Post by Toy-Cannon on Mar 31, 2017 19:00:12 GMT
Former Phillies great Ruben Amaro Sr. dies at 81
Ruben Amaro Sr., who played a role in the Phillies' greatest successes but was forever haunted by his part in the franchise's most infamous failure, died Friday in a Miami nursing home. He was 81.
Mr. Amaro, whose namesake son became the Phillies general manager in 2009, spent seven decades in the game as a player, coach, scout, instructor and executive. More than 30 of those seasons, including six as a slap-hitting but slick-fielding shortstop, were spent with the Phillies.
"I have a 'P' in the middle of my chest," Mr. Amaro told the Inquirer's Phil Sheridan in 2009. "I touched Richie Ashburn. I played behind Robin Roberts and Jim Bunning. I knew Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. Was there at the beginnings of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins. I would very much like to be buried with the Phillies uniform."
A native of Mexico with roots in Cuba, Mr. Amaro was instrumental in helping the Phillies make inroads in Latin America, aiding in the signing of such talents as Julio Franco and Juan Samuel.
But he will be best remembered in Philadelphia as a Gold Glove-winning shortstop on Gene Mauch's ill-fated 1964 Phillies, the team that blew a lead of 6 1/2 games in the last two weeks of the season.
Mr. Amaro, who won the defensive honor that season despite being platooned with Bobby Wine, often told the story of how he had ordered $1,800 worth of World Series tickets.
"When we won it all [in 1980], it was fabulous, extraordinary," he recalled, "but nothing ever is going to make up for our loss in 1964."
His death comes nine days after the passing of Dallas Green, who was his Phillies teammate in the 1960s and later his boss in the organization's farm system. A year after he left Philadelphia for Chicago in 1982, Green imported Mr. Amaro to be the Cubs' third-base coach.
"Ruben is smart, and he's a guy who doesn't miss anything that happens on the baseball field," Green once said.
Mr. Amaro called baseball "the family business." His father, Santos, was a home run-hitting star in Cuban baseball and a member of the sport's Hall of Fame there and in Mexico. His Mexican mother, Josefina, played for that country's women's national team.
His son, Ruben Amaro Jr., also played in the big leagues, including a stint with with the Phillies. And a second son, David, was drafted by the Cubs in 1984.
While playing with the Phillies, Mr. Amaro met his future wife, Northeast Philadelphia resident Judith Herman, who was working at the family's cheese stand in Reading Terminal.
"My sister Marlene taught English to [Phillies players] Pancho Herrera and Tony Taylor. Ruben would drive them to our house for the lessons," she recalled.
Born in Mexico in 1936, Mr. Amaro was playing with that country's national team when the St. Louis Cardinals signed him in 1954. While working his way through the system, he played several seasons of winter ball in various Latin leagues.
He finally reached the majors in 1958, debuting in a game against the Phillies. For that first game, he took his father, whose skin color likely had kept him from playing in the big leagues, into the spartan Sportsman Park clubhouse.
"The clubhouses in Cuba were wonderful facilities," Mr. Amarao recalled. "They had nice chairs you could lean back in, steam baths, laundry facilities. My dad looked around and sheepishly said, "Is this a major-league clubhouse?' "
The uniform he had been issued was several sizes too big, but Mr. Amaro wore it in silence until teammate and future Hall of Famer Stan Musial, who had played with his father in winter ball, insisted Mr. Amaro be given one that fit.
That winter, after appearing in just 40 games for St. Louis and batting .224, he was traded to the Phillies for outfielder Chuck Essegian.
Heady, with great range and extremely surehanded, Mr. Amaro soon became a favorite of Mauch.
"There's no shortstop in the league playing better ball defensively than Amaro," Mauch said in 1961. "Ernie Banks might have better hands, but he isn't a better shortstop."
In turn, the shortstop grew to be an admiring pupil of the intense and demanding manager.
"You'd be taking grounders or shagging flies," Mr. Amaro said in 1989, "and suddenly he would appear and ask you about something you had done the previous game. Or you might be in the middle of a hand of bridge and he'd walk by and fire a question at you."
Mr. Amaro had his best season in 1964 when, in addition to the Gold Glove, he hit .264 with four home runs and 34 RBIs. Mauch split the shortstop job that season between Mr. Amaro and Wine, both righthanded-hitting defensive specialists.
There seemed to be no reasoning for Mauch's daily choice at the position. The Daily News' Stan Hochman claimed he based his decision on "biorhythms only he detected, the opposing pitcher, the day of the week, the phases of the moon."
Whatever the rationale, it worked. The two combined to give the surprising Phillies superb shortstop play as well as eight homers and 68 RBIs.
But in 1965 the Phillies were retooling, and they sent Mr. Amaro to the Yankees for shortstop Phil Linz.
"We know Amaro isn't much of a bet to win the batting title," New York manager Ralph Houk said, "but we know he is truly a first-class infielder."
Injuries limited his play for the last-place Yankees in 1966, but the following year he was the team's starter, hitting .224 and starting 130 games. The Angels, needing a backup for future Phils manager Jim Fregosi, purchased him for $25,000 in 1968. But after just 42 games there, his big-league playing career was over.
The Phillies hired Mr. Amaro back in 1970 as a minor-league player-coach. Mauch told reporters his former shortstop would make an excellent manager.
"He's got it up here," Mauch said, pointing to his head.
Mr. Amaro's final offensive statistics - .234 in 940 games with eight home runs and 156 RBIs - were overshadowed by his defensive reputation.
Over the ensuing decades his would be a baseball odyssey - managing and coaching in the minor and major leagues in America, Venezuela and Mexico; scouting and administering for the Phillies, Cubs, Tigers, White Sox and Astros.
"When I first worked for the Phillies in 1972," Mr. Amaro recalled, "there were only four people in the [farm director's] office: Paul Owens, Dallas Green, me, and Bill Gargano, plus a couple of secretaries."
Perhaps the most eventful of those post-playing career seasons was 1980 when, as Green's first-base coach with the Phillies, he was part of the franchise's first World Series championship.
"He was a fantastic baseball man," Mike Schmidt said in 2009. "He was very passionate, but he was very soft-spoken. He just had a way with words. Very intelligent, fun guy to be around."
In 2000, after manager Terry Francona was fired, the Phillies interviewed Mr. Amaro for the vacancy.
"I was not only Latin, but my family was also a bit dark," he said in 2011. "My time came too early."
He divorced, married again and had a daughter and two more sons, one of whom, Luis, played Class A ball for the Phillies in 2011.
In 1986, he joined his father as a member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame.
When, as an official of the Baseball Assistance Team, he appeared in 2011 at New York Mets camp, he was treated as the elder baseball statesman he was.
"Wherever he was, lines formed," sportswriter Marty Noble wrote. "Scouts, writers, club officials actually queued up to say hello and show reverence, appreciation and respect for the soft-spoken 75-year-old. He never was a star. . . . But he is one of the game's great gentlemen."
Services are pending.
Mr. Amaro, whose namesake son became the Phillies general manager in 2009, spent seven decades in the game as a player, coach, scout, instructor and executive. More than 30 of those seasons, including six as a slap-hitting but slick-fielding shortstop, were spent with the Phillies.
"I have a 'P' in the middle of my chest," Mr. Amaro told the Inquirer's Phil Sheridan in 2009. "I touched Richie Ashburn. I played behind Robin Roberts and Jim Bunning. I knew Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. Was there at the beginnings of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins. I would very much like to be buried with the Phillies uniform."
A native of Mexico with roots in Cuba, Mr. Amaro was instrumental in helping the Phillies make inroads in Latin America, aiding in the signing of such talents as Julio Franco and Juan Samuel.
But he will be best remembered in Philadelphia as a Gold Glove-winning shortstop on Gene Mauch's ill-fated 1964 Phillies, the team that blew a lead of 6 1/2 games in the last two weeks of the season.
Mr. Amaro, who won the defensive honor that season despite being platooned with Bobby Wine, often told the story of how he had ordered $1,800 worth of World Series tickets.
"When we won it all [in 1980], it was fabulous, extraordinary," he recalled, "but nothing ever is going to make up for our loss in 1964."
His death comes nine days after the passing of Dallas Green, who was his Phillies teammate in the 1960s and later his boss in the organization's farm system. A year after he left Philadelphia for Chicago in 1982, Green imported Mr. Amaro to be the Cubs' third-base coach.
"Ruben is smart, and he's a guy who doesn't miss anything that happens on the baseball field," Green once said.
Mr. Amaro called baseball "the family business." His father, Santos, was a home run-hitting star in Cuban baseball and a member of the sport's Hall of Fame there and in Mexico. His Mexican mother, Josefina, played for that country's women's national team.
His son, Ruben Amaro Jr., also played in the big leagues, including a stint with with the Phillies. And a second son, David, was drafted by the Cubs in 1984.
While playing with the Phillies, Mr. Amaro met his future wife, Northeast Philadelphia resident Judith Herman, who was working at the family's cheese stand in Reading Terminal.
"My sister Marlene taught English to [Phillies players] Pancho Herrera and Tony Taylor. Ruben would drive them to our house for the lessons," she recalled.
Born in Mexico in 1936, Mr. Amaro was playing with that country's national team when the St. Louis Cardinals signed him in 1954. While working his way through the system, he played several seasons of winter ball in various Latin leagues.
He finally reached the majors in 1958, debuting in a game against the Phillies. For that first game, he took his father, whose skin color likely had kept him from playing in the big leagues, into the spartan Sportsman Park clubhouse.
"The clubhouses in Cuba were wonderful facilities," Mr. Amarao recalled. "They had nice chairs you could lean back in, steam baths, laundry facilities. My dad looked around and sheepishly said, "Is this a major-league clubhouse?' "
The uniform he had been issued was several sizes too big, but Mr. Amaro wore it in silence until teammate and future Hall of Famer Stan Musial, who had played with his father in winter ball, insisted Mr. Amaro be given one that fit.
That winter, after appearing in just 40 games for St. Louis and batting .224, he was traded to the Phillies for outfielder Chuck Essegian.
Heady, with great range and extremely surehanded, Mr. Amaro soon became a favorite of Mauch.
"There's no shortstop in the league playing better ball defensively than Amaro," Mauch said in 1961. "Ernie Banks might have better hands, but he isn't a better shortstop."
In turn, the shortstop grew to be an admiring pupil of the intense and demanding manager.
"You'd be taking grounders or shagging flies," Mr. Amaro said in 1989, "and suddenly he would appear and ask you about something you had done the previous game. Or you might be in the middle of a hand of bridge and he'd walk by and fire a question at you."
Mr. Amaro had his best season in 1964 when, in addition to the Gold Glove, he hit .264 with four home runs and 34 RBIs. Mauch split the shortstop job that season between Mr. Amaro and Wine, both righthanded-hitting defensive specialists.
There seemed to be no reasoning for Mauch's daily choice at the position. The Daily News' Stan Hochman claimed he based his decision on "biorhythms only he detected, the opposing pitcher, the day of the week, the phases of the moon."
Whatever the rationale, it worked. The two combined to give the surprising Phillies superb shortstop play as well as eight homers and 68 RBIs.
But in 1965 the Phillies were retooling, and they sent Mr. Amaro to the Yankees for shortstop Phil Linz.
"We know Amaro isn't much of a bet to win the batting title," New York manager Ralph Houk said, "but we know he is truly a first-class infielder."
Injuries limited his play for the last-place Yankees in 1966, but the following year he was the team's starter, hitting .224 and starting 130 games. The Angels, needing a backup for future Phils manager Jim Fregosi, purchased him for $25,000 in 1968. But after just 42 games there, his big-league playing career was over.
The Phillies hired Mr. Amaro back in 1970 as a minor-league player-coach. Mauch told reporters his former shortstop would make an excellent manager.
"He's got it up here," Mauch said, pointing to his head.
Mr. Amaro's final offensive statistics - .234 in 940 games with eight home runs and 156 RBIs - were overshadowed by his defensive reputation.
Over the ensuing decades his would be a baseball odyssey - managing and coaching in the minor and major leagues in America, Venezuela and Mexico; scouting and administering for the Phillies, Cubs, Tigers, White Sox and Astros.
"When I first worked for the Phillies in 1972," Mr. Amaro recalled, "there were only four people in the [farm director's] office: Paul Owens, Dallas Green, me, and Bill Gargano, plus a couple of secretaries."
Perhaps the most eventful of those post-playing career seasons was 1980 when, as Green's first-base coach with the Phillies, he was part of the franchise's first World Series championship.
"He was a fantastic baseball man," Mike Schmidt said in 2009. "He was very passionate, but he was very soft-spoken. He just had a way with words. Very intelligent, fun guy to be around."
In 2000, after manager Terry Francona was fired, the Phillies interviewed Mr. Amaro for the vacancy.
"I was not only Latin, but my family was also a bit dark," he said in 2011. "My time came too early."
He divorced, married again and had a daughter and two more sons, one of whom, Luis, played Class A ball for the Phillies in 2011.
In 1986, he joined his father as a member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame.
When, as an official of the Baseball Assistance Team, he appeared in 2011 at New York Mets camp, he was treated as the elder baseball statesman he was.
"Wherever he was, lines formed," sportswriter Marty Noble wrote. "Scouts, writers, club officials actually queued up to say hello and show reverence, appreciation and respect for the soft-spoken 75-year-old. He never was a star. . . . But he is one of the game's great gentlemen."
Services are pending.
www.philly.com/philly/sports/Philadelphia-Phillies-Ruben-Amaro-Sr-dies-at-81.html
www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/amaroru01.shtml
