Buck Showalter didn’t have to go very deep into his Rolodex to find the latest member of his coaching staff.
While the Mets haven’t made any of their new coaching hires official yet, Wayne Kirby is expected to be named their first base coach. Kirby was Showalter‘s first base coach in Baltimore from 2011-18. The move adds another former MLB player to the team’s offseason coaching overhaul — the Mets are expected to hire Joey Cora as their third base coach and lured Eric Chavez away from the Yankees to be their hitting coach. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is the only on-field member to remain from Luis Rojas‘ staff.
Kirby, 57, has now coached in the big leagues longer than he played in them. To reach this point, he first had to break out of his hometown, whose entire population would fit in a few sections at Citi Field.
CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY
Kirby graduated from Tabb High School in Tabb, Va., an unincorporated community in York County. Originally called Charles River Shire, York County was one of the eight original divisions of land in colonial Virginia.
Wayne’s younger brother Terry excelled on the football field and was named Gatorade Player of the Year in 1988. A standout career at the University of Virginia came next — where he set the school’s rushing record and was named an All-American — and the Miami Dolphins took Terry in the third round of the 1993 draft. He went on to play parts of ten seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins, 49ers, Browns and Raiders.
Not quite the gridiron stud his brother was, Wayne focused on the baseball field. In 2006 he told The Oklahoman that, “Baseball is an individual sport but a team game. The reason why I chose baseball is that you can’t blame anyone for failing in this game but yourself.”
PLAYING CAREER
Kirby went to the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 1983 draft. The minor leagues took him from Bakersfield to San Antonio to Albuquerque, and before he ever got a shot at the highest level, he was granted minor league free agency.
Cleveland picked him up in December 1990 and he was ready for The Show by spring. Kirby played in his first MLB game in 1991 as a 27-year-old rookie. He’d remain with Cleveland, mostly as a part-time player, before the Dodgers claimed him off waivers during the 1996 campaign. Kirby never got as much playing time as he did in 1993, a season that saw him get in 131 games and hit .269 with 17 stolen bases. Because he played so sparsely in ’91 and ’92, Kirby still had rookie eligibility as a 29-year-old in ’93. He finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
During his time in Cleveland, Kirby appeared in eight playoff games during the team’s march to the 1995 World Series. Young stars Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton and Albert Belle kept Kirby in a fourth outfielder role, but he did find time to become part of the franchise’s history. When Jacobs Field was opened in 1994, it was Kirby who delivered the walk-off hit in the stadium’s first game.
He’d make another playoff run with the Dodgers and ended his career in the same place he finds himself today: with the Mets. Kirby went to St. Louis when his contract in LA expired, but never appeared in a big-league game for the Cardinals, who instead traded him to the Mets for utilityman Shawn Gilbert. A 26-game cameo for the 1998 Mets was Kirby’s last spin around the major-league circuit until he made his way back as a coach.
COACHING CAREER
“I don’t bring in buddies. I bring in people that can deliver what needs to be done for the players,” Showalter said when introduced as Mets manager.
Whether he’d consider them buddies or not, Showalter is definitely very familiar with Kirby. The two worked together for eight seasons in Baltimore, and now Kirby will be Showalter’s first base coach yet again. When Showalter’s flight with the Orioles concluded at the end of 2018, so did Kirby’s. He’d take a year off before the Padres named him first base coach in 2020. He’d last two years in San Diego but was a casualty of coaching changes when their 2021 season fell short of the playoffs.
Kirby was also reportedly in talks with the Angels about a coaching job this offseason but could not ultimately reach a deal. His professional coaching career began back in 2002 as the hitting coach for Cleveland’s rookie ball team in the Appalachian League. He’d eventually move his way up to the Double-A Akron Aeros in 2005, then the Rangers poached him to be their minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator, a position he held before the Orioles offered a spot on their major-league staff.
In a 2011 interview with the Daily Press, Showalter called Kirby “a blueprint for what a coach is supposed to be.” In the same interview, a former Orioles player poked fun at Kirby for his motor mouth.
“He hasn’t shut up since he was born,” Adam Jones joked. “Wayne is good people. That’s why he’s been around so long.”
