Providence Journal photo / Ruben W. Perez
Johnny Goryl, who has worked in pro baseball ever since he was drafted out of Cumberland High School in 1951, has received Minor League Baseball's Mike Coolbaugh Award for outstanding baseball work ethic, knowledge of the game and skill in mentoring young players on the field.
Goryl was honored on Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., at Baseball's Winter Meetings.
A former player with the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins, the 79-year-old Goryl has worked in the Cleveland Indians organization for 31 seasons, as a minor-league coach and in the front office. His current title is adviser to the player-development department.
He was manager of the Twins in 1980 and 1981, after 15 years as a coach in the Minnesota system.
Goryl was drafted in 1951 by the Boston Braves. In an interview with the Indians'
web site, he credited a former Braves scout, Central Falls native Roland Hemond, with giving him his start in baseball.
"I was in high school playing ball against another high school that was coached by ...
a longtime scout," Goryl said. "At that time, he was a high school coach. It's funny how things happen in your life. At 17 years old, [the scout] saw something in me and had a friend up in Hartford, Connecticut, in Roland, that had an opportunity to make things happen for me.
"He gave me a chance to play against a black semipro team on a Sunday afternoon in a doubleheader. I drove up from Cumberland, Rhode Island, with [the scout]. Apparently, I did well enough."
The award is named for Coolbaugh, who had a 17-year playing career spent mostly in
the minor leagues. He died in 2007 after being struck in the neck by a line-drive foul ball while coaching first base for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.
"It means that over all the years, I probably did some things that were pretty good,"
Goryl told the web site of receiving the award. "I'm very humbled by the fact that other people recognize that, especially with all the people that are in this game and in Minor League Baseball, that I was singled out this year for that type of recognition.
"It's very humbling, believe me. And it made me very emotional at the time I was told."
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