Jerry Narron named bench coach for Brewers

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on November 26, 2010 1:47 PM

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Jerry Narron has been waiting for the right time to return to baseball.

The perfect situation has arrived after three years.

Narron was recently named the bench coach of the Milwaukee Brewers, where he will continue his journey through the game he has loved for nearly 40 years.

"First I want to say how blessed I am to be in this position," Narron said on Wednesday evening. "I knew that eventually I would go back into coaching and this feels like a really good opportunity."

Narron, a Wayne County native, began his baseball career as a standout at Goldsboro High School. He was drafted straight out of high school in 1974 and began his playing career with the New York Yankees. Narron also played for the Seattle Mariners and California Angels during a 15-year career.

Narron's first coaching job came with the Baltimore Orioles in 1989. He later moved on to Texas where he became the interim manager in 2001 and the full-time manager in 2002. After leaving Texas, Narron moved on to Boston where he served as bench coach in 2003.

In 2004, Narron headed to Cincinnati where he later became manager in 2005. After two seasons, the Reds replaced Narron with Pete Mackanin and the long-time baseball man returned to Goldsboro to be with his family.

"Over the last three years, I have had other opportunities come up but I wanted to be here," Narron said. "I enjoy watching my son (Connor) play, and more than the baseball side of it, I needed to be here as a father."

Connor graduated from Charles B. Aycock in June and in playing professional baseball in the Orioles' minor league system.

"I knew the timing was right with this job because I knew Connor certainly didn't want me following him all over the country," Narron joked.

Even with spring training still three months away, Narron has already started his duties within the organization. He has traveled to Milwaukee for meetings with front office members as well as manager Ron Roenicke. He has also been in Arizona watching Brewer prospects in the fall league.

"I have been pretty busy over the last few weeks," Narron acknowledged. "But it's nothing compared to how busy I will be once we report for spring training in early February."

The Brewers finished last season with a 77-85 record. Ironically, Milwaukee will open the 2011 season at Cincinnati, the site of Narron's last managerial position.

"That will be a lot of fun because there are still so many people that I know in that organization," said Narron. "Not only guys in the front office, but also players like (National League MVP) Joey Votto, who was in the minors when I was the manager there."