Joe Altobelli obit

Joe Altobelli dies: Rochester's 'Mr. Baseball' led Orioles to last title

 

He was not on the list.

Joe Altobelli, who moved to Rochester in 1963 to play first base and stayed to become one of the most iconic figures in local sports history, died Wednesday of natural causes.  He was 88.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced, but the Rochester Red Wings announced they would hold a celebration of Altobelli’s life at Frontier Field sometime later this year.

In the decades since he first walked into the home dugout at Silver Stadium, Altobelli's name became synonymous with the Red Wings. His name and number are retired on the outfield wall; his statue stands in the left field concourse; his name is spelled out in sausages at Altobelli Deli; his mascot likeness races around the field between innings with Luke Easter and Cal Ripken Jr. He merited four “Joe Altobelli Day” celebrations from 1966 to 1983, two of which earned him new cars. 

Over the years, he served in his adopted hometown as a player, manager, general manager and broadcaster. He played alongside Bob Feller, managed Cal Ripken Jr. and provided color commentary on Justin Morneau. 

"Joe had a presence about him that was larger than life yet was one of the more humble people you’d ever meet, especially considering how accomplished he was," Red Wings general manager Dan Mason said Wednesday morning. "He had such an incredibly positive impact on so many people that he interacted with be it fans, players, other coaches media or front office members." 

Altobelli did it all with the Red Wings.

"I don't think there's another man that can say he's been a player, coach, manager, GM and radio analyst in the long, proud history of (the International League)," Mason said in 2008, when Altobelli was inducted into the league Hall of Fame. "He was a hero in other towns ... but I love that he chose to live here and raise his family. And because of that, he's our Mr. Baseball."

Altobelli was born in Detroit May 26, 1932, and signed his first contract with the Cleveland Indians in 1951, for the sum of $6,000. He was assigned to the affiliate in Daytona Beach and proceeded to set the Florida State League on fire, batting .341 as a 19-year-old. 

Within four years he had reached the major leagues, but in three stints failed to make his mark. By the time he arrived in Rochester in 1963 he’d played for eight teams in the minor leagues and two – Cleveland and the Minnesota Twins – in the majors, totaling nearly 1,700 games over 12 professional seasons. 

He didn’t know it yet, but his unremarkable major league career was already over. He managed a .210/.277/.323 batting line with five home runs in 166 games. The highlight came in the second game of a doubleheader in the second-to-last game of his rookie season in 1955, when Altobelli doubled and homered to lead the Indians to a victory at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium, where he’d grown up watching the hometown Tigers play. 

In 1963, Altobelli needed a landing spot and Red Wings General Manager George Sisler Jr. needed a first baseman. He prevailed upon his friend, Dodgers General Manager Buzzie Bavasi, to lend him Altobelli. 

“I never realized what a favor George, Buzzie and Morrie (Silver) had done for me until years later,” Altobelli said in "Silver Seasons," a history of the Red Wings. “Coming to Rochester was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” 

The 185-pound first baseman was assigned a spot in the locker room between the literal heavyweights Luke Easter and Steve Bilko. 

“In between the Easter and Bilko lockers was placed the uniform for Joe Altobelli, and it looked like a Little League monkey suit by comparison,” a Democrat and Chronicle reporter observed. 

Altobelli played parts of the next four seasons in Rochester, helping win a Governor’s Cup title in 1964. His best season was 1965, when he hit .295/.371/.491 with 20 home runs. 

With his playing career nearly over, the 35-year-ol

With Altobelli at the helm, the Red Wings went on one of the greatest runs in franchise history, winning the Governor’s Cup in 1971 and 1974 on the strength of some of the most memorable players ever to wear red, including Bobby Grich, Don Baylor and Roric Harrison.

Three times in those six years, Altobelli was named the IL Manager of the Year. He compiled a record of 502-350 — the most wins of any manager in franchise history — before leaving to take the managerial job for the San Francisco Giants. 

“When we were young players, we needed someone like Joe to raise us in the baseball world,” Baylor, who died in 2017, once said. “Not hollering and screaming at you all the time like some guys.”

Altobelli led the Giants for three years then served as a coach for the New York Yankees for another three years before being tabbed as manager for the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, replacing the legendary Earl Weaver. He was chosen over Cal Ripken Sr., Weaver’s hand-picked choice and father of the team’s star shortstop. 

If there was any doubt over the wisdom of the move, Altobelli quickly erased it. The Orioles won the World Series that year, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies.

"Winning a World Series is the pinnacle you reach as a manager,” Altobelli recalled in 2003. “It’s a rocking chair memory.” 

It also netted him a fourth Joe Altobelli Day in Rochester. The first two were in 1966 and 1976; at the third, in 1979, his number 26 became the first retired number in Red Wings history. 

“Joe, with his easygoing leadership style, was very helpful to that team,” Ripken said. “There wasn’t any angst, any pressure. … He was a calm, confident leader, and one who knew the ups and downs of the season and pushed through them without overreacting or underreacting.”

For all the good he did, Altobelli nearly derailed one of baseball’s historic accomplishments. Ripken played every game in 1983, his second consecutive season doing so, and in fact played every single inning. Never again, his manager vowed. 

“He used to call me Young Cal,” Ripken recalled. “He said, ‘I played Young Cal every inning of every game, and I’m not going to do that again.’ … and it happened the exact same way the next season.” 

In fact, it happened the exact same way for the next 11 seasons, on the way to Ripken playing 2,632 games in a row. "In hindsight, I'm glad he didn't take my advice," Altobelli conceded in 1995.

The afterglow of Baltimore’s third world championship didn’t last long. He was fired early in 1985 and replaced with Weaver, a move he saw as backhanded. He went on to coach for the Yankees and Chicago Cubs before rejoining the Red Wings as general manager in 1992. 

He served in that role for three years then transitioned to an advisory position. He was succeeded by Dan Mason, who’s been at the helm ever since. 

“There's no way I would have been able to take on that job at 27 years old without Alto’s help and guidance,” Mason said."I went to school for 16 years but never did I have a better teacher than Alto and at the end of the day teaching was something he loved to do. Whether it was how to play the game of baseball or the game of life he always had the best advice for whoever he worked with."

The final phase of Altobelli’s career lasted from 1998 to 2008, when he served as a color commentator on the Red Wings’ radio broadcasts. 

Mason said Altobelli was a natural broadcaster because he was such a good storyteller.

"He had an endless array of tales but also was so engaging when telling them. I’m so happy that our fans had the opportunity to hear many of those stories because of his time on our radio broadcasts," Mason said.

Altobelli had a stroke in November 2017 and was in poor health afterward, living mostly at a rehabilitation center. After having watched and participated in thousands of games at Silver Stadium and Frontier Field, he seldom managed to get to the stadium, though he still listened to games on the radio. 

His last public appearance came in August 2019 for the team Hall of Fame induction of Rich Dauer, who played for Altobelli in 1976.

Altobelli's wife of 52 years, Pat, died in 2003. He had six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Altobelli descended to the bottom of the minor league ladder and worked his way up once again, this time as a manager. After stops in West Virginia, California and Texas, he returned to Rochester and managed the Red Wings from 1971-76. 

In truth, he never left Rochester. After the 1966 season, he and his wife bought a house in Gates and settled here permanently. 

“I’d been all around the country in my travels, and I never found a place where I felt more at home,” he told the Democrat and Chronicle in 2000. “A lot of baseball people settle in warm climate places. They said I must be nuts living there in those kinds of winters. I said, ‘The weather may be cold, but the people are warm.’”