PEORIA - Matt Walbeck is back where he got a leg up on his playing career.

As the first-year manager for the West Michigan Whitecaps, Walbeck returns for the first time to Peoria.

It was here that the former Peoria Chief suffered a serious knee injury. But he used the down time to teach himself to switch hit and pave the way for a big-league catching career that included major-league action in at least parts of the past 11 seasons.

Now he's starting the second phase of his baseball life.

Walbeck was a 19-year-old Chicago Cubs prospect for the Chiefs when a 1989 collision at the plate with Clinton runner Jeff Branson tore both major ligaments in his knee.

"I learned that the game can end at any time and not to take anything for granted health-wise," said Walbeck, now 33. "It toughened me

up and taught me about hard work. I really had to be determined to presevere through the injury.

"A lot of people never thought I'd come back. I did, and I caught almost 10 years in the big leagues."

While spending the next year rehabbing the injury, Walbeck taught himself to hit left-handed in the batting cage at his home and returned to Peoria toward the end of the 1990 season.

Switch-hitting catchers are rare. That skill, combined with defensive skills, allowed Walbeck to break into the big leagues with the Cubs in 1993 and last through last season, with stops in Minnesota, Anaheim, Philadelphia and a pair of tours with Detroit.

He hit .233 with 28 home runs and 208 RBIs.

On the last day of the Tigers' 2003 season, general manager Dave Dombrowski called Walbeck to manager Alan Trammell's office to offer him a minor-league managing job.

Walbeck decided he was ready to retire as a player and put to use managing knowledge he learned while playing for the likes of Tom Kelly, Mike Scioscia and Buddy Bell.

In an unusually quick move from playing to full-season managing, Walbeck replaced the retired Phil Regan at West Michigan.

Walbeck credits Tigers minor league field coordinator Glenn Ezell for patiently helping him progress.

"I know I make a lot of mistakes," Walbeck said. "That's to be expected. As a player, you don't really understand what goes on with the coaches and managers. There's a lot of things I thought I knew that I don't.

"As a player you think you have all the answers. Then you come over here and you don't know anything."

The Whitecaps arrived Moday at O'Brien Field with an 8-15 record, but Walbeck is excited about his long-term prospects in the dugout.