Native Chicagoanwas longtime Twins coach
MINNEAPOLIS — Former Cubs catcher Rick Stelmaszek, a longtime coach for the Minnesota Twins who helped that team win two World Series titles, has died of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 69.
The Twins were informed of the death Monday by a friend of the Stelmaszek family, according to team spokesman Dustin Morse.
The Twins called Mr. Stelmaszek a professional who “instilled a winning culture into generations of Twins players.”
Mr. Stelmaszek spent 32 seasons as a Twins coach from 1981- 2012. He was the longest tenured coach in Twins history and thirdlongest with a single team in major league history.
Mr. Stelmaszek was bullpen coach under Billy Gardner, Ray Miller, Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, and helped the Twins reach the postseason eight times.
Mr. Stelmaszek, who played catcher for the Cubs in 1974 and also played for Washington ( which became the Texas Rangers) and California in the 1970s, worked at Chicago’s South Works steel mill during the offseasons.
“In the summers I worked in a ‘ Disney World.’ In the winters, I was snapped back to reality,” he told the SunTimes in 1992.
“It taught me everything is not a bed of roses, it doesn’t all come on a silver spoon,” he said.
“If you want something, you’ve got to work for it.”
The Twins recently announced thatMr. Stelmaszek would receive the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented in January.