Jim Saul

{{Short description|American baseball player and coach (born 1939)}}

{{Infobox MLB player

|name=Jim Saul

|image=1983 Nashville Jim Saul.jpg

|caption=Saul with the Nashville Sounds in 1983

|team=

|number=

|position=Coach

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1939|11|24}}

|birth_place=Bristol, Virginia

|death_date=

|death_place=

|teams=

Chicago Cubs (1975–1976)
Oakland Athletics (1979)

}}James Allen Saul (born November 24, 1939) is a retired American professional baseball catcher, manager and coach. The {{baseball year|2008}} season marked Saul's 50th season in the game, all but three of them at the minor-league level. In Major League Baseball, Saul coached for three seasons with the Chicago Cubs (1975–76) and Oakland Athletics ({{baseball year|1979}}).

Saul attended East Tennessee State University. As a player, he threw right-handed, batted left-handed, stood {{convert|6|ft|3|in|cm|abbr=on}} tall and weighed {{convert|210|lb|kg}}. His catching career consisted of 14 seasons (1959–72) in the farm systems of the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Cubs, Cleveland Indians and California Angels. He was a journeyman who played for 19 different clubs over that span.

He began his managing career in the Angels' organization in {{baseball year|1973}}, as skipper of the Salinas Packers of the Class A California League. Through {{baseball year|2004}}, he managed for 22 seasons in the Angels, Cubs, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves organizations, including five seasons at the Double-A level. Saul's teams won 1,014 games and lost 1,090 (.482).

Saul began coaching for Rookie-level farm teams in 2005. From 2007 to 2009, he was a coach for the Bluefield Orioles, then Baltimore's affiliate in the Appalachian League.