Donnelly changed by life’s tragedies

Coach’s philosophy about baseball was altered by the deaths of two of his children

Rich Donnelly grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, wanting to reach the major leagues preferably with his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He played four seasons in the Minnesota Twins farm system and managed in the Texas Rangers system for another 10 years chasing his dream.

Donnelly loved the game, maybe more than anything else in his life. He didn’t care what it would take to get there, whether that was hanging out with shady characters or spending months away from his family.

“From the time I got into pro ball (1967), I thought you had to be a maniac and stay out all night,” Donnelly said. “I was stupid. If I had to hang around with guys who weren’t good guys, I was going to hang out with them because I could get to the big leagues that way.”

He made it there, first as a coach with the Rangers in 1980 and later as Jim Leyland’s third-base coach with the Pirates, Marlins and Rockies. He was in Leyland’s apartment during spring training in 1992 when his 17-year-old daughter Amy made a call that altered his life forever.

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Rich Donnelly: “I thought I had everything figured out until my kids taught me.”

“Dad, I have to tell you something,” Amy said. “I have a brain tumor and I’m sorry.”

Her doctors gave her nine months to live. She died in January 1993.

It wasn’t the only tragedy that has devastated the Donnelly family.

Two years ago, Michael Donnelly, 38, stopped his car along a highway in Dallas to help Lyndsee Longoria, 26, push a stalled vehicle off the road. When another car sped around a curve toward them, Michael pushed Longoria out of the way. The car struck Donnelly, who died instantly. Longoria survived.

“Nowadays, when I think I have a problem or when things aren’t perfect, they’re the first ones I think of and I laugh,” Donnelly said through tears. “I’m complaining about something that is nothing compared to what they did or what they went through.”

The 73-year-old Donnelly was one of the featured speakers Thursday night at the 59th annual Hot Stovers Banquet at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Reading.

He’s still working in baseball as the bench coach for the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, but he’s a changed man since the death of his

daughter. He says his Catholic faith, which was once lapsed, has given him comfort during and after his family tragedies.

“I got away from my faith,” he said. “When all this happened, it brought me back. Over the top back. Your faith is the only thing that saves you. You can have all the money in the world. You can have all the jobs in the world. It doesn’t matter. For me, that got me back.

“It was like somebody was trying to tell me a story. I’ve been a third base coach most of my life. I wave guys home. And in my life, Amy was my third base coach and Mike was my third base coach.”

After her diagnosis, Amy traveled to Pittsburgh for Game 5 of the 1992 National League Championship Series. After the Pirates beat Atlanta that night, she and Rich were leaving the ballpark in a car.

“She says to me, ‘Dad, when there’s a man on second base and you get down in that crouch and you cup your hands, what are you telling those guys?’” she asked her father. “‘The chicken runs at midnight?’

“My other kids were there laughing. ‘Where the heck did you come up with that?’ She said, ‘I don’t know. It

just came out.’ When we’d write letters to each other, we’d sign it, CRAM. It became a family motto.”

The Braves beat the Pirates in Game 7, preventing them from reaching the World Series.

Five years later, Donnelly was the third base coach with the Florida Marlins, who reached the World Series as the wild card against the Cleveland Indians. Michael and Tim, Donnelly’s other son, served as batboys for the Marlins and gave Craig Counsell the nickname “The Chicken” for his unique batting style.

In Game 7, the Marlins rallied and tied Cleveland. Counsell was on third base when Edgar Renteria delivered the game-winning single.

“Craig scores the winning run and the place is going crazy,” Donnelly said. “Everything just came together. You’re so happy. I’m trying to find my two sons. I finally see Tim. We embrace between first and second. He’s screaming at me and crying.

“What’s wrong you?”

“Dad, look at the clock.” It was 12:02 a.m. “Dad, the chicken ran at midnight!”

“To this day, I still get with emotional about it because you hear about miracles and things,” Donnelly said. “She said something that made no sense. She didn’t know why she said it. I dropped to my knees. I just couldn’t believe what happened.”

Believe it or not, Donnelly’s family was nearly struck by tragedy a few months before Michael died.

Stepdaughters Leighanne and Tiffany attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed 58 people and wounded many others. A bullet narrowly missed them and struck a woman in the face near them.

They stayed with Natalie Grumet and another wounded woman while shots continued to be fired. They applied tourniquets to them and laid on top of them. Both women survived.

“Everybody panicked and ran except my two daughters,”

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Accepting awards Thursday at the 2020 Reading Hot Stovers banquet at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Reading are, from left, Steve and Tracy Phillips, parents of scholarship recipient Samantha Phillips, a Twin Valley High grad now attending The Catholic University of America; Dominic Yeager, a Reading High graduate and the recipient of the Paul “Cooter” Jones award, now attending Susquehanna University; Amanda Geisinger, a Brandywine Heights graduate and the recipient of a scholarship and now attending West Chester University; and Donna and Daryl Graff, parents of Alexander Graff, a Kutztown High graduate and recipient of the Bert Moore scholarship, Donnelly said. “They laid on top of Natalie. She’s had eight surgeries. She’s called me a hundred times to tell me they saved her life.

“Michael gave up his life for someone and Leighanne and Tiffany were willing to give up their lives. What greater sacrifice is there?”

Through it all, Rich Donnelly’s faith has deepened along with his relationship with his family, including his second wife, Roberta. He’s given many speeches on both subjects and written a book, aptly title, “The Chicken Runs At Midnight.”

“My wife and my children never said to straighten up,” he said. “They showed me by example. I thought, ‘Why don’t you take what they’ve taught you and share it with other people?’

“I’m a normal guy from Steubenville, Ohio. I came up the hard way. I thought I had everything figured out until my kids taught me.”