Retired baseball players live in St. Joseph

by Cori Hilsgen

news@thenewsleaders.com

Retired major league baseball player Al Newman recently decided St. Joseph was a nice place to live when he moved to the city in the beginning of May.

He joins baseball player Augie Rodriguez who also lives in St. Joseph.

Newman said in a telephone interview with The Newsleaders that after commuting for more than a year between St. Joseph and Savage, he decided St. Joseph was a good place to live.

“I like the area,” Newman said. “They call me a townie now.”

Newman currently lives by the College of St. Benedict, but said he will take the next year to investigate the area more and decide where he might want to continue to live.

The former Minnesota Twins player has been an assistant coach for the St. Cloud Rox Baseball team since 2015, coaching with Rox manager Rodriguez. He is also an instructor at Acceleration Baseball Center in St. Cloud.

The St. Cloud Rox play in the Northwoods League, which is a summer collegiate baseball league. Home games are played at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud.

Newman said he enjoys being a teacher of baseball and enjoys watching children acquire and master new skills when learning how to play baseball.

Before coaching with the Rox, Newman managed the Alexandria Blue Anchors, a baseball team that also played in the Northwoods League.

He said coming to central Minnesota was a good decision for him because the Twin Cities area is over-saturated with baseball instructors/coaches.

“I met Augie when I worked with the Alexandria team,” Newman said. ” I have a lot of respect for Augie and his style of coaching. It’s a natural fit for me.”

One of the reasons he chose to live in St. Joseph is because Rodriguez also lives in St. Joseph.

“I am a small-town guy anyway,” Newman said. “I like the slower-paced life with less traffic.”

He said he has a 75-gallon aquarium with more than a dozen fish and enjoys the peace and tranquility of watching the fish move around in the aquarium.

Newman, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., attended San Diego State University and turned down several draft offers before signing his first Major League baseball contract with the Montreal Expos in 1981.

He played eight seasons of Major League baseball, playing for the Minnesota Twins from 1987-91. Newman was part of the 1987 and 1991 World Series Championships with the Twins. He also played for the Texas Rangers.

Since it has been 30 years since the 1987 win, Newman said they are planning a reunion of team players at Target Field in Minneapolis in the end of July, when the Minnesota Twins are playing at home.

During his career, Newman played mostly second base but also played shortstop, third base and left-field positions.

After retiring in 1992, he started coaching and was the manager of the Twins’ AA team, the New Britain Rock Cats. He also managed the Sun City Solar Sox; was the bench coach for the Twins’ AAA affiliate, the Salt Lake City Buzz; managed the Twins’ rookie league Gulf Coast League and was the Twins’ third-base coach. In 2006, he was an advance scout with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He has also been involved with youth baseball, helped with athletic team fundraising, broadcasted The Al Newman Show and more.

Newman suffered a brain hemorrhage Sept. 10, 2003 and remained unconscious for several weeks.

After having been in a coma for so long, he said it was a total life-changing experience to wake up and have someone tell him he had been in a coma for that long.

Newman said he had no idea he was even sick and it was really mind-boggling. He said he is grateful to those who supported him during this time.

Newman said he is also thankful he has been given extra time. After this experience, he said he tries to focus on the bigger component of helping others.

“Find something you truly enjoy doing and go all in,” Newman said. “If your work is your pleasure, you will wake up every day and go to work loving what you do. I am very blessed to have had that opportunity. It’s been a pretty good run.”

Newman has two adult daughters who live in San Francisco.

Rodriguez, 38, is also an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds and was named the Northwoods League Manager of the Year in 2016.

He played professional baseball with the Seattle Mariners for six years, two seasons in the Puerto Rican Major Winter League and one season in the European Major League.

Rodriguez was a pitching coach at Augusta (Ga.) State University and at St. Cloud State University.