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| Photo: Andrea Stava / Omaha Storm Chasers |
Jirschele sounded more relieved than happy after the game.
“I’m just happy it’s over because we’ve been waiting for a while for this one,” Jirschele said. “I just wanted to get it out of the way. In fact, I didn’t even know I was that close to a thousand until we were on that last road trip and Mark Nasser, the radio guy, said, ‘Do you know what win that was? 999.’ I had no idea.
“You know, to me that doesn’t mean anything. Yeah, you won a thousand games, but I don’t win the games anyway. Those guys out there playing are the ones that win the games.”
After the game, general manager Martie Cordaro presented Jirschele with a framed jersey with the number 1000 on the back.
Jirschele's first managerial job was with the GLC Royals in the Gulf Coast League in 1992. He led them to a 41-18 finish and they went on to win the league championship. He managed the Rockford Royals in 1993 in the Midwest League. They went 78-54 and made it to the first round of the playoffs. He managed the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the Carolina League in 1994. They went 99-44 and won the league championship.
He got his first shot in Triple-A in 1995 when he took over the job for the Omaha Royals. They too went to the playoffs. He managed the Royals through the 1997 season. From 1998-2002, he took various jobs within the Royals organization, including a roving infield instructor and a coordinator of instruction position. He returned as the manager of the Omaha Royals in 2003 and has been with the club ever since.
His overall record for Omaha in 11+ years is 787-840 (.483) and his overall record as a manager now stands at 1,000-956 (.511)
So, what does he remember about his first year as the Royals manager on a team that included guys like Joe Vitiello, Bob Hamelin, Joe Randa and Michael Tucker?
“I don’t really remember too much,” Jirschele said. “That was a replacement year and I remember my first day in Triple-A as a manager, I had to come here to Omaha and release seven guys because that’s when they settled the strike. That wasn’t an easy start.”
Jirschele isn’t one to get too reminiscent with the press. He tends to stays focused on the task at hand. Right now he’s thinking more about the 2011 ball club than anything else. In fact, when he was asked for his high and low moments as a manager, he joked that the low moment was the four-game sweep the team just experienced at home against Las Vegas. But then he got serious.
“It’s all been fun,” Jirschele said. “You have your ups and downs. It’s just like hitters, pitchers, whatever – you have your ups and downs and I just try to stay on an even keel and just keep going and work through the bad times and enjoy the good times when they are there because you know they’re not going to last forever.”
With the win tonight, Omaha improves to 24-20 on the season. The Storm Chasers remain in first place in the PCL American North, 3.5 games ahead of second place Iowa.
