Jeff Torborg, an unassuming baseball lifer who caught three no-hitters, including Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965, and as a manager revived the Chicago White Sox but flopped spectacularly with the New York Mets, died on Sunday in Port Orange, Fla. He was 83.
His death, in a hospital, was announced by the White Sox, with whom he won American League Manager of Year honors in 1990. He had struggled in recent years with Parkinson’s disease, his son Greg said.
During his 10 seasons playing in the majors, most of them as a backup catcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Torborg had a reputation as a durable, cerebral backstop who couldn’t hit — a deficiency he overcame with the value he added in adroitly managing pitchers.