Lee Elia

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Lee Constantine Elia (born July 16, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball. He was a manager of the Chicago Cubs (1982 - 1983) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1987–1988). Additionally, he has served as a coach for the Phillies, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Baltimore Orioles. He is of Albanian heritage.

[edit] Playing career

Elia was a shortstop for the Chicago White Sox in 1966 and a pinch hitter for the Cubs in 1968.

[edit] Managerial career

His most remembered moment occurred on April 29, 1983, during his tenure as the Cubs' manager, when he lashed out in a profanity-laced tirade directed at the fans at Wrigley Field. After the Cubs suffered a one-run home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Elia made post-game remarks to four reporters--the Chicago Tribune's Robert Marcus, the Chicago Sun-Times' Joel Behrig, the Daily Herald's Don Friske and WLS-AM's Les Grobstein (who recorded it, with then only mic that was in the room)in which he blasted Cubs fans in the stands for booing and heckling the team. Most memorably, he opined:

At the time, games at Wrigley Field were only held during the afternoon, which normally are work hours, as the stadium did not yet have lights. The team was 5-14 at that point, but Elia felt that they were a better team than they were getting credit for being (which was arguably proven by the Cubs winning the division next year with largely the same team). His comments have reached near legendary status with Cubs and White Sox fans.

A few days later, Cubs general manager Dallas Green fired Elia at the behest of Tribune Company brass. Ironically, Elia had been one of several Phillies personnel brought to Chicago when Green was named Cubs general manager.

Most recently, Elia held three different coaching jobs with the Seattle Mariners during their dismal 2008 season. During the 2007–08 offseason he was named "special assistant to the manager" by then-manager John McLaren. He was then moved into the hitting coach position on June 9, 2008 upon the dismissal of Jeff Pentland. Less than two weeks later, with the dismissal of McLaren, he was promoted to bench coach, a position he held for the remainder of the 2008 season (Elia held the same position with the Mariners from 1993-1997). Elia was dismissed by the Mariners after the 2008 season amid the team's drastic restructuring. On January 25, 2009, the Los Angeles Dodgers hired him as a special assistant to General Manager Ned Colletti.

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - managing record and playing statistics
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
• ESPN.com article: Elia's tirade becomes part of Cubs' lore

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