- Wendell Kim
Wendell Kim (born
March 9 ,1950 inHonolulu ,Hawaii ) is a formerprofessional baseball player, coach and manager. He most recently served as the third base coach for theChicago Cubs , and is of mixed Korean and Hawaiian descent.Kim got his start in professional baseball as a player, coming up through the
San Francisco Giants ' farm system as an infielder in the late seventies. He reached the AAA level in 1978, and had a .303batting average in thePacific Coast League . He never reached the major leagues, however, and he was released by the following spring. He played a brief stint in theInter-American League in 1979, but was out of baseball by the end of the season.In 1980 he began his coaching career, starting out as a coach for the AA
Shreveport Captains . Throughout the eighties he coached and managed several teams in the Giants' organization, including the Captains,Clinton Giants ,Fresno Giants andPhoenix Firebirds . It wasn't until 1989 that he got his first taste of major league baseball, when he became the third base coach for the Giants.Kim held the Giants' job for eight years, before leaving to coach third base for the
Boston Red Sox . He quickly became a controversial figure inRed Sox Nation , as he became known for his tendency to aggressively send runners home. He earned the nicknames "Wave 'Em In Wendell" and "Kamikaze Kim" for this aggressiveness, which over the years led to many outs on the basepaths. He held down the third base coaching job in Boston for four years, however, manning the position from 1997 to 2000.Kim left the Red Sox in 2001 to pursue a managing job in the minor leagues. He took over as the skipper of the
Indianapolis Indians , who were the AAA affiliate of theMilwaukee Brewers at the time. That job was short-lived, however, as he soon left to become the bench coach for theMontreal Expos , a position he took in 2002.After his stint on the Expos' bench, Kim returned to coaching third base, taking that position with the
Chicago Cubs in 2004. His reputation in Chicago was similar to the one he earned in Boston, as he continued to aggressively wave baserunners toward the plate. Cubs fans gave Kim the nicknames of "Wavin' Wendell", "Windmill Wendell" and "Send'em In Kim".On
October 11 ,2004 , the Cubs announced that Kim would not be returning as the third base coach for the 2005 season.External links
* [http://www.wk20.com/ WK's coach box]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Wendell_Kim Wendell Kim - BR Bullpen]
* [http://www.thediamondangle.com/archive/aug01/kim.html An Interview With Wendell Kim]
* [http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/news/chc_news.jsp?ymd=20041011&content_id=890881&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp Cubs retain all coaches except Kim]
* [http://halfkorean.com/hk_star/kim_wendell.shtml Wendell Kim]
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