Lee Elia, a former major league player and coach who was managing the
Elia responded with a rant that lives on with censored versions still being played on various programs years later. As part of his remarks, he declared that “85% of the world is working” and that “the other 15 come out here.”
Back then, there were no lights at Wrigley Field and the Cubs played only day games at home.
“At the moment, it was very, very difficult,” Elia said 25 years later while revisiting that day as part of a charity drive. “But you sit here and you’re 70 years old and you look at it and you say to yourself, ‘You know, yeah, it was unfortunate.’ But for crying out loud, we’re human beings and you make mistakes sometimes.”
The Philadelphia native managed the Phillies during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, going 111-142-1. He was the third base coach when the Phillies won the 1980 World Series.
Elia also worked for the Seattle Mariners from 1993-97, 2001-02 and in 2008 as a hitting coach, bench coach and special assistant to the field manager.
Seattle manager Dan Wilson, who played for the Mariners from 1994 to 2005, called Elia a special man and coach.
“Lee really taught me how to play in the big leagues,” Wilson said Thursday. “He taught me how to hit in the big leagues. He was like a father to me in the game and just really dearly missed. He treated everybody with so much love. When you’re called and referred to as Uncle Lee, he made a lot of impressions with people and that’s how he was known to us and we are going to miss him dearly.”
After signing with the Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1958, Elia made his major league debut as a shortstop for the Chicago White Sox in April 1966 and played in 80 games. The Cubs purchased his contract in May 1967, and he played in 15 games in the 1968 season. He batted a combined .203 with three home runs and 25 RBIs in 95 MLB games.
Elia, born July 16, 1937, also coached and served in other capacities with the Phillies, New York Yankees, Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles between 1980 and 2008.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
