PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Tommy Sandt as the team's first base coach, a spokesman said Thursday.
Third base coach Gene Lamont and bullpen coach Rich Donnelly also have signed contracts for the 1987 season, but Ron Schueler will not return as the club's pitching coach because of 'personal reasons,' the spokesman said.
Sandt, 35, a former infielder with Oakland, has been a manager in the Pirates farm system for five years, including the last three at Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League. He compiled a .553 winning percentage at Hawaii with an overall record of 239-193 and was named 1984 PCL manager of the year.
'(Manager) Jim Leyland and I both wanted to promote someone like Tommy Sandt who has a good working knowledge of many of the young players on our major league roster,' said general manager Syd Thrift. 'We are sorry to lose Ron Schueler because he had a tremendous capacity to work with our pitchers. He spent a lot of hours working very hard and he will be missed.'
Sandt replaces Mick Kelleher as first base coach. Kelleher, who also served as baserunner and infield coach, said last week when he was fired that he believed he was let go because he did not absorb Thrift's radical baserunning techniques, which he developed in the now-defunct Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy.
The status of the other member of Leyland's 1986 coaching staff, hitting and outfield instructor Bill Virdon, has not been determined, the spokesman said.
Virdon's name has been mentioned among those rumored to be under consideration to replace San Diego manager Steve Boros if he is not retained. The Padres have said Boros' future will be decided after the World Series.
