Pat Corrales
Age: 83
As Player
- Philadelphia Phillies (1964-1965)
- St. Louis Cardinals (1966)
- Cincinnati Reds (1968-1972)
- San Diego Padres (1972-1973)
As Manager
- Texas Rangers (1978-1980)
- Philadelphia Phillies (1982-1983)
- Cleveland Indians (1983-1987)
Patrick Corrales (born March 20, 1941 in Los Angeles, California), is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who played from 1964 to 1973, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds and also for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres.
Early life and playing career
Corrales was a baseball and football star at Fresno High School in Fresno, California and a teammate of future major-league pitchers Jim Maloney and Dick Ellsworth. An offensive guard and linebacker, he was named lineman of the year by the Fresno Bee. After high school he signed as an amateur free agent with the Phillies in 1959.
He made his major league playing debut at age 23 on August 2, 1964 with the Phillies. He pinch-hit for pitcher John Boozer in the fifth inning, grounding out against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Larry Miller in a 6-1 Phillies loss at Connie Mack Stadium. His first career hit came the next year on June 15, 1965 in a 12-7 Phillies loss to the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium when he singled in the eighth inning off Tony Cloninger and later scored. He had one of his best career games the next day when, in a 6-2 Phillies win over the Braves, he started at catcher and went 3-4 with his first major league home run (a two-run shot in the third inning against Denny Lemaster.
In a nine-year playing career as a backup catcher (including to Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench), Corrales played in 300 games with 166 hits, four home runs, 54 runs batted in and a .216 batting average. He appeared in one game of the 1970 World Series for the Reds and batted once, grounding out for the final out of the series as the Reds fell in five games to the Baltimore Orioles.
Manager and coach
Managerial and coaching career
Corrales spent nine years as a major league manager and finished with an overall record of 572-634 with the Texas Rangers, Phillies and Cleveland Indians. Corrales managed in both the National League and American League, and became only the fourth manager to manage in both leagues in the same season.
He is the only manager ever to be fired while in first place—the Phillies fired him in 1983 when the team had a record of 43-42), and he was replaced by Paul Owens. Corrales is also the first major league manager of Mexican American descent.
After being fired in 1987 as manager of the Indians he has had a long career as a bench coach. He was in that role for nine years with the Atlanta Braves, and was with Washington Nationals for the 2007 and 2008 seasons before being fired at the end of 2008 along with the majority of the Nationals' coaching staff. Shortly after being fired, he accepted a job as a special consultant to the Nationals. He resumed as bench coach in July 2009 after Jim Riggleman was appointed acting manager after Manny Acta was fired. Corrales was once again appointed Nats bench coach in June, 2011 by new manager Davey Johnson. Corrales replaced John McLaren, who had been reassigned to scouting duty.
On November 5, 2012, Corrales was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a special assistant to the General Manager.
Managerial record
Team | From | To | Regular season record | Post-season record | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | L | Win % | W | L | Win % | |||
Texas Rangers | 1978 | 1980 | 160 | 164 | .494 | — | ||
Philadelphia Phillies | 1982 | 1983 | 132 | 115 | .534 | |||
Cleveland Indians | 1983 | 1987 | 280 | 355 | .441 | |||
Total | 572 | 634 | .474 | — | ||||
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Personal life
Pat Corrales' wife died just hours after giving birth to the couple's fourth child in July, 1969. She had developed a blood clot in her lung and died seven hours after giving birth.
He was inducted as a member of the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.