Tim Wallach


Timothy Charles Wallach is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball as a third baseman, most notably for the Montreal Expos from to. A five-time All-Star, Wallach excelled as an offensive and as a defensive player, winning 2 Silver Slugger Awards and 3 Gold Glove Awards. In addition to the Expos, he also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels and coached for the Dodgers and Miami Marlins.

Early life

Wallach was born in Huntington Park, California, and grew up in Tustin, California. He attended high school at University High School in neighboring Irvine, California. There he played on the school's lower-level baseball team during his freshman and sophomore years before being promoted to the varsity team for his last two years. Wallach was not drafted by a major league team out of high school. He enrolled at Saddleback College and transferred to California State University, Fullerton to play college baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans.
Wallach played for the United States national baseball team in the 1978 Amateur World Series. His stat-line in the series was.395/.455/.763, while having 14 runs and runs batted in, both being the second-most in the series. The United States finished second to Cuba in the tournament. Wallach led the Titans to its first Division I title in while being awarded the Golden Spikes Award. He was selected on the 1979 College Baseball All-America Team and named the Sporting News College Player of the Year.

Career

Montreal Expos (1980–1992)

Wallach made his major league debut at the age of 22 on September 6, 1980, against the San Francisco Giants after replacing Ron LeFlore at left field. In his first plate appearance in the top of the 5th inning, he was walked, but in his second plate appearance in the 8th, he hit a home run. Wallach and Brett Pill are the only two players from Cal State Fullerton to hit a home run in their first at bat. Wallach appeared in four other games in that season. He appeared in 71 games in the following season, having 50 hits and 13 RBIs with a.236 batting average. He appeared in the postseason run with the Expos, appearing in five games. In Game 1 of the 1981 National League Division Series, he went 1-of-2 with a double and a walk while scoring a run. In the other four games that he appeared in, he went hitless. 1982 was his first full-time season, and he played in 158 games while having 160 hits, 28 home runs, 31 doubles, and 97 RBIs with a.268 batting average. He slightly regressed the following year, playing in 156 games while having 156 hits, 33 doubles, 19 home runs, and 70 RBIs with a.269 batting average. In 1984, Wallach played in 160 games with 143 total hits, 18 home runs, and 72 RBIs on a.246 batting average, but also had 101 strikeouts while being named to the All-Star Game, his first. He improved the following year, playing in 155 games while also having 148 hits, 36 doubles, 22 home runs, 81 RBIs with a.260 batting average while also being selected to the All-Star Game once again. He was also awarded a Gold Glove and the Silver Slugger Award. He regressed a bit the next season, playing in 134 games while having 112 hits, 22 doubles, 18 home runs and 71 RBIs with a.233 batting average, although he led the league in being hit by pitch with 10.
In 1987, Wallach was named to the All-Star Game once again while winning a Silver Slugger Award and finishing 4th in Most Valuable Player voting, doing so in 153 games while having 177 hits, 26 home runs, 42 doubles, and 123 RBIs with a.298 batting average, with the latter three being career highs. He regressed a bit the next season, having 152 hits, 32 doubles, 12 home runs and 69 RBIs with a.257 batting average in 159 games, although he did win the Gold Glove, his second. He rebounded in 1989, being named to the All-Star Game, playing in 154 games while getting 159 hits, 42 doubles, 13 home runs and 77 RBIs with a.277 batting average. He continued his success in 1990, playing in a career high 161 games while having 185 hits, 37 doubles, 21 home runs, 98 RBIs and a.296 batting average while being named to the All-Star Game and finishing 10th in MVP voting while winning the Gold Glove for the third and final time. He was named team captain prior to the 1991 season, being the first team captain in franchise history. He regressed in production in his final two seasons with the Expos, playing in 301 combined games while having a total of 250 hits, 51 doubles, 22 home runs and 132 RBIs while hitting under.230 both seasons. On December 24, 1992, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tim Barker.

Later career (1993–1996)

Wallach played in 133 games for the Dodgers, getting 106 hits, with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 62 RBIs with a.222 batting average. In the strike shortened 1994 season, he played in 113 games, having 116 hits, 21 doubles and 23 home runs with 78 RBIs and a.280 batting average. He finished 18th in MVP voting. He played in just 97 games for the Dodgers in 1995, having 87 hits with 22 doubles, nine home runs and 38 RBIs and a.266 batting average. He appeared in the team's postseason run, playing in each game of the NLDS. He went 1-for-12, with no RBIs as the Dodgers were swept in three. After the season ended, he signed as a free agent with the California Angels. He played in 57 games with the team, having 45 hits, seven doubles, eight home runs and 20 RBIs with 47 strikeouts on a.237 batting average. He was granted free agency on July 19, 1996, signing with the Dodgers six days later. He played in 45 games while having 37 hits, three doubles, four home runs and 22 RBIs on a.228 batting average. He appeared in the postseason run, appearing in each game of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. He went 0-for-11 as they were swept. In his final regular season game on September 29, 1996, he went 1-for-4. In his final at bat, he hit a single off Dario Veras of the San Diego Padres.

Career statistics and achievements

In 8,099 career at-bats, Wallach had 2,085 hits. He batted.257 with 260 home runs and 1,125 RBIs. Wallach had 908 career runs scored. Wallach holds the Expos and Nationals team record for most games played. He held the team records for most runs batted in and hits until 2017 when, his runs batted in total was surpassed by Ryan Zimmerman, and in 2018 when Zimmerman surpassed his hits total. He was the one of the last Major League Baseball players to wear a flapless batting helmet, after Tim Raines and Gary Gaetti and equal with Ozzie Smith.
Wallach won three Gold Glove awards for defensive excellence and two Silver Slugger awards for offensive excellence. He was named to five All-Star teams. Wallach spent the majority of his career with the Expos, forming a potent lineup with teammates Tim Raines, Gary Carter and Andre Dawson. He was voted the Montreal Expos Player of the Year in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Bill James has referred to Wallach as a "poor man's Brooks Robinson", largely because of his defensive skills.
On June 21, 2014, Tim Wallach was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ontario, along with former Montreal Expos play-by-play announcer Dave Van Horne and former Montreal Expos general manager Murray Cook.

Coaching career

In and, Wallach was the hitting coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers. When Grady Little became the manager and replaced Jim Tracy in December 2005, Wallach remained hitting coach until he was replaced by Eddie Murray. On January 12,, he was named the manager for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes in the Dodgers organization. He led the Isotopes into the playoffs with a franchise record 80 wins and was named as Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year.
On November 22, 2010, he was named the new third base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In late 2013, Wallach interviewed for managerial jobs with the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners. When he missed out on those jobs, the Dodgers announced that he would be promoted to bench coach for the 2014 season.
On December 4, 2015, he was announced as the new bench coach for the Miami Marlins, a position he held through the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Personal life

Tim has three sons with his wife, Lori. Matt was drafted by the Dodgers in the 22nd round of the 2007 MLB draft as a catcher out of California State University Fullerton. Brett was drafted by the Dodgers as a pitcher in the 3rd round of the 2009 MLB draft out of Orange Coast College and then traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2010. Chad was a catcher for California State University Fullerton who was selected by the Miami Marlins in the 5th round of the 2013 MLB draft and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2014. Chad was named Miami Marlins Minor League Player of the Month for June 2014 and was the starting catcher for the South Atlantic League Northern Division All-Stars in June 2014 as a member of the Greensboro Grasshoppers. On August 25, 2017, Chad Wallach was called up by the Reds.
Wallach's nickname, "Eli", is in reference to actor Eli Wallach.