The Boston Red Sox won the 2013 World Series in their sixth game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
It was a win for Moab born and raised Arnie Beyeler, who was hired as the first base coach for the Boston Red Sox nearly a full year ago.
Beyeler, who graduated from Grand County High School in 1982, was known for his athletic ability.
He played baseball each summer, moving up through little and pony leagues. In high school he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track.
As a teenager he played softball in the summer because there wasn’t an organized baseball program for boys over age 14 in Moab. Larry Key of Moab helped him get on an American Legion League team in Grand Junction, Colo. the summer of his junior year of high school so he could play baseball.
“He said I needed to get out of town to play,” Beyeler said.
That opened the door for Moab-born Beyeler for a career in professional baseball – one that took him all over the country before World Series win last week.
He played six seasons of professional baseball between 1986 and 1991 in the Detroit Tigers farm system and a year of Triple-A ball with the Toledo Mud Hens. He worked as a scout for the Detroit Tigers in Florida for four years and spent three seasons in the New York Yankees organization as a batting and in-field coach.
He continued to move around the country for his career, working for the Red Sox system as a manager of the Lowell Spinners and the Augusta Green Jackets in the South Atlantic League. He moved west to California to manage the Stockton Ports and Bakersfield Blaze, then to Alabama as the batting coach for the Mobile BayBears.
He returned to the Red Sox system in 2007 to manage the Portland Sea Dogs. Then for two years he managed the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, the Red Sox’ top level minor league affiliate. He led the team to an International North Division Title in 2011 and its third Governors’ Cup championship in 2012.
“I thank everybody there for their support,” he said of friends and coaches in Moab. “Everybody had a good part in what I do and have been real supportive. It’s neat doing what I do and travel all over the world. It’s been a lot of fun to see people that I know.”
