Tom Tresh - Former NY Yankees Shortstop
islanders
Tom Tresh died Tuesday morning at his home in Venice, Fla.
Tresh, 71, died in the early morning hours of a massive heart attack.
Tresh played one season at CMU, 1957, before signing a professional
contract with the New York Yankees in the summer of that year.
Former CMU baseball coach Bill Theunissen said the young Tresh caught
his eye when he was out scouting in the Detroit area in the mid-1950s.
“He was playing summer ball and he was playing very well,” said
Theunissen. “His freshman year he was our starting shortstop and he
was a good player. Of all the players he was probably the prominent of
them all (to play at CMU).”
Tresh made his big league debut in 1961, playing in three games. Then
in 1962 he got his big break as Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek went to
serve in the Army. He started at shortstop on opening day, something
that no Yankee rookie would do again until Derek Jeter did so in 1996.
During his rookie campaign he hit .286 with 20 home runs and 93 RBI.
He also scored 94 runs and earned Rookie of the Year honors. The
Yankees went onto win the 1962 World Series, defeating the San
Francisco Giants in seven games. Tresh, who played in left field in
the series after Kubek returned, hit .321 in the series and had a game-
winning homer in Game 5.
Former CMU baseball star Dave Keilitz, who went onto become baseball
coach and athletics director, remembers being in awe of Tresh when he
first came to CMU.
“He contributed greatly to me as a player,” said Keilitz, who played
at CMU from 1962 through 1964. “Here I was an 18- or 19-year-old kid
working out with Tom Tresh, I thought it was the greatest thing in the
world.”
During his 10-year Major League career Tresh played in three World
Series and compiled a career average of .245. He also hit 153 homers
and drove in 530 runs. The two-time All- Star, who closed his career
in his hometown of Detroit in 1969, also won a Gold Glove in 1965.