Dave Berg named Jammers manager
Once again this June when the Jammers begin play in the New York-Penn League, the team will be led by a man with Major League experience.
The Florida Marlins, parent club of the Jammers, have assigned Dave Berg as the new manager for Jamestown beginning with the 2010 NYPL season. A veteran of 582 Major League games between 1998 and 2004, Berg spent parts of four seasons playing for the Marlins before finishing his career with three seasons in Toronto. During his Major League career, Berg was a career .269 hitter with 21 home runs and 163 RBI. His best season came in 1999 as a member of the Marlins when he batted .286 in 336 plate appearances.
A utility man during his time in the Majors, Berg primarily spent his time with the Marlins and Blue Jays as an infielder, but played around the outfield as well. A 38th round selection by the Marlins in the 1993 amateur draft, Berg played his college ball at the University of Miami. Berg spent portions of the 2005 and 2006 seasons playing for the Minor League systems of the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers before retiring. Berg had been for the most part away from the game since his retirement three years ago. Serving as a part-time youth baseball coach in Texas where he now resides, he had the itch to return to professional baseball. After sending out resumes to a number of teams, it was his old team - the Marlins, which was the first to call.
"I spent a few years away and I missed it and wanted to get back in," Berg said this week. "I can't wait. I'm just thrilled to get back into it. I'm excited to try to help these kids and spend the summer up in New York."
The 39-year-old is no stranger to the NYPL. He began his days as a professional player with the Elmira Pioneers, then the Marlins' affiliate in the league, in 1993. To make his pro coaching debut back in the same league 17 years later brings Berg's career full circle.
"It's funny to me that I will be starting my coaching career in the same league I began my professional career," Berg said.
It was a career that gave Berg many fond memories, including his time traveling throughout New York and Pennsylvania as a rookie. Though he reached the pinnacle of the sport, the long bus rides and small ballparks of the minor leagues brought some of Berg's favorite times as a player, he said.
"I had a great time in the minor leagues. I almost had as much fun as I did in the big leagues," Berg recalled. "I enjoyed the bus rides and it seems like the players are a lot closer in the minor leagues because you spend so much time together. Nobody is making a lot of money and you have four or five guys living in the same apartment. It's a whole different environment."
Berg will first visit Chautauqua County in January as a special guest for the Jammers' hot stove dinner and auction slated for Jan. 18. As part of the weekend festivities, Berg will partner with former Jamestown Jammer John Raynor to lead area youth in the team's annual baseball clinics for children ages 7-14. Originally from California, Berg says he is a bit nervous to greet the infamous Western New York winter. He has better memories of the summer climate, though.
"I'm not looking forward to the weather (in January)," he joked. "But I remember the weather being beautiful in the summertime."
Berg replaces Andy Haines, who guided the Jammers to a 34-42 record during the 2009 campaign. Haines moves up to take the reins of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the full-season South Atlantic League 'A' affiliate of the Marlins. In other Marlins coaching moves, former Jamestown manager Bo Porter has left the Florida organization to take a spot as third base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks on manager A.J. Hinch's staff. Porter had held the same position with the Marlins for the past three years after serving as Jammers manager in 2006.
Jamestown will open its 76-game 2010 slate on June 18. For more information on the Jammers hot stove dinner, visit www.jamestownjammers.com.