For Mike Jirschele, this homecoming was 36 years in the making.
The Clintonville native, who was hired as a coach for the Kansas City Royals this season, made his Wisconsin big league debut Friday in an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
The two teams play again Saturday at 1:10 p.m. at Miller Park.
Jirschele spent 36 years playing and coaching in the minor leagues before Royals manager Ned Yost called him up.
“It was exciting. When you go into baseball, whether it’s as a player or a stat member, most of the time there’s one goal and that’s to get yourself to the big leagues,” Jirschele said. “I was fortunate enough to hang on as long as I did and finally get an opportunity to help a big league club.”
Jirschele, who is the Royals’ extra coach, helps out wherever he’s needed. He said the promotion hasn’t changed how he looks at himself.
“I don’t feel any different now than when I was a Triple-A manager,” Jirschele said. “Yeah, you are in the big leagues, but to me it’s just a step up and another job. … You’re trying to get players to get better and win games.”
Jirschele, a fifth-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 1977, played 13 seasons in the minor leagues, mostly in the Rangers’ farm system. After a two-year break, Jirschele got back into baseball in 1992 as a coach for the Royals’ Gulf Coast League team.
After three seasons he was called up to Triple-A to be the manager of the Omaha Royals (now the Storm Chasers), where he would coach from 1995-1997 and then again from 2003 until last season, when the team won a Triple-A National Championship.
“He did such a good job in Triple-A they never wanted to get him out of there,” joked Don Jirschele, Mike’s father, who was a standout athlete himself — playing football at the University of Kentucky for Bear Bryant and signing with the Green Bay Packers.
“Mike put 36 years in, so it’s about time he gets up there, you know?” Don Jirschele said. “He’s worked hard for it.”
A lot of that hard work came before the minor leagues, when the younger Jirschele played most of his games at what is now known as Don Jirschele Stadium. He played Babe Ruth, high school, Legion and for the semipro Clintonville A’s.
“I started with little league here in Clintonville,” he said. “Really all my baseball came right here in Clintonville until I got into professional baseball right out of high school.”
On Thursday, Jirschele was in Clintonville helping his wife, Sheri, get things together for Kansas City and coordinating relatives, including his father, heading to Miller Park for the games Friday and Saturday.
“I have about 30 each day on the pass list,” he said, “And that’s just immediate family. It’s exciting. It’s always fun to have your family around and have them enjoy the time in Miller Park, along with just being able to see them.”
There were, admittedly, some conflicting allegiances.
“I’m still a Brewer fan, too,” Don Jirschele said. “They’re in different leagues, so I can stay with the Brewers in the National and the Royals in the American.”
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