TERRY COLLINS, MANAGER OF THE 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS, FOUND HIS CALLING AS A LITTLE LEAGUER® IN MIDLAND, MICH.
When New York Mets’ manager Terry Collins stepped into the dugout at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City for Game 1 of the 2015 Major League Baseball World Series versus the two-time American League Champion Royals, he was fulfilling a lifelong dream. A dream that stems from his days playing for the Elks team in Midland, Michigan’s Fraternal Little League during the late 1950s.
Mr. Collins, 66, became the Mets’ Manager in 2011, when the organization was in a rebuilding phase. Four seasons later, the former Little League® shortstop and second baseman, has the Mets in the World Series for the first time since the “Subway Series,” won by the New York Yankees at the end of the 2000 season.
The Mets finished the regular season with a record of 90-72, and won their first division title in 15 years. The Sporting News selected Mr. Collins as the 2015 National League Manager of the Year.
In his two previous stints as a Major League Manager, with the Houston Astros and the Anaheim Angels in the 1990s, Mr. Collins had teams with winning records, but never reached the playoffs. A former minor league shortstop, Collins also managed the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, and the Duluth Huskies of the summer collegiate Northwoods League at the minor league level.
