The St. Louis Cardinals' new manager and College of Charleston alumnus Oliver 'Oli' Marmol, his wife Amber and Riley, one of the couple's two daughters. | twitter.com/CofCalumni/
The St. Louis Cardinals' new manager and College of Charleston alumnus Oliver 'Oli' Marmol, his wife Amber and Riley, one of the couple's two daughters. | twitter.com/CofCalumni/
From the local kid makes good file, the St. Louis Cardinals' newly announced manager, former bench coach Oliver Marmol, is a College of Charleston graduate who played baseball for the Cougars, the college's alumni association tweeted earlier this week.
"On behalf of 97,000 fellow alumni, congratulations to @CofCBaseball alumnus Oliver 'Oli' Marmol '07 on being named Manager of the St. Louis @Cardinals," read the tweet. "While @CofC, he majored in communication. He and wife Amber have a beautiful daughter."
The 35-year-old Marmol becomes the youngest Cardinals manager since the early 1950s, and is the team's 51st in franchise history, the team announced in a press release.
St. Louis Cardinals Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr.
| twitter.com/cardinals/
Marmol is just a year older than St. Louis' previous youngest manager since Marty Marion, who, at 34, managed for the Cardinals in 1951.
Marmol had been the Cardinals' bench coach under former manager Mike Shildt the past three seasons, and was the team’s first base coach during the 2017-18 season.
Shildt and the Cardinals had "philosophical differences" and mutually agreed to part ways, the team said in an earlier press release issued this month.
The Cardinals are "extremely pleased" with Marmol as their new manager, team Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill DeWitt Jr. said in the release announcing Marmol's promotion.
"Oli is a career member of the Cardinals organization, and someone who has built excellent working relationships with our players, coaches and staff members at all levels," DeWitt said. "We believe that he possesses strong managerial skills that will allow for the continued success of our team."
Oli, a New Jersey native of Dominican descent, is is the second minority to manage the Cardinals and the first since Cuban native Mike González during portions of the 1938 and 1940 seasons.
Marmol also spent the 2012 through 2016 seasons managing the Cardinals' farm system.
Much earlier in his career, Marmol was drafted by the Cardinals in the sixth round in 2007 as an infielder fresh out of the College of Charleston, and went on log a four-year professional playing career at Palm Beach in the Class A Florida State League.
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