{"id":665926,"date":"2026-04-06T05:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665926\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T05:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:43:29","slug":"phillies-twins-world-series-winning-catcher-dies-suddenly-at-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665926\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies, Twins World Series-Winning Catcher Dies Suddenly at 65"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catcher Tom Nieto, who played for two World Series teams and won a championship with the Minnesota Twins<\/a> in 1987, died March 27 according to an announcement on social media by his sister. He was 65.<\/p>\n

According to Denise Nieto-Jackson, Tom Nieto died after suffering a heart attack.<\/p>\n

More news: Former Braves Prospect, 2-Sport Star, Dies at 49 After Cancer Battle<\/a><\/p>\n

Nieto also helped the St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> reach the World Series in 1985 as the rookie half of a catching tandem with veteran Darrell Porter.<\/p>\n

Though never the star of his team, Nieto persevered through parts of seven MLB<\/a> seasons \u2014 and 11 overall as a professional \u2014 after being chosen in the third round of the 1981 draft out of Oral Roberts University. <\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

A native of Southern California, Nieto became the Cardinals’ No. 5 prospect according to Baseball America by 1984. The following year, as the star-laden Cardinals rose to prominence under manager Whitey Herzog, a 24-year-old Nieto became the unlikely primary backstop.<\/p>\n

More news: Former Cubs Pitcher Dies<\/a><\/p>\n

After falling to the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game World Series, the Cardinals relegated Nieto to backup duties in 1985 \u2014\u00a0a role he held the remainder of his career. Nieto played for the Cardinals (1984-85), Montreal Expos (1986), Twins (1987-88), and Phillies (1989-90), retiring with a career .205\/.280\/.281 slash line.<\/p>\n

After spending the 1991 minor league season with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, Nieto retired as a player and transitioned into a second career in coaching.<\/p>\n

More news: Yankees Pitcher Who Won Two World Series Championships Dies<\/a><\/p>\n

Nieto began his coaching career<\/a> in 1992 with the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Cincinnati Reds affiliate. He went on to manage the 1993-94 Charleston Wheelers, 1997-98 Greensboro Bats, 1999-2000 Tampa Yankees and 2003-04 Palm Beach Cardinals. <\/p>\n

Nieto was the Mets’ first base coach and catching instructor from 2005 until June 17, 2008, when he was fired on the same day as manager Willie Randolph. <\/p>\n

More news: Former Mets Outfielder Dies; 10-Year MLB Veteran Spoiled Perfect Game<\/a><\/p>\n

Nieto then returned to the Twins’ system, managing the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats in 2009 and Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in 2010 and 2011. <\/p>\n

From 2012-13, Nieto returned to the Yankees as manager of the GCL Yankees.<\/p>\n

For more MLB news, visit Newsweek Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catcher Tom Nieto, who played for two World Series teams and won a championship with the Minnesota Twins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,30961,25,67,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-665926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-montreal-expos","14":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","15":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","16":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116356174554229472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}