduate later went on to Eastern Michigan University to play college baseball and earned All-American honors. Collins' Eastern Michigan team captured the 1971 NAIA National Championship and Collins was named the outstanding defensive player of the tournament.
Over the last four decades, Collins has had an involvement with professional baseball in several different capacities as well as coaching a collegiate summer baseball team.
Back in the late 70s, after an 8-year minor league career as a player, Collins returned to the Midland area to work for a year and during that time, he was named player/manager of the local fastpitch softball powerhouse team, Midland McArdle's. That year, Midland hosted the ASA National Fast pitch Softball Championship (1979.) McArdle's won the Open Fastpitch National Championship under Collins's leadership.
Terry Collins
QB and defensive back
for Sempliners back in 1979.
(MyBayCity Photo Courtesy of Tom Baird)
Later that fall, Collins, who was also playing touch football in Midland was asked to play in the National Touch Football Championships by Bay City's Sempliner's Touch Football team.
The National Tournament in 1979 was held in St. Louis, Missouri and hosted the top 64 touch football teams in the country. Collins, who quarterbacked his team in Midland during high school, was picked up to back up Sempliner's quarterback Ben Haller. Collins was also a top-notch defensive back and played for Sempliner's in the National Tournament at that position.
Bay City's Sempliner's posted a 3-2 record in St Louis -- good enough for a 16th place in the National Tournament.
In 1980 Collins was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers to coach third base for their AAA affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. He spent the entire summer doing just that. He then returned home to Midland for the fall and again played for the Bay City based Bailey's Bar touch football team. The Bailey's team won the City Championship with a 9-0 record and finished with an overall 15-7 record. 1980 was the last time that Collins played recreational sports in the Tri-City area.
In 1981 Terry Collins began the journey that would take him to the Major League. He managed at every level in Minor League baseball beginning in the Class A California League and then moving to Double A with the Dodgers farm system. Collins then managed at the Triple A affiliate for the Dodgers in Albuquerque and winning a Pacific Coast League championship. He then moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and managed their top farm club thru 1991.
Then in 1992, Terry Collins reached the Majors as a coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, then managed by current Detroit Tiger manager Jim Leyland. He served as coach for two seasons until he was hired by the Houston Astros as their new manager in November 1993. He served as the Astros manager for three seasons -- finishing in 2nd place each year. Then the California Angels hired Collins as their manager for the next three seasons where Collins' team finished in 2nd place each year. He was then let go by the Angels.
Collins worked for various clubs over the next 12 years in several different capacities. In late 2005, and during 2006 Collins helped the Dodgers and Michigan Baseball Foundation to bring the Great Lakes Loons to Midland.
In November 2010, Collins was hired to become the new manager for the New York Mets in the biggest arena New York City. The 62 year old Midlander sees the Mets managerial job as a challenge. His long-term goal is to return the Mets franchise back to the playoffs and to compete for a World Series title.
The New York Mets came into Detroit for a 3 game series on June 28-30 against the Tigers with an off day on Monday the 27th. This gave Collins a chance to make the 125 mile round-trip to Midland to visit with his 92 year old father Bud Collins, who still resides in Midland. The elder Collins was quite an athlete himself during the 1940's and 1950's -- playing on the Midland Dow Championship fast pitch softball teams. Collins said that he had an enjoyable visit back to Midland to visit with family and friends.
The 39-39 New York Mets are playing through numerous injuries this year and have kept manager Collins on his toes trying to get the most out of his team. Still the Mets are currently in fourth place in the National League East.
It was a rush, heading down to the visiting manager's office at Comerica Park. I was truly excited and anxious to see Collins -- a friend from many years ago who played recreational sports right here in Bay City.
Twenty members of the media were lead into Collins' office. The New York media started firing away with questions some of which I was going to ask. "My father purchased my first glove, bat and baseball when I was 8 years old," Collins said about how his father had impacted on his career and start in baseball.
Collins was asked later about the importance of coming back to Michigan to manage in Detroit. "I managed at the old Tiger Stadium when I with the California Angels in 1997 -1999," Collins said. "Growing up a Tiger fan, it is very special for me to come back to Tiger Stadium."
Collins also made reference to the many ticket requests he had received from local friends. "I will deal with all the requests for tickets the best that I can and will say hello to all the local people," Collins said. "My father will be coming up from Midland for Wednesday's and Thursday's game."
A Detroit reporter asked Collins about his relationship with current Tiger manager Jim Leyland. "I have a good relationship with Jim and learned a lot about the game from him. I learned on how to handle superstars and get the most from them," Collins explained.
The media session lasted about 15 minutes and then all the reporters left his office. I waited until they all left to say hello to my former Sempliner's teammate. Collins was surprised to see me again and I had wanted to give him a couple of our team photos from the Touch Football days. When he looked at the 1979 Sempliner's National Championship team photo, he laughed and said "What a bunch of "bandits." That was some group of guys."
The game between the Tigers and Mets didn't turn out to be much of a game with the Mets pounding the Tigers 14-3.
It was easy to see that Midland's Terry Collins was enjoying his return visit to the state of Michigan and seeing numerous friends and family. It's not often that a small town has "one of its own" become a Major League baseball manager . . . who also played recreational sports right here in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Sempliners Team Picture -- 1979 National Tournament -- Touch Football
(MyBayCity Photo Courtesy of Tom Baird)
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