The Oakland Athletics selected Steinbach in the ninth round of the 1983 Major League Baseball Draft. Steinbach signed with the Athletics, and made his professional debut in the minor leagues. After two years as a third baseman, the Athletics moved Steinbach to catcher, and played him for two years in Class AA of the minor leagues. Steinbach made his major league debut on September 12, 1986, against the Cleveland Indians. He hit a home run off of Greg Swindell in his first major league at-bat. During his 1987 rookie year he had a.284/.349/.463 line with 16 home runs, 56 RBIs and 16 doubles. He also caught 37 would-be base stealers, 3rd highest in the American League. He was elected to the All Star Game in 1988. His selection was controversial because Steinbach had posted modest numbers in the first half of the season. However, during the game he accounted for both AL runs with a home run and sacrifice fly, and was named the game's MVP. The same year he hit.364 with a double in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In all, Steinbach played for 4 Division Championship teams from 1988 to 1992, winning 3 AL Pennants and the 1989 World Series. He had 7 RBIs and a home run in 16 at bats in the '89 fall classic. For his career he hit.281 with 2 home runs and 14 RBIs in 25 postseason games. Offensively his best year was 1996, when he hit 35 home runs with 100 RBIs, 25 doubles for a.272/.342/.529 slash line. He was 21st in the AL MVP ballot. He occasionally played first base, third base and both left and right field. After playing for the A's for 11 seasons, he went on to play for his home-state Minnesota Twins for 3 more seasons. At ages 35 to 37, he averaged 15 home runs, 71 RBIs and 23 doubles per every 162 games as the Twins starting catcher. He also caught two no-hitters during his career.
Coaching
From 2008 to 2012, Steinbach was a coach for the Wayzata High School boys varsity baseball team in Plymouth, Minnesota. Steinbach's son Lucas played with the team during this time before graduating in June 2012. He also worked as the Twins' minor league instructor for thirteen years. On October 22, 2012, the Twins hired Steinbach to be the bench coach and catching instructor on manager Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff, succeeding Steve Liddle. Stuart Turner, a catching prospect for the Twins, credited Steinbach's tutelage in spring training for his improvement as a catcher. In 2014, Steinbach managed games in April and August, when Gardenhire was unable to attend the game.
Personal life
Steinbach and his wife, Mary, have three adult children. Their two sons both play college baseball. Terry's brother, Tom, was a teammate on the Golden Gophers' baseball team. Tom was the right fielder.
