Lee Elia, who managed the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies in an expert baseball profession that lasted greater than 50 years as a coach and participant, died Wednesday on the age of 87, the Phillies introduced Thursday.
“Elia was a valued contributor to the Phillies for a lot of his half century in skilled baseball,” the group stated in an announcement. “The third base coach for the 1980 World Collection championship group, he additionally hung out within the group as a minor league participant, supervisor, scout and director of instruction.
“Affiliated with 10 completely different organizations all through his distinguished profession, he at all times thought-about himself a Phillie at coronary heart.”
Elia landed his first managerial job in 1982 with the Cubs at age 44. In his two seasons with the Cubs, Elia went 127-158, however he was most remembered for his expletive-filled rant directed at booing Cubs fans simply 19 video games into the 1983 season.
The Philadelphia native managed the Phillies in the course of the 1987 and 1988 seasons, going 111-142-1 for a complete managerial report of 238-300-1 (.442) over 4 seasons.
After signing with the Phillies as an newbie free agent in 1958, Elia made his main league debut as a shortstop for the Chicago White Sox in April 1966 and performed in 80 video games. The Cubs bought his contract in Could 1967, and he performed in 15 video games within the 1968 season. He batted a mixed .203 with three residence runs and 25 RBIs in 95 MLB video games.
Elia, born July 16, 1937, additionally coached and served in different capacities with the Phillies, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles between 1980 and 2008.
Discipline Stage Media contributed to this report.