Tony Beasley

Tony Beasley is the Third Base Coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In addition to those duties, he serves the club as its infield instructor at the Major League level. The 2008 season marked Tony's 16th with the Pittsburgh organization. He spent the 2007 campaign as the clubs Minor League Infield Coordinator and was instrumental in prospect Neil Walker's transition from catcher to third base during spring training. This is Beasleys second stint as a Major League Third Base Coach as he worked in the same capacity for the Washington Nationals under Manager Frank Robinson in 2006.

Beasley spent five seasons as a manager in the Pirates farm system, guiding his club to the post-season in all five years and a combined record of 372-258 (.590 winning pct.) during the regular season. He was tabbed by Baseball America as the Double-A Manager-of-the-Year in 2004 after guiding Altoona to the Eastern League Championship Series (his team lost to New Hampshire). Tony also served the United States National Team as a coach at the MLB Futures Game in Houston during All-Star week in 2004.

Tony began his managerial career with the Williamsport Crosscutters in 2001 and led the club to a 46-26 regular season record and a first-place finish; the club was declared co-champions of the New York-Penn League along with Brooklyn. He was named Low Class-A Manager of-the-Year by Baseball America in consecutive seasons with the Hickory Crawdads in 2002-03 and to the South Atlantic League's mid-season All-Star squad in 2003. Tony guided the Crawdads to the SAL championship and the fifth-best record in the minors in 2002 and was also selected to the leagues post-season All-Star Team.

In addition to his regular season managerial duties, Beasley also managed the Mesa Desert Dogs during the Arizona Fall League in 2004 and guided the club to an 18-13 record and a first-place finish in the National Division (his club lost to the Mesa Solar Sox in the Championship Series). After serving as a player/coach for the AA Carolina Mudcats and the Class A Lynchburg Hillcats in 1998, Tony began his full-time coaching career as the Hitting Coach with the GCL Pirates in 1999. He worked in the same capacity with Lynchburg in 2000.

Primarily a middle infielder, Tony spent nine seasons as a player in the minor leagues and batted .260 with 22 homers and 242 RBI in 854 games. He was originally selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 19th round of the 1989 June draft before being acquired by Pittsburgh in a deal for infielder Tommy Shields in September 1991. In his minor league career, Beasley was named to the Carolina League All-Star team in both 1990 and 1991. He also garnered Southern League All-Star laurels in 1996. [ [http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/team/coach_staff_bio.jsp?c_id=pit&coachorstaffid=433639 Manager and Coaches | pirates.com: Team ] ]

Teams

As Third Base Coach
*Pittsburgh Pirates (2008 - Present)
*Washington Nationals (2007)

On Wednesday July 30 2008 before the game against the Colorado Rockies, Tony Beasley performed an excellent rendition of the national anthem in front of the hometown crowd.

References