Cal Ermer

Ermer played in the minor leagues from 1942 to 1951, losing three seasons (1943–1945) to wartime military service. Most of Ermer's 60-plus-year career in baseball was spent as an employee of the Minnesota Twins and its predecessor franchise (before 1961), the Washington Senators. His only major league game as a player, on September 26, 1947, came with Washington; he was hitless in three at bats against Bill McCahan of the Philadelphia Athletics at Griffith Stadium, and handled seven fielding chances flawlessly as a second baseman. Washington won the game, 4–3.[1]

Ermer also played and managed in the club's farm system, handling Senators/Twins farm clubs over five different decades, beginning with the Charlotte Hornets in 1947 and ending with the Toledo Mud Hens in 1985. He also served as a skipper in the minor league systems of the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees, and in 1958 won The Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year award while with the Birmingham Barons, then a farm team of the Detroit Tigers. His minor league teams won championships in 1947 and 1958.

On June 9, 1967, Ermer was promoted from the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League, to replace Minnesota manager Sam Mele.[2] Under Ermer, the Twins won 66 of 112 games and jumped into a four-team American League pennant race (with the Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox) that went down to the season's final weekend. Needing only one win in two games at Boston's Fenway Park to clinch a tie for the championship, the Twins lost both contests to the Red Sox, who became improbable league champions.

Ermer was brought back for 1968, but a big off-season trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers backfired, Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew suffered a serious hamstring injury during the 1968 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, nearly ending his career, and the Twins tumbled to 79–83 and a seventh-place finish. At season's end, Ermer was fired[3] and replaced by his former coach Billy Martin. It was Martin's first big-league managing job.

The Twins' job (his final record: 145–129, .529) was his only Major League managerial opportunity, but Ermer also served as an MLB coach for the Baltimore Orioles (1962), Milwaukee Brewers (1970–72) and Oakland Athletics (1977). He ultimately returned to the Twins to manage their Triple-A farm club, then the Toledo Mud Hens, from 1978–85 before spending many years as a Minnesota scout. As a minor league pilot, Ermer won 1,906 games, losing 1,728 (.524) over 26 seasons.

Cal Ermer died at age 85 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 8, 2009.[4] Almost a year before, on August 30, 2008, the Chattanooga Lookouts (where he managed in 1952–57 and won the 1952 pennant) dedicated their press box to Ermer. He had met and married Gloria Williams (Miss Chattanooga and Miss Tennessee of 1952) and lived in Chattanooga for 57 years. Ermer was also soccer coach for the University of Baltimore and managed baseball teams in the winter leagues. He was buried in Chattanooga's National Cemetery.

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs

• Cal Ermer managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Cal Ermer at Find a Grave
• Chattanooga Lookouts history page featuring images of Cal