POMONA, Calif. - Wendell Kim, a former member of the Cal Poly Pomona baseball program, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 15 in Arizona at the age of 64. Kim was a long time major and minor league coach after his four-year career as a Bronco.
 
In his time at CPP, Kim made the All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (All-CCAA) Team twice. In 1973, he attended an open tryout camp with the San Francisco Giants and his performance earned him a signing as a free agent.

"Wendell was just a very energetic person," said assistant coach Jimmy Ramos, who played with Wendell in his time at CPP. "Coach (John) Scolinos instilled in us that we always should play as if the score was 0-0. So when you'd come and see Wendell play, we could be getting beat 10-0 and with the way he would be playing, you'd think the score was 0-0. He kept the guys up and he never had a down side."
 
In 1978, Kim reached the AAA level, where he held a .303 batting average as a player in the Pacific Coast League. He never reached the Major League level, but continued on in the game after his playing days were over. He began coaching in 1980 for the AA Shreveport Captains, an affiliate team for the San Francisco Giants.
 
The Honolulu native held various coaching jobs in the Giants' organization, including an eight-year stint coaching third base for the major league Giants. In 1997 he left the Bay Area to coach third base for the Boston Red Sox, a job that he held for four years.
 
His next coaching gig was as manager of the AAA Indianapolis Indians, a Milwaukee Brewers minor league team. That season proved a short one for Kim and he soon left to be a bench coach for the Montreal Expos. His final two years as a coach were as the third base coach for the Chicago Cubs.
 
Kim's aggressive coaching on the bases earned him various nicknames such as "Windmill Wendell" and "Wave 'em Home Wendell." The nicknames were appropriately given as he sent runners home on plays while more conservative coaches may have held up their runners.

"He was one of those guys that if you needed to pick yourself up all you had to do was go see Wendell," said coach Ramos. "All you had to do was watch him and it got you going because everything rubbed off of him. His attitude was infectious and you always had to keep up with him. He was Coach Scolinos' type of player, he wasn't very big, but he played as if he was the biggest and best guy out there."
 
After his retirement in 2005, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Kim is survived by his wife Natasha and his son Donald.
 
To view more information on Wendell Kim visit his website at www.wk20.com.