Lee Elia, former Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies manager known for rant, dies at 87
By
,
, the former manager of the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies who is perhaps best known for his rant directed at Cubs fans critical of his team in 1983, has died at the age of 87.
The Phillies announced Elia died Wednesday, roughly a week before his 88th birthday.
A Philadelphia native and a graduate of Olney High School, Elia signed with the Phillies as a player in September 1958 after attending the University of Delaware. He spent several years playing in their farm system.
Elia's first tour of duty in Chicago came in 1966, when he played part of a season as an infielder with the White Sox. He also played several games for the Cubs in 1968. He played in 95 Major League games between Chicago's North and South Side teams.
In 1975, the Phillies gave Elia his first crack at managing a team. He first managed Class A Spartanburg, and had worked his way to Triple-A Oklahoma City by 1979,
Just after the '79 season ended, Phillies manager Dallas Green hired Elia as third-base coach for the Phillies — a post he held as the Phillies won the world Series in 1980.
The Cubs hired Green as general manager in 1981, and Green brought Elia with him. Elia took over as manager of the Cubs in 1982.
That year, Elia guided the Cubs to a 73-89 record and a last-place finish in the National League East. Early in the 1983 season, with the Cubs' fortunes not looking much better, fans had turned on the team — and Elia was having none of it.
On April 29, 1983, the Cubs had just lost a game to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3. A wild pitch by the Cubs' Lee Smith gave the Dodgers their winning run., after the game, fans poured beer on the Cubs' Keith Moreland, Larry Bowa and Ron Cey as they walked back to the left-field clubhouse. Elia was furious, and did not mince words in expressing himself.
"I'll tell you one f***ing thing. I hope we get f***ing hotter than s**t, just to stuff them 3,000 f***ing people that show up every f***ing day. Because if they're real Chicago f***ing fans, they can kiss my f***ing a** right downtown and print it! They're really, really behind you around here — my f***ing a**."
The f-bombs and other curse words continued, as Elia defended the 5-14 Cubs and derided the way fans had treated them, whom he characterized as "f***ing nickel-dime people" who should "go out and get a f***ing job" instead of coming to Cubs games.
As Entangled in Ivy recalls, most of the reporters at the game weren't there to hear Elia's rant. They had gone off to the Dodgers' clubhouse to interview former Buffalo Grove High School star Mike Marshall, who was back in the Chicago area for his first game as a pro.
The only ones present for Elia's rant were the late Robert Markus of the Chicago Tribune, Joel Bierig of the Chicago Sun-Times, Don Friske of the Daily Herald, and the late Les Grobstein of WLS-890 AM.
Grobstein captured the only audio recording of the rant, which has been legendary for all the 42 years since.
Elia was fired in August 1983 for reasons unrelated to the tape, and directly related to the team's continued poor performance. His Cubs tenure ended with a record of 127-158.
Charlie Fox took Elia's place for the rest of the season, and Fox in turn was replaced in 1984 by Jim Frey, who led the Cubs to the National League Eastern Division championship for the first time in 38 years.
Meanwhile, Elia returned to Major League Baseball as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1987.
After being fired by the Phillies in 1988, Elia coached Phillies minor league teams, then served in coaching posts with the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners.
"Lee was special," Mariners manager Dan Wilson . "Baseball has lost a giant. A great baseball man and an even better human. He was like a father to me and taught me how to be a big leaguer."
The Cubs released a statement Thursday night reading: "The Chicago Cubs organization joins the rest of the baseball world in mourning the recent passing of Lee Elia…. His connection with our organization will forever be remembered and our thoughts are with his wife, Priscilla, and his entire family."
