Laredo and Mexico baseball legend Firova enjoying Houston Astros role
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Last year the Houston Astros won the World Series championship. And it was a Laredoan who has carved out a 44-season career in professional baseball who was right beside them as an integral part of the experience.
Dan Firova is the Astros Quality Assurance Coach. He fell in love with the game when he was a child and turned that spark into a lifetime of memories. And after putting together an award-winning career in baseball, the coach who has been with teams all over Mexico and the United States is now just enjoying the experience as he is ecstatic to be a part of a major institution like the Astros as they are on top of the game.
“Everything is going great, and I couldn’t have asked to be in a better place and have a better job,” Firova said. “I love the game, and having this opportunity to be part of this team, the Houston Astros, is just a blessing. I am just happy to be here, and it's just a blessing to be here and be part of this organization. I am so happy to be here.”
A career in baseball
For the coach, his love and passion for baseball began back when he was just 6 years old in his hometown of Refugio. Firova watched a Little League team that used to practice in front of his house when he was a child. He recalled that every time he saw them, he would go out running and wanting to join in the fun. Unfortunately, he was told he was too young and too small to play. Eventually he reached the age of 8 as he was able to truly begin his life with the sport.
That spark led Firova to an eventual professional career which has spanned now 44 seasons entering 2023.
As a player, Firova was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the seventh round of the MLB draft in 1997 out of Coastal Bend College. He chose to remain in school, and he was later a 29th-round selection in 1979 from the Milwaukee Brewers from the University of Texas Pan American. He bet on himself one more time, staying for his senior year and it paid off as he became a second-round selection of the Mariners in 1980.
That playing career itself overcame a major hurdle. While in high school in Refugio, he was cleaning a bandsaw in woodshop when he slipped and the blade cut off his right pinky finger.
“I didn’t know whether I’d be able to play baseball again,” he said in 2016 to The Washington Post.
Firova, a catcher, played with the Mariners organization from 1980-82 and the Cleveland Indians organization from 1985-90. He spent much of that time in the minors, but he broke through briefly to play 17 total games in the major leagues over three separate seasons including 1981-82 with Seattle and 1988 with Cleveland.
Firova's playing career ended after 13 seasons. He struggled with hitting but it was clear the catcher's mind for the game was recognized and touted. That's what led to his coaching career, as he spent over 20 years in the Mexican League, including managing the Tecolotes 1993, 1994 and 2008 as well as the United Baseball League's Laredo Broncos in 2010. He also managed Mexico City, Monclova, Monterrey and more.
Firova's managerial career was impactful. He became the fourth-winningest manager in Mexican League history.
In the winter of 2015, Firova was coaching in Monclova, Coahuilla, Mexico with fellow Laredoan Jose Melendez, as they were holding an instructional league for young children in the city. It was during these activities that Melendez invited famed MLB manager Dusty Baker -- who was at that time about to take over as manager of the Washington Nationals -- to help out with the campaign.
Melendez hoped the presence of Baker, who had been a longtime manager in the MLB including with the Giants (1993-2002), Cubs (2003-06) and Reds (2008-13), would get more children involved and provide them with more resources to play baseball in the city.
“As I was working at the camp, he was in need of a bullpen coach for the Washington Nationals where he has just recently been hired. He had told coach Melendez that he was interested in me as a bullpen coach, which I had no idea as I didn’t know anything about it,” Firova said. “When we finished our camp, we had a winter meeting and Jose Melendez told me. I was going on a bus from Monclova to Laredo, and he calls me and tells me that I need to send him my resume ASAP.”
Firova made quite the impact on Baker at the camp. The way he worked with the catchers and his fluency in Spanish would be major advantages to his staff.
“I was watching Dan, watching his drills, watching his demeanor (and) asked (Baker's bench coach Chris Speier), ‘Would it be out of the question to make this guy our bullpen coach?” Baker said in 2016 to The Washington Post. “Did God send this guy to me? Or me to him, to Mexico?’”
Firova said he was so excited by the news that he could not believe it. He immediately sent his resume, and two days later he got a call from the assistant general manager from the Washington Nationals that he was going to have to get a flight to Washington in order to sign a contract with them.
“I thought it wouldn’t happen, mainly because of my age,” Firova said at the time to The Washington Post. “I think they consider a guy in his 50s too old to be a coach.”
But Firova, as it turned out, was the ideal choice. Upon learning Firova's daughter already lived in Washington, Baker quite frankly said that Firova was "too perfect" for the role.
Getting to the major leagues
Firova proceeded to work the 2016 and 2017 seasons with the Nationals upon being hired. Despite having two of their three most winningest regular seasons in franchise history -- racking up 95 and 97 wins, respectively -- the team lost in five games in their first-round playoff series twice in a row.
Coming up short led to the franchise moving on from Baker, opting to hire Cubs bench coach Davey Martinez for the lead role which he still possesses today. While the team has bottomed out since then -- finishing last place in the NL East in the past three years -- Martinez did guide them to their first World Series victory in 2019 before that spiral.
Despite Baker's departure, Firova said he was offered the chance to stay. But he instead decided to go back to Monclova in 2018 during the summer. It was the following year that he first heard from the Astros, as the franchise asked if he would like to be among the group in 2019. He declined, again staying in Monclova.
However, Baker was back in the fold becoming the Astros' manager in 2020. And Firova was offered his current position after its predecessor retired following the 2020 campaign, opening up his chance to return to the MLB under the legendary manager.
“When he retired, that opened the door for me, and he brought me back to the team in 2021,” Firova said.
Firova joined at the right time. The Astros -- coming off a much maligned sign-stealing scandal in 2017-18 -- had been moving on to a new era. Baker's hire was a part of that, but 2020 -- the year the news broke -- was still maligned with distraction.
It was 2021 that became a reset for the organization, and Firova found himself stepping into one of the most talented teams in the league.
Houston went on to the World Series where it came up short, losing in six games to the Atlanta Braves. But the franchise rebounded in a big way in 2022, getting back to the championship series and this time winning in six games over the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the organization's second championship in its 61-year history.
Firova said that winning the championship was a moment that he could only describe as “pure joy” and happiness. He said that once they found out that they had won it all, he jumped up and down as he was thrilled with the achievement.
“First of all, I feel very happy and great that we accomplished what we did last season in being the world champions, as it is not every day when anybody becomes a world champion. Like I said, being part of the team and being that part of the celebration is an awesome feeling,” Firova said. “Our manager, Dusty Baker -- who also got his first World Series Championship -- was thrilled. If anybody deserved it, he deserved it more than anybody else on this planet.”
Life after a championship
Firova was rewarded with his own personal award after the championship run. The Laredo native received the 2023 South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet Lifetime Achievement Award in January for his longtime career in professional baseball.
As returning champions, Firova understands the team's already heavy spotlight the past few years will remain as they entered the season as the betting favorites to repeat. However, he said he is confident they can once again avoid the distractions and reach the playoffs to eventually play for another title.
“I think we have the talent and the ability and the team to make the playoffs and to repeat once again as world champions, as long as we stay healthy and we get some people back,” Firova said. “We are (missing) (outfielder Michael) Brantley and (pitcher Lance) McCullers Jr. right now, and those are the key to our puzzle. If we can keep them happy and these guys stay healthy, that is going to be the key. The talent is there, and the way they play together and do the things they do is what we need to do. I like the chances of us getting it back.”
As for his players, Firova said that as the season continues, he just wants his players to have fun and give it their best as its vital for them to have happy players that enjoy the game of baseball.
“I think that the main thing is to just enjoy the game and have fun,” Firova said. “As coaches, you try to motivate them or teach them and try to make them better players, but it is all about just working with them and letting it go from there. I think that it is all about having fun and doing the best you can.”
This year's team also has to adapt like every other franchise to the new rules which have entered the game. This includes a pitch clock to speed up the game as well as bigger bases.
“I am kind of in favor of the pitch clock when nobody on base, but I am not in favor really of the pitch clock when the runners on base,” Firova said. “Maybe if they can go to 25 (seconds) or a little bit more time with the runners on base then it would be good. Other than that, the games have been quicker and it's just something that the players will have to adapt to and get use to. There are going to be some people that are upset in the beginning with what we have already seen, but like I said we need to adapt to it.”
One thing that the coach does feel has definitely changed about the game is that it has gotten a lot faster. This leads to an adjustment that is definitely needed between staff and players who are so used to a certain speed.
“It just seems like everything is a little bit rushed in between innings,” Firova said. “If the catcher makes a lap out, he has to run back in fast and get all his gear on. It doesn’t really give them any time to take the time to relax a bit and realize who the next three hitters are going to be. However, it is what it is. You just have to adapt to it.”
The coach also provided some advice to all the young players in Laredo who want to one day become a professional player or coach.
“Just have fun and play the game,” Firova said. “You will have to work and do a lot of practice, and of course education is really important and staying out of trouble. The decisions you make when you are not at home matter, when you are away from parents and with your friends. You have to be smart and really want to want and love the game.”
