The son of a hotel chef, he is the youngest of three brothers to enjoy long careers in professional baseball: Marcel Lachemann is a member of the Los Angeles Angels\' front office and a former pitcher, coach and manager in the Major Leagues, and Bill is a longtime skipper and instructor in the Angels\' farm system. Rene served as a batboy for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1959 to 1962, graduated from Dorsey High School, and attended the University of Southern California. He signed a bonus contract with the Kansas City Athletics in 1964, where he joined other young players such as Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan, with whom he would have a lasting professional association.\n', '

Lachemann, a 6 ft (1.8 m), 198 lb (90 kg) right-handed hitter, played only one full season in the Major Leagues, 1965, batting .227 with nine home runs and 29 runs batted in and appearing in 92 games played. He reappeared briefly—in 26 total games—for the A\'s in 1966 and 1968, but spent the rest of his playing career in minor league baseball. His Major League batting average was .210 in 281 at bats. His initial appearance in the big leagues resulted in getting picked off second base.\n', '

He began managing in the Oakland Athletics\' farm system in 1973, and switched to the Seattle organization five years later. On May 6, 1981, Lachemann was promoted from Triple-A to succeed Maury Wills as the M\'s manager. But during the equivalent of almost two full seasons, Seattle was only able to win 140 of 320 games (.437) and was in the midst of an eight-game losing streak when Lachemann was fired on June 25, 1983 and replaced by Del Crandall. He returned the following year as manager of the contending Brewers, but the 1984 Milwaukee club collapsed (67–94, .416 and last in the American League East Division) and he was fired with three games remaining to be played, though he was allowed to complete the season as the Brewers\' skipper.\n', '

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