Two Yankees Coaches Killed In Wreck
Car accident in Dominican claims lives of Acosta and Trejo
By Baseball America staff
April 20, 2006 E-mail this article
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Two Yankees minor league coaches--Rookie-level Gulf Coast League manager Oscar Acosta and Dominican field coordinator Humberto Trejo--were killed in a car accident Wednesday night in the Dominican Republic.
The news was first reported by George King, Baseball America's Yankees correspondent, in the New York Post.
Acosta, 49, served as the Yankees' player development coordinator in the Dominican in addition to his role as the team's GCL manager. He took on that role in 2004, after working as the Rangers major league pitching coach from 2002-2003, and as the Cubs major league pitching coach in 2000 and 2001.
Before that, he worked as the Yankees pitching coach at Triple-A Columbus from 1996-1998, and he also worked as a minor league coach in the Rangers system. He had pitched in the Phillies farm system before becoming a coach.
"He was the best pitching coach I have ever been around," Stump Merrill, the manager of the Clippers when the no-nonsense Acosta was his pitching coach, told the Post.
"The Yankees grieve the tragic loss of Oscar Acosta and Humberto Trejo," said New York Yankees Principal Owner, George M. Steinbrenner in a statement released by the Yankees. "They were both fine men and great Yankees, and we are praying for their families and loved ones."
Acosta's GCL team has won the league title in each of the past two seasons. He managed many of the organization's top prospects in that time, including righthanders Philip Hughes and Chris Garcia, outfielders Austin Jackson and Jose Tabata and shortstop C.J. Henry
“In my nine years of professional baseball, Oscar is one people I respected most,” said Charleston RiverDogs hitting coach Torre Tyson, who worked with Acosta as the GCL team's hitting coach in 2004. “I admired the way he treated every player the same, from top draft selections to free agent signings.”
Trejo, 38, has worked for the Yankees for 16 years, serving as a manager, coach and most recently field coordinator for the Yankees Dominican Baseball Academy. A Venezuelan native, Trejo played in the Pirates' minor league system before getting into coaching.
The Yankees will observe a moment of silence before Friday's game against the Orioles in memory of the two men.
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