He’s Stepping Up to Management Level : Baseball: Twelve years after his major league career ended, Fred Kendall gets back into the game as a minor league manager.

Former major league catcher and Torrance High alumnus Fred Kendall will begin what he hopes is his second professional career when he manages the Chicago White Sox’ Class A team in Utica, N.Y., this summer.

Kendall played major league baseball from 1969 to 1980, primarily with the San Diego Padres. He spent one season with the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox.

Recently, Kendall has been an assistant for the Torrance High football team and a volunteer assistant for the baseball team. His oldest son, Mike, is a pitcher for San Diego State and his younger son, Jason, a senior catcher at Torrance, is considered one of the top prep players in the nation.

Kendall also has a daughter, Kathy, a Torrance freshman.

“I always planned on going back into baseball,” Fred Kendall said. “I wanted to spend more time with my family, but now I feel the time is right to get back into the game.”

Kendall’s roommate with the Indians in 1977, Buddy Bell, is now farm director of the White Sox. When the Utica job opened up, Bell immediately offered Kendall the opportunity to become manager.

“I was one happy guy,” Jason Kendall said of his father’s hiring. “That’s where he belongs. He quit (baseball) to spend time with the family, and I’m happy that he’s getting back into it.”

Torrance baseball Coach Jeff Phillips said the elder Kendall has been a great help to the program.

“Fred would come out to our practices and pitch a little batting practice or just come out and talk with the kids,” Phillips said. “That’s just the type of guy that Fred is. He’s not out there to try and impress anybody. He just comes out and helps them because he wants to see them improve. He’ll be just as good in the minors.”

Kendall, who graduated from Torrance in 1967, said his best season in the majors was 1973 when he batted .282 with 10 home runs and caught a career-high 138 games. Another highlight was catching the Padres’ Randy Jones in his Cy Young Award-winning season in 1976. He also caught Gaylord Perry, Rollie Fingers and Luis Tiant.

Kendall recalls his playing days at Torrance with fondness. He said the South Bay had several talented players during that time.

“The Bretts (Ken and George) were in the league at the time over at El Segundo, (pitcher) Dave LaRoche was at West (Torrance) and George Foster at Leuzinger,” Kendall said. “With Bobby Grich at Long Beach (Wilson), we were able to put together an American Legion team that had nine major leaguers.”

Major league baseball has changed dramatically since Kendall left 12 years ago. Many catchers today earn more than $1 million a season.

“When I came in, most teams gave out one-year contracts,” Kendall said. “The change I most see, however, is how much stronger the players are today, although I don’t think they know the fundamentals as well.”