{"id":41313,"date":"2026-02-04T17:43:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/?p=41313"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:21:21","slug":"baseball-community-grieves-death-of-retired-mdc-coaching-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/baseball-community-grieves-death-of-retired-mdc-coaching-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball Community Grieves Death Of Retired MDC Coaching Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Pietra Romano<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more than 25 years, Steve Hertz made history as a head baseball coach at Miami Dade College.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The baseball savant accumulated more than 900 victories and helped launch the Major League Baseball careers of talents such as Jamie Navarro, Placido Polanco and Orlando Palmeiro.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI met with him the first week I was here,\u201d said <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/mdc-hires-former-arkansas-state-university-head-basketball-coach-as-its-athletic-director\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike Balado<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who took over as director of athletics at MDC more than two years ago. \u201cHe&#8217;s influenced me a lot, taught me the right way to do things and just gave his two cents on what it takes to be successful at the collegiate level.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, Balado and hundreds of Hertz\u2019s former players are mourning the passing of the renowned coach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hertz died on Dec. 4 at VITAS Inpatient Hospice Center due to natural causes. He was 80.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His funeral and a celebration of life event was held on Dec. 9 at Temple Judea in Coral Gables. Family, friends, former players and students attended.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe had speakers from all the schools he taught at and a friend that he had since kindergarten spoke,\u201d said Hertz\u2019s wife of 58 years, Frances \u201cFran\u201d Sokol Hertz. \u201cIt was really nice because everybody was telling funny stories. He would have loved it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Early Life<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hertz was born in February of 1945 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He was the eldest son of David and Sara Hertz, natives of St. Louis, Missouri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Hertz was a toddler, his family moved to Miami, where he was raised in a conservative Jewish home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He began playing organized baseball at 11, and after almost being cut from the team, he managed to make the local All-Star squad and won the Florida Little League World Series.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Miami Senior High School, the young phenom was an All-City infielder in 1962 and 1963 and made the All-State team as a third baseman in his senior campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After graduation, Hertz signed with the Houston Colt .45s\u2014the MLB team now known as Houston Astros.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 19-year-old made his debut on April 21, 1964. He was the eighth youngest player in the team\u2019s history. His big league career lasted five games, but he bounced around in the minor leagues for the next six years between the Cocoa Astros, the Pompano Beach Mets and the Tidewater Tides.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Coaching Career<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hertz got his first taste of coaching in 1969 when he served as a player-coach for the Pompano Beach Mets. That interest intensified when he returned to Miami after his playing career ended.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen he was going to college at the University of Miami working for his degree, he would come by Coral Park and see me,\u201d said South Florida baseball icon <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/caplinnews.fiu.edu\/this-former-south-florida-baseball-coach-dedicated-six-decades-to-americas-game\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Robert \u201cRed\u201d Berry<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who started the baseball program at Coral Park Senior High School in 1963, and coached Hertz in an amateur baseball league that same year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Berry was impressed with Hertz\u2019s passion for America\u2019s pastime, so when he took a job as\u00a0 general manager for one of the Philadelphia Phillies minor league teams in 1970, he recommended Hertz to replace him at Coral Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hertz would serve as the Rams head baseball coach for the next nine years, capturing a State Championship in 1978.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two years later, he made a pit stop at what was then Miami Dade Community College, overseeing the baseball program at Wolfson Campus for one year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, from 1981 to 1986, Hertz coached at Miami Southridge Senior High School. In 1984, the team came within one win of a state title.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1986, he returned to Wolfson Campus, where he remained until 1997 when the College consolidated its three baseball teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following season, he spearheaded the school\u2019s college-wide baseball team, which played its games at Kendall Campus. He remained there until he retired in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While coaching at MDC, he taught health analysis and coaching principles classes at the Wolfson and Kendall campuses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThose days were very long. I used to see him come home and almost fall asleep at the dinner table,\u201d said Hertz\u2019s wife, Fran.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But no matter what, Hertz always had time for his players.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe was always on the phone talking to them,\u201d Fran recalled. \u201cWe never got through dinner. The players were always calling him. This one had a school problem, this one, their girlfriend problem, this one had a root canal. He was a father to all of those kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dedication to his craft and his players would be acknowledged. Hertz was inducted into the Florida\u00a0 College Athletic Association Hall of Fame and the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Jan. 17, his legacy was remembered during an alumni baseball game at Kendall Campus. Before the game, the Coach Steve Hertz Scholarship Fund, which aims to help the College\u2019s baseball athletes fund their academic journey, was announced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hertz is survived by his wife Fran, their children, Jeffrey and Darre, and his grandchildren, Joshua, Micah, Brandon and Lexi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>Click<\/i><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.us19.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4fc6146412415baee32007fd7&amp;id=b5cd3712dc\"><i> here<\/i><\/a><\/span><i> to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, The Hammerhead. For news tips, contact us at mdc.thereporter@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_41236\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41236\" style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-41236 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steve-Hertz14-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41236\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Strike: Former Miami Dade College baseball coach Steve Hertz\u2019s wife, Frances \u201cFran\u201d Sokol Hertz, throws out the ceremonial first pitch at a game honoring the late coach&#8217;s legacy on Jan. 17. The game, at Kendall Campus, featured former Sharks baseball alumni and current players. DIVYASRI KADAMBI\/ THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Pietra Romano For more than 25 years, Steve Hertz made history as a head baseball coach at Miami Dade College.\u00a0 The baseball savant accumulated more than 900 victories and helped launch the Major League Baseball careers of talents such as Jamie Navarro, Placido Polanco and Orlando Palmeiro.\u00a0 \u201cI met with him the first week [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":41238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,2749,2802],"tags":[234],"class_list":{"0":"post-41313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-sports","9":"category-kendall-campus","10":"category-baseball","11":"tag-obituary"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Baseball Community Grieves Death Of Retired MDC Coaching Icon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Retired Miami Dade College baseball coach Steve Hertz died in December due to natural causes. 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