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New Richmond Flying Squirrels skipper joins Hot Stove lineup

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richmond flying squirrelsThe Richmond Flying Squirrels, Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, announced that new team manager Kyle Haines will be introduced to the Richmond community at the annual Flying Squirrels Charity Hot Stove Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 2 at the Siegel Center.

Haines was announced as the sixth manager in Squirrels history last month and will arrive in Richmond after spending the past two seasons as the manager of the San Francisco Giants Northwest League team (Salem-Keizer). Haines, 34, will join current San Francisco Giants manager and hot stove headliner Bruce Bochy as a celebrity guest at the seventh annual event.  Bochy, 61, has become synonymous with the Giants success and his 1,789 wins are most among active MLB Managers. Bochy, Haines and other celebrity guests (to be announced at a later date), are scheduled to sign autographs as well as partake in the event festivities. A timeline of the events are listed below. Tickets are available for purchase online with proceeds benefiting Flying Squirrels Charity’s and Renovating Richmond’s Recreation project.

“This will be a great chance for our fans to meet our new manager, along with a future Hall of Famer in Boch(y),” Squirrels VP & COO Todd “Parney” Parnell stated. “Haines is young, energetic and positive. A great fit for our team and the RVA community.”

The hot stove banquet will also feature the presentation of the annual Paul Keyes Richmond Baseball Impact Award. Previous award winners include Tracy Woodson, Gene Alley, Johnny Grubb, Eddie Kasko, Sam Ayoub and Cla Meredith.  The Paul Keyes Richmond Baseball Impact Award is given annually in honor of the late VCU baseball manager Paul Keyes.  Additional celebrity guests will be announced soon. Additional baseball dignitaries attending the event include the President of Minor League Baseball Pat O’Connor.

Previous Hot Stove Headliners

  • Lee Smith (2016)
  • Gaylord Perry (2015)
  • Dave Dravecky (2014)
  • Will Clark (2013)
  • Bill Buckner (2012)
  • Tommy John (2011)

 

About Kyle Haines

Haines, 34, becomes the youngest skipper to ever lead the Squirrels franchise and replaces 2016 manager Miguel Ojeda. Haines spent the previous two seasons as the manager of the Class-A Short-Season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in the Northwest League. The Louisville, Ill., native piloted the Volcanoes to a 39-37 record in his first season in 2015 and a 32-42 record last year. He became the first former Volcano player to manage the club, having started his career with Salem-Keizer in 2004 as a player.

During his Giants minor league career, Haines played alongside the likes of Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo, Pablo Sandoval, Jonathan Sanchez and Travis Ishikawa. The infielder was a member of four championship teams in the minor leagues (2004 Arizona Rookie League Giants, 2005 San Jose Giants, 2007 San Jose Giants, 2009 Akron Aeros). Haines notched the go-ahead RBI single in Game 5 of the 2007 California League Championship series for San Jose. In 2008, Haines enjoyed his best statistical season and made the All-Star Game in the Double-A Eastern League as a shortstop with the Connecticut Defenders.

Haines’ older brother, Andy, was also a manager in affiliated baseball with the Miami Marlins organization and currently works as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the Chicago Cubs. Kyle is the youngest of three siblings and attended Eastern Illinois University. He began his managing career immediately after his playing career ended, guiding the Frontier League (Ind) Grays in 2014.

 

About Bruce Bochy

The Two-time National League Manager of the Year was named the 38th manager in Giants franchise history, and 16th in San Francisco annals, Oct. 27, 2006. His 1,789 victories are the highest total by an active manager and he ranks 15th on the all-time list. He leads active managers in consecutive years managed (22) and has compiled a 1,789-1,757 (.505) career ledger in 22 seasons as a Major League skipper. Bochy is the winningest foreign-born manager in ML history, having moved past former Giants skipper Felipe Alou in 2008.

He has guided the Giants to three World Championships (2010, 2012, 2014) and is one of 10 managers to win at least three World Series titles. The other nine are all in the Hall of Fame. In 2014, Bochy became just the fifth manager to lead a team to three titles in a five year span joining Connie Mack, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. Bochy is the second manager in Giants franchise history to win three World Series Championships, joining John McGraw (1905, 1921, 1922). His four World Series appearances as a manager (1998, 2010, 2012, 2014) are the most among all active managers in Major League Baseball. The Giants have won 11 of their 12 postseason series in Bochy’s tenure. From 2010-2016 he won 11 straight postseason rounds, which tied Joe Torre (Yankees, 1998-2001) for  the longest streak ever by a manager. His eight postseason appearances are tied with Dusty Baker for the most among current ML skippers.

Bochy logged a 24-year affiliation with Padres organization from 1983-2006 and guided his Padres clubs to five winning campaigns, including 1996, 1998, 2005 and 2006 NL West titles. He is the winningest manager in Padres franchise history, having recorded 951 victories during 12 years in San Diego. The former catcher was the only Friar Manager to have played for the club, spending parts of five seasons in San Diego as a player. In 2006, he guided the Padres to back-to-back playoff berths for the first time in franchise history, as the Friars won their second consecutive NL West title.

The former catcher spent parts of nine Major League seasons with Houston (1978-80), New York Mets (1982) and San Diego (1983-87) and compiled a lifetime .239 batting average with 26 HRs and 93 RBI in 358 career games. He guided pitchers to a career 3.87 ERA in 298 contests behind the plate (1,930.0 innings) and threw out 28.6 pct. of attempted base-stealers (88-of-308). Bochy made his ML debut July 18, 1978 in an Astros uniform, going 2-for-3 at Shea Stadium and belted his first big league home run the following day, a solo shot off Mets’ Kevin Kobel in the second game of a doubleheader. He enjoyed his best season in 1986 with Padres, setting personal bests in HRs (8), RBI (22), games played (63) and starts behind plate (29).

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