Pat Corrales obit

Former Philadelphia Phillies player, manager has died: report

 

He was not on the list.

Former Philadelphia Phillies player and manager Pat Corrales has died, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

He was 82.

“RIP legendary Pat Corrales, 82, a fiery player, manager and baseball executive who leaves behind quite a fabulous legacy,” Nightengale wrote on Twitter/X. “It was a privilege to know and spend time with him.”

Corrales was a catcher who made his Major League debut with the Phillies in 1964. He played for the team through 1965, and then had stints with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres where his playing career wrapped up in 1973.

He moved into coaching with the Texas Rangers in 1976, and first became a manager with the team in 1978. He led the club through the 1980 season.

Corrales managed the Phillies in 1982 and into the 1983 season.

He led the Phillies to an 89-73 record in 1982 and the team was 43-42 in 1983 before he was fired.

Corrales also had a four-year stint as a manager with the Cleveland Indians.

Corrales was a coach with the Atlanta Braves in 1995 when the team won the World Series.

Corrales made his major league playing debut at age 23 on August 2, 1964, with the Phillies. He pinch-hit for pitcher John Boozer in the fifth inning, grounding out against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Larry Miller in a 6-1 Phillies loss at Connie Mack Stadium.[3] His first career hit came the next year on June 15, 1965, in a 12-7 Phillies loss to the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium when he singled in the eighth inning off Tony Cloninger and later scored.[4] He had one of his best career games the next day when, in a 6-2 Phillies win over the Braves, he started at catcher and went 3–4 with his first major league home run (a two-run shot in the third inning against Denny Lemaster).

In a nine-year playing career as a backup catcher (including to Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench), Corrales played in 300 games with 166 hits, four home runs, 54 runs batted in, and a .216 batting average. He appeared in one game of the 1970 World Series for the Reds and batted once, grounding out for the final out of the series as the Reds fell in five games to the Baltimore Orioles.

Corrales spent nine years as a major league manager and finished with an overall record of 572–634 with the Texas Rangers, Phillies and Cleveland Indians. Corrales managed in both the National League and American League, and became only the fourth manager to manage in both leagues in the same season.

He is the only MLB manager to be fired by a first-place ballclub when general manager Paul Owens replaced him on July 18, 1983, despite the Phillies having a 43–42 record and tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League East.

After being fired in 1987 as manager of the Indians he has had a long career as a bench coach. He was in that role for nine years with the Atlanta Braves, and was with Washington Nationals for the 2007 and 2008 seasons before being fired at the end of 2008 along with the majority of the Nationals' coaching staff. Shortly after being fired, he accepted a job as a special consultant to the Nationals. He resumed as bench coach in July 2009 after Jim Riggleman was appointed acting manager after Manny Acta was fired. Corrales was once again appointed Nats bench coach in June, 2011 by new manager Davey Johnson. Corrales replaced John McLaren, who had been reassigned to scouting duty.

On November 5, 2012, Corrales was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a special assistant to the General Manager.