Inside The Phillies

Former Phillies Manager, World Series Winning Coach Lee Elia Passes Away at 87

Longtime Philadelphia Phillies manager and World Series-winning coach Lee Elia has passed away at the age of 87.
Dylan Sanders|
May 25, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Detailed view of a Philadelphia Phillies hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park.
May 25, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Detailed view of a Philadelphia Phillies hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies family suffered an unfortunate loss on Wednesday, as longtime coach and former manager Lee Elia passed away at 87. The team announced his death on Thursday afternoon.

Elia was a part of baseball for a very long time. He had a short career as a player in MLB that started in 1958, but stuck around the game as a manager and a bench coach as late as 2008 with the Seattle Mariners.

The Philadelphia native signed with the Phillies as a minor leaguer back in 1958, which is where he spent most of his playing career. He hit 113 home runs and had 492 RBI across all levels throughout his time as a player.

It was also Philadelphia that gave him his first job as a bench coach in 1980. That year, working under manager Dallas Green, he helped lead the Phillies to a World Series championship. That remains one of just two rings that the club has ever one.

Elia bounced around between ball clubs a bit over the years as a coach, but had a penchant for coming back home to Philadelphia.

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The Chicago Cubs gave him his first shot at being a manager, where he led the team for two years. The Phillies also hired him for a two-season stint as manager from 1987 to 1988.

Philadelphia and the baseball world as a whole will be mourning the loss of Elia for a while. That is a longtime presence in the sport now gone.

He was an eccentric personality who will be remembered for a long time for a profanity-ridden rant he made against Cubs fans while managing them in 1983.

Elia also had an infamous moment a year later while managing the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate Portland Beavers back in 1984, where he threw a chair onto the field after arguing a called third strike.

For more Phillies news, head over to Phillies On SI.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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