Tony Mansolino Returns to Milwaukee with Memories of an Unforgettable Encounter
Tony Mansolino’s first road game as the interim manager of the Baltimore Orioles took him to the city where his father worked as a coach for the Milwaukee Brewers for a couple of seasons in the late 1990s. However, the new manager’s most vivid memory of Milwaukee goes back about five years earlier.
In the summer of 1993, Mansolino’s father was coaching against the Brewers as an assistant for the Chicago White Sox. Tony, then a child, was in the stands at Milwaukee County Stadium watching the game with Casey Harrelson, son of former White Sox commentator, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson.
I remember sitting behind home plate and, all of a sudden, there was a lot of commotion near the first base dugout. It turned out that my father and Phil Garner were fighting on the field.
Tony Mansolino
At that moment, Mansolino’s father was the first base coach for the White Sox and Garner was managing the Brewers. According to reports from the time, Mansolino angrily headed towards the Milwaukee dugout in the eighth inning, and Garner came out to meet him, which led to a fight that emptied the benches.
Video footage of the incident shows White Sox players Bo Jackson and Tim Raines restraining Mansolino, who was ejected from the game. The altercation occurred after a pitcher from each team hit a batter in previous innings.
Tony Mansolino, now 42, noted that the story doesn’t end there. Garner convinced Doug Mansolino to join his coaching staff with the Brewers in 1998. Doug Mansolino also was part of Garner’s coaching staffs with the Detroit Tigers and the Houston Astros.
Tony Mansolino arrived in Milwaukee looking to break the Orioles’ six-game losing streak, after Baltimore lost its first two games since he took over following the firing of Brandon Hyde on Saturday.
Mansolino, who was a minor league manager and served as Baltimore’s third base coach, said he would benefit from having a couple of days to adjust to his new assignment. The flight to Milwaukee gave him the opportunity to prepare for this series and assimilate everything.
It’s not back at Milwaukee County Stadium, which was demolished in 2001. The Brewers now play at American Family Field, a stadium formerly known as Miller Park.
But the demolition of the old stadium couldn’t erase Mansolino’s memories of seeing his father involved in a fight about three decades ago.
“When I think about being in Milwaukee, I definitely think about that,” he said.
