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Jeff Torborg

Jeff Torborg was born on November 26, 1941 in Plainfield, New Jersey. Jeff played catcher for Los Angeles Dodgers (1964-1970) and California Angels (1971-1973) where he has the distinction of having caught the perfect game thrown by Sandy Koufax on September 9, 1965; the no hitter by Bill Singer thrown on July 20, 1970; and the first no hitter of strikeout king Nolan Ryan threw on May 15, 1973.  Jeff later managed for the Cleveland Indians (1977-1979), Chicago White Sox (1989-1991), New York Mets (1992-1993), Montreal Expos (2001) and Florida Marlins (2002). In 1990 while with the White Sox, Jeff was named American League Manager of the Year.

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Torborg grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, where he was the catcher on the Westfield High School baseball team. He caught at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he was a 1963 All-American, setting the school record for season batting average. His .537 batting average for that year was the highest ever recorded up to that time and since then, only two college players have hit for a better average. His slugging percentage that year (1.032) is also a single-season standard. He led the team with 21 RBI and six home runs. In his three-year career from 1961–63, Torborg batted .390. His number (#10) was retired in 1992. He still holds the career slugging percentage mark of .684. During his career, the Knights were 15–4–1, 14–4 and 11–5 for a three-year mark of 40–13–1 (.741 winning percentage).

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