KEY Magazine Fort Worth

Cats Manager Joins Connie Mack in History Books

Fort Worth Cats manager Wayne Terwilliger made history on June 27 when he joined Connie Mack as the only 80-year-old manager in baseball history. Terwilliger - better known as “Twig” - came to the Cats in 2003 after spending the previous eight seasons as a coach with the St. Paul Saints. When he managed the Cats on May 7, 2003, he became the oldest manager in minor-league history and the second oldest, behind Connie Mack, in the history of professional baseball.

The Cats threw a birthday bash for Terwilliger during the June 24 game at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth. The Cats gave away 1,500 Twig 80th birthday bobble head dolls that night.

Terwilliger has been in uniform for more than 5,000 games. The 2005 season marks his 57th year in baseball. Twig sat out the 1974 season to operate a sports bar he owned in his hometown of Charlotte, Mich. If not for that year, he would join Connie Mack, Don Zimmer, Bill Fischer and Jimmie Reese as the only men involved in professional baseball for at least 50 consecutive seasons.

Twig began coaching in 1961 as manager in Greensboro, N.C. Terwilliger managed in seven minor league cities through 1968, then moved to the majors (Washington Senators 1969-71, Texas Rangers 1972), as a coach for four years under Ted Williams. He returned to the minors as a manager in 1973 at Columbus, Ga. He managed there, Lynchburg, Va., Asheville, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla. before returning to the majors as a coach with the Texas Rangers from 1981-85. Terwilliger coached for the Minnesota Twins from 1986 to 1994 before joining the St. Paul Saints in 1995.

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