LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall athletic department was saddened to learn of the passing of Don Wert. Wert served as the Diplomats' head baseball coach from 1977 through 1981. Wert was a native of Strasburg, Pennsylvania and a starting third baseman for the 1968 World Series champion Detroit Tigers.

Wert led Franklin & Marshall to its second Middle Atlantic Conference Championship in program history during the 1978 season when the Diplomats compiled a 14-11-1 record. Wert finished his coaching career with the Diplomats with a 59-57-3 career record which was the second-most wins in program history when he stepped away as head coach.

A World Series Champion with the Detroit Tigers, Wert played in the major leagues from 1963-71. He spent his entire career – minus the final 20 games of his career with the Washington Senators – in the Tigers' organization.

Growing up originally in Lancaster County, Wert was a three-sport start at Solanco college before briefly enrolling at Franklin & Marshall College. One of his most famous hits in the major leagues came in the ninth inning of a 1968 game which scored Al Kaline to lift the Tigers to a pennant-clinching 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees.

Wert was signed by the Tigers in 1958. By 1964 – at the age of 24 – he become the team's starting third baseman who finished 10th in the American League MVP voting during the 1965 season and was an AL All-Star during the Tigers' run to a World Series Championship in 1968.