Twins Birthdays--March 16

Also posted at wgom.org.

Rick Renick (1944)

Infielder/outfielder Warren Richard Renick played for the Twins from 1968-1972. Born and raised in London, Ohio, he attende Ohio State and was signed by Minnesota as a free agent in 1965. Renick did not show a whole lot of promise in the minors, although he did hit 20 homers at Class A Wilson in 1967. He was hitting .247 with ten homers at AAA Denver in 1968 when he was called up in mid-July to try to fill a void at shortstop. Renick held the starting shortstop job for about a month, but when he hit no better than the others the Twins had tried he went to the bench. Renick stuck in the majors, though, staying with Minnesota for the next four full seasons. He was used primarily at third base and left field the rest of his time in the big leagues. Renick never got 200 at-bats in a season, never batted higher than .245, and never hit more than seven home runs in a season. After the 1972 season, Renick played six years at AAA, four with the Twins and two in the Montreal organization. As a Twin, Rick Renick hit .221/.302/.373 in 553 at-bats over 276 games. For his last five seasons at AAA, Renick was a player-coach. His playing career ended after the 1978 season, and he became a coach for Kansas City from 1979-1981. He managed in AA for Montreal from 1982-1984, and then became a major league coach for the Expos from 1985-1986. Renick was a coach for the Twins from 1987-1990, then managed at AAA for the White Sox from 1991-1996. Renick coached in the majors for Pittsburgh from 1997-2000, for the Expos in 2001, and for Florida in 2002. Rick Renick appears to currently be living in retirement in Sarasota, Florida. His son, Josh, played in the minor leagues from 2001 through 2007, spending 2001-2003 in the Twins organization, before becoming an assistant coach for Tennessee Wesleyan College.