Southern Maryland manager Stan Cliburn won his 2,000th career game on Saturday as the Blue Crabs defeated the High Point Rockers 13-3 at Regency Furniture Stadium.
Cliburn is among the elite managers in minor league baseball. According to BR Bullpen, Cliburn is just the 17th manager in professional baseball to reach the 2K mark.
Stan started his managing career in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with the Watertown, NY Pirates in 1988. In his second year, managing the Augusta, Ga. Pirates, Cliburn led the club to the South Atlantic League championship. He would add titles in 1997 and 1998 with the Alexandria Aces in the Texas-Louisiana League and a co-championship with the New Britain, CT, Rock Cats in 2001.
Stan joined the Blue Cabs in 2015 and led SMD to the League Championship Series where they fell to Somerset. After two seasons in the ALPB with New Britain in 2016 and ’17, Cliburn returned to SMD in 2019.
The only active minor league managers with more wins are Buddy Bailey with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League, Rick Sweet of the Nashville Sounds of the International League, and Tom Kotchman who manages the Boston Red Sox entry in the Florida Complex League.
Stan Wasiak is the all-time winningest minor league manager with 2,530 wins between 1950-86 with the majority of those seasons spent in the Dodgers organization.