The Oakland A's, who have lost nine games in a row and are in last place in their division, announced today that they have fired manager Bob Geren.
A's vice president and general manager Billy Beane said in a statement that former major league manager Bob Melvin, a 49-year-old native of Palo Alto, has been named interim manager for the rest of the 2011 season.
Geren, 49, was named the A's manager on Nov. 17, 2006. The baseball team had a 334-376 (.470) record in his four-plus seasons as its leader, including a 27-36 mark and last-place standing in the American League West this year.
The A's said Melvin will arrive in Chicago today and will assume his managerial duties tonight when the A's begin a four-game series against the White Sox.
Melvin is the 29th manager in the history of the A's, who were founded in Philadelphia in 1901, moved to Kansas City in 1955 and came to Oakland in 1968. He's the 18th manager since the team moved to Oakland. Melvin has an overall record of 493-508 in seven previous seasons as a major league manager. He led the Seattle Mariners in 2003 and 2004 and the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2009.
Melvin graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park in 1979 and later attended and played baseball at the University of California at Berkeley.
He played in 692 games during his 10-year career as a major league player with the Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox.
--Bay City News
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