Lee MacPhail, former Orioles general manager and father of former president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail, passed away Thursday evening of natural causes at his home in Delray Beach, Fla. He was the oldest living Hall of Famer, having celebrated his 95th birthday with family and friends two weeks ago.
MacPhail was hired as Orioles general manager in 1959 and laid the groundwork for the team that swept the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998 following a five-decade career in the front office and with the American League.
His son, Andy, worked in the Orioles’ front office from 2007-11. Grandson Lee MacPhail IV is a scout in the organization.
Major League Baseball sent out a press release a few minutes ago that included the following:
Born Oct. 25, 1917 in Nashville, Tenn., MacPhail was the son of another Hall of Fame executive, Larry MacPhail, making them the only father-son duo in Cooperstown. MacPhail followed in his father’s footsteps by serving as a front office executive in baseball for 45 years.
“Baseball history has lost a great figure in Lee MacPhail, whose significant impact on the game spanned five decades,” said Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark. “As a Hall of Fame executive, Lee developed one of the game’s strongest farm systems for the New York Yankees before serving as American League President for 10 years. He will always be remembered in Cooperstown as a man of exemplary kindness and a man who always looked after the best interests of the game.”
Repoz
Posted: November 09, 2012 at 02:40 PM |
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1. Tulo's Fishy Mullet (mrams) Posted: November 09, 2012 at 03:09 PM (#4299042)MacPhail died yesterday, so he came up two days short of his Herbert Lom goal.
Hal Smith was the guy who made the All-Star team once. Hal Smith was the one who had the highest championship probability added on a single play in postseason history.
Scratchy is the cat. His name has C-A-T in it.
That's what I learned in college.
RIP, Mr. MacPhail.
Three members of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings were still alive, with two more having died within the previous two years.
The Cubs hadn't won a World Series in nine years.
I honestly did not realize that Lee MacPhail was still alive. Or that Andy is almost 60 now.
How about this recently deceased Russian mathematician, who turned 12 when the Russian Revolution took place, and wound up outliving the USSR by 21 years?
The Yankees had never won a world championship.
No one had ever hit 150 homers. Babe Ruth was a slim young pitcher.
Lee McPhail is older than Jackie Robinson. We recently marked the 40th anniversary of Robinson's passing.
You know all those jokes about how Bob Dole was when he ran for president four elections & 16 years ago? McPhail is older than Bob Dole.
McPhail is five months younger the JFK, the president who died in office nearly a half-century ago. McPhail is less than seven years younger than Reagan, who was easily the oldest president in US history when he left office nearly a quarter-century ago.
Not only is McPhail older than the Cold War, he's older than the USSR. The Russian Revolution led by Lenin was going on exactly when McPhail was born.
He's older than Betty White. He's older than Abe Vigoda. He's older than Mike Wallace or Nelson Mandela. He's older than Harveys Wallbanger. He's older than William Holden, Julius Rosenberg, Rita Hayworth, or the Chinese Communist Party.
man, this one got me.
Bobby Doerr is less than six months away. Crosses fingers.
But did he have a friend in Minsk, who had a friend in Pinsk?
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