Rickie Weeks, a star baseball player at Southern who played for over a decade in the major leagues, had never managed in pro ball before the 2024 season.
That was until Wednesday when he was called to substitute for Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy after being suspended for a confrontation with an umpire during a bench-clearing brawl versus the Tampa Bay Rays.
In his debut, Weeks led Milwaukee to a 7-1 win over the Rays.
“I don’t want to downplay it so much, but it’s baseball, honestly,” Weeks said after the game. “It’s one of those things where, I think you’ve been through a lot of situations throughout your career where you kind of have to rise to the occasion.”
The achievement for Weeks was notable because he played 11 of his 14 seasons in MLB with Milwaukee after being selected No. 2 overall in the 2003 MLB Draft, the highest-ever position an HBCU baseball player has been taken.
Weeks hit .246 with 161 home runs, 132 steals and 733 runs scored in his career. He was an All-Star in 2011.
After retiring from baseball in 2017, Weeks was hired by the Brewers as an assistant before being named associate manager this season.
While at Southern, Weeks made history in 2003 when he became the first player from a historically Black college to win the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best player in the nation. He was also elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023.