The Tulsa Drillers and the Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Thursday that 10-year Major League veteran manager and 2007 American League Manager of the Year, Eric Wedge, will be the team’s 24th full-time manager.
Wedge becomes one of the most accomplished managers in Tulsa baseball history. He has spent ten seasons leading Major League clubs, including seven seasons with the Cleveland Indians from 2003 to 2009 and three with the Seattle Mariners from 2011 to 2013. During that time, he won 774 games in the majors.
Wedge’s managerial career began in 1998 in the minors when he was named manager of Cleveland’s Single-A affiliate. He spent a total of five seasons managing in the minors, amassing three Manager of the Year awards before being named manager of Cleveland ahead of the 2003 MLB season.
After his stint in Cleveland, Wedge was named manager of the Mariners in October 2010 and won 213 games during three seasons in Seattle.
As a player, Wedge was an All-American catcher at Wichita State, where he helped the Shockers reach two College World Series, winning the national championship in 1989.
He later returned to the school as the head baseball coach. He was hired in 2019 and left the school before the 2023 season to focus on personal health matters.