Word came that former Major League Baseball player and manager Jim Fregosi, 71, suffered a series of strokes while on a cruise in the Caribbean with other MLB alumni. He passed away on Friday. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family.
A six-time All-Star, Fregosi was famously traded to the New York Mets in 1971 for Nolan Ryan. After his 18-year playing career came to an end in 1978, he managed Ryan for two years on the California Angels. Fregosi also managed the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1990s. It was during his tenure with the Phillies that Fregosi was reunited with New York Post sportswriter Maury Allen, who covered the Mets in the 1960s and ’70s and wrote the National League East preview for Street & Smith's Baseball magazine for several years in the early ’90s.
Prior to the start of an early-season game between the Phillies and the Mets in 1993, Allen was hanging around the batting cage at Shea Stadium when catcher Darren Daulton approached him. “Fregosi wants to see you,” Daulton told him.
“Jim and I go way back,” Allen thought. “I’ve known him since he was a 19-year-old shortstop with the Angels. Probably just wants to say hello.”
When Allen walked into the Phillies clubhouse, he was met by Fregosi and half a dozen of his players, including Curt Schilling and John Kruk. “There he is, boys,” Fregosi said. “There’s the guy who picked us for last.”
