Venezuelan League during the 1977–1979 seasons. He won a World Series ring with the Tigers in 1984. As a manager Brookens in 2005 and 2006 was the manager of the Class A New York–Penn League Oneonta Tigers in the Detroit Tigers minor league system. In 2007, Brookens was hired to lead the West Michigan Whitecaps which won the championship of the Class A – Midwest League that year. After winning a championship with the Whitecaps, the Tigers promoted Brookens again in 2008, this time to the Erie SeaWolves, their Class AA – Eastern League affiliate. As a coach On November 9, 2009, the Tigers hired Brookens as their new first base coach. The move reunited Brookens with Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who had managed Brookens in the minor leagues in the 1970s. In 2013, Brookens was moved across the diamond to serve as the Tigers third base coach; he was mentioned as a possible future manager of the club when Leyland retired, but former catcher Brad Ausmus was named Leyland's replacement. Leyland selected Brookens to serve as bench coach for Team USA during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, coaching on a staff that included pitching coach Jeff Jones (who coached alongside Brookens with the Tigers from 2009 to 2013) and first base coach Alan Trammell, as teammate of Brookens from 1979 to 1988. Family Brookens' twin brother Tim was also drafted in 1975 by the Texas Rangers; he was later traded to the Tigers organization, but never made the majors. In spring training, Tim and Tom would sometimes switch identities, even suiting up in each other's uniforms; Tim is believed to have played at least one exhibition game disguised as Tom. Their cousin, Ike Brookens, pitched for the Tigers in 1975, while Ike's son Casey Brookens also played in the minors in the 1990s before retiring to become a high school coach in Pennsylvania. References External links , or Baseball Gauge, or Retrosheet 1953 births Living people Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania Baseball players from Pennsylvania Cleveland Indians players Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers players Evansville Triplets players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball third basemen Mansfield Mounties baseball players Minor league baseball managers Montgomery Rebels players New York Yankees players People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania United States national baseball team people