Jim Frey obit

Former Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals manager Jim Frey dies at 88

He was not on the list.

The Cubs legacy of Jim Frey, the former manager and general manager who died this week, includes two National League East titles and a questionable decision that might have prevented the Cubs from putting away the Padres in the 1984 playoffs.

Less known but no less significant was an observation that unlocked Ryne Sandberg’s power and helped him become one of the greatest players in franchise history.

“Don’t you think you can hit the ball out of the park now and then?” Sandberg recalled Frey suggesting during spring training in 1984 after watching the 24-year-old second baseman spray the ball to all fields to take advantage of his running skills.

Frey devised a drill that Sandberg used to work on his power during the second half of spring training, and he more than doubled his home-run total to 19 while winning the 1984 NL Most Valuable Player Award and finished with 282 homers in a Hall of Fame career.

Sandberg reflected fondly on Frey’s influence Tuesday, two days after Frey died at 88. The cause of death wasn’t disclosed, although former Cubs executive and longtime friend Ned Colletti visited Frey at his home in Florida in December and said Frey’s health had declined in recent years.

“The Chicago Cubs are saddened to learn of the passing of Jim Frey, a central figure in our club’s most memorable moments of the 1980s,” the Cubs said in a statement. “Upon being named manager for the 1984 season, Jim took over a club that had not had a winning record since 1972 and immediately helped return the Cubs to postseason play, leading the team to the NL East title and first playoff appearance in 39 years, earning NL Manager of the Year honors along the way. As our general manager, he constructed a playoff club in 1989 to again land the Cubs in the postseason five years later.

“We join the baseball community in mourning Jim’s passing and send our condolences to his family and friends.”

Hall of Famer Joe Torre remembers former @Royals and @Cubs manager Jim Frey, who passed away at the age of 88: pic.twitter.com/aZ7sxAOIZp— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) April 14, 2020

Returning the Cubs to the postseason in his first year as their manager was a crowning achievement for Frey, who had guided the Royals to the World Series four years earlier.

“This ballclub has suffered for 39 years, and that’s long enough,” Frey said after the Cubs clinched the division title. “Everybody said this club had a monkey on its back. Now the monkey’s off.”

Frey was criticized for his handling of the pitching staff after the Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL Championship Series. Specifically, he was questioned for not moving up Rick Sutcliffe and Steve Trout, the Games 1 and 2 winners, to pitch Games 4 and 5.

The Padres rallied to win the next three games and advance to the World Series.

The loss gnawed at several players, including left fielder Gary Matthews. At the 2014 Cubs Convention, Matthews shared a recent discussion he had with Sandberg.

“I asked (Sandberg), ‘How often do you think about that ‘84 loss at San Diego?’ ” Matthews told the crowd. “He said, ‘Every day.’ It’s something that doesn’t leave you. You can be having the greatest time, and that moment will pop up.”

Sandberg marveled over Frey’s teachings, which he sculpted in the Orioles organization as a scout, instructor and minor-league manager before joining Earl Weaver’s coaching staff in 1970.

“Jim watched me that spring (in 1984) for about seven to 10 games before he took me aside and made changes to take advantage of my 6-foot-2, 185-pound frame,” Sandberg said.

To prove a point, Frey conducted a batting-practice drill in which, if a fastball was down the middle or on the inside part of the strike zone, Sandberg was instructed to pull the ball 20 feet over the tarp down the left-field line.

The drill made Sandberg less susceptible to low, inside fastballs, and veterans Larry Bowa, Ron Cey and Bill Buckner implored him to trust Frey because of his background with the Orioles and Weaver, who adored the three-run home run.

In the second game of the season, Sandberg homered on an inside fastball off stingy Giants closer Greg Minton to secure an 11-7 victory.

“That went a long way with me,” said Sandberg, adding that Frey managed George Brett when he batted .390 for the Royals in 1980 and was Darryl Strawberry’s hitting coach during his Rookie of the Year season with the Mets in 1983. “I was all ears listening to him.”

Sandberg produced 74 extra-base hits in 1984 to go with a .314 batting average and a league-leading 114 runs.

Frey, hampered by an injury-plagued pitching staff, was fired midway through the 1986 season and served as a radio commentator the next season.

In a stunning development, the Cubs in November 1987 named Frey to replace Dallas Green as general manager, and he quickly hired Don Zimmer, a childhood friend from Cincinnati, as manager.

Frey put his stamp on the Cubs roster, but some of his early moves backfired. He traded Hall of Fame closer Lee Smith to the Red Sox for pitchers Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi. And he dealt outfielder Keith Moreland to the Padres for Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage, whose best days were behind him.

Undeterred, Frey traded young slugger Rafael Palmeiro and pitcher Jamie Moyer to the Rangers in a blockbuster deal that brought hard-throwing left-handed reliever Mitch Williams to the Cubs.

Williams saved 36 games in 1989 and helped the Cubs win their second division title in six seasons before the Giants eliminated them in the NLCS in five games.

Williams struggled the next season and eventually was dealt to the Phillies, while Palmeiro and Moyer blossomed in the American League. The Cubs replaced Frey with Larry Himes after the 1991 season.

Seven years later, Frey became involved with the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots of the independent Atlantic League and served as vice chairman during their formative years.

“Jim had countless contributions to the Somerset Patriots as one of our first supporters over two decades ago,” Patriots Chairman Emeritus Steve Kalafer said in a statement Tuesday. “We wouldn’t be who we are as an organization without his guidance early on.”

Colletti, who was working in Philadelphia as a hockey writer in the 1970s, would make the quick trip to Baltimore to visit Frey, who would return the favor.

“Dallas Green was instrumental in getting me started (as a Cubs public relations official in 1982) with my dad dying and giving me a chance to come home,” said Colletti, who went on to become general manager of the Giants (1996-2005) and Dodgers (2006-14). “Two years later, Jim comes along.

“From that moment on, Jim gave me more opportunities (in transitioning from media relations to baseball operations). At some point in life you’re going to need help and someone who believes in you and trusts you. No one believed in me more than Jim Frey.”

Born in Cleveland on May 26, 1931, Frey was a high school teammate of Zimmer’s at Western Hills in Cincinnati before playing 14 minor-league seasons for six organizations as a left-handed-hitting outfielder. He won two batting titles and was the 1957 Texas League MVP but never reached the majors.

Frey would have earned a spot on the Cardinals’ 1958 opening-day roster had it not been for a left shoulder injury. That spot went to Curt Flood, who became a staple of the Cardinals’ three World Series teams in the 1960s.

According to Cincinnati freelance writer Gary Schatz, Frey had a real estate license and was ready to shift careers until his wife, Joan, whom he dated in high school, persuaded him to accept an offer from the Orioles in 1964 as a minor-league instructor, manager and scout.

Frey replaced Whitey Herzog as Royals manager in 1980 and led them to their first World Series appearance in his first season. They lost to the Phillies, managed by Green, in six games.

The Royals fired Frey weeks after play resumed in August following the 1981 strike.

“If there was a player who did something he didn’t like, he had no problem telling him what he thought,” recalled Colletti, now a scout with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Frey had a 323-287 managerial record, including a 196-182 mark in 2½ seasons with the Cubs.