TAMPA — An aging generation of Mets fans know Jim Fregosi as the wrong end of possibly the worst trade in baseball history.
To those who knew the baseball lifer with a personality as big as the Atlantic, a fierce sense of loyalty and a high IQ, Fregosi was much more than the infielder in decline the Mets received from the Angels after the 1971 season for future Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and three others.
The 71-year-old Fregosi died Friday morning in a Miami hospital after suffering a stroke on a cruise ship in the Caribbean earlier in the week.
He played 18 years in the big leagues, was a six-time All Star and managed the Angels, White Sox, Phillies and Blue Jays. For the past 13 years, he was a special assistant to the Braves’ front office.
The 53-year veteran of baseball takes with him an incredible gift to tell stories, scout players, and not take himself too seriously.
As a Mets third baseman, he once committed a big error with Tom Seaver on the mound. Seaver stared at Fregosi, and after the inning Fregosi approached the star pitcher in the dugout.
“If you are so good,’’ Fregosi told Seaver. “Then pitch around me.’’
Fregosi was the perfect manager for the hard-living, free-wheeling 1993 Phillies he led to the World Series they lost in six games to Joe Carter and the Blue Jays.
“Jim Fregosi will be deeply missed in the baseball world. Fregos was the best manager I’ve ever played for. Our relationship was so special, and he was the one that taught me how to be a leader,’’ said Phillies catcher Darren Daulton, who is battling cancer. “Fregos and I could relate to each other whether we were in the clubhouse or on the field. In 1993, The City of Brotherly Love changed the world. Fregos was the driving force.”
David Wells would have fit in with the 1993 Phillies, but did get a chance to pitch for Fregosi in Toronto.
“He was one of the good guys, a guy who spoke his mind,’’ Wells said. “He respected the game and was a hard-nosed player. As long as you did that and did your job, he pretty much let you do whatever the heck you wanted.’’
I was the beat writer for the Trenton Times for all of Fregosi’s six years in Philly, from 1991-1996. Through all the discussions, disagreements, arguments and late nights, it was impossible not to learn about baseball, the players, the stock market, and horse racing. Or pick up a check.
And you believed Fregosi would be the last man alive because there was an air of invincibility surrounding the outsized personality.
“He protected people and people gravitated to him,’’ White Sox scout Billy Scherrer, a former big league pitcher, said of Fregosi. “When he spoke, people would listen. He was the best scout because of the conviction in his opinions.
“I was blessed to know him as a friend. I didn’t look at Jim Fregosi the player. I didn’t look at Jim Fregosi the manager. I looked at Jim Fregosi the man.’’
A man who will be missed by people who wanted one more argument, one more discussion, one more baseball game, one more story, one more horse race and one more late night.