Phil Regan, a right-handed relief pitcher who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball and was known as “The Vulture” for his ability to come in from the bullpen and steal a win from a starter, has died at age 89.
In addition to his long tenure as a player, coach, and briefly, a manager in MLB, Regan, who grew up in Michigan, was a sought-after manager in the warm climates of the Caribbean winter leagues as a manager, leading the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Republic to the LIDOM championship in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons and the Caribbean Series title in 1988, and then managed in Venezuela’s Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional from 1989 through 2009, leading five different teams and winning the league title with the Leones del Caracas in 1990 and the Navegantes del Magallanes in 2002.
As a pitcher, Regan was a stalwart reliever, pitching six seasons for the Detroit Tigers in his native Michigan from 1960-65 before going to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he had his best season in 1966, throwing 116 2/3 innings while posting a 1.62 ERA, a 0.934 FIP, a 203 ERA+ and a 2.33 FIP in a year where he finished 48 games and earned 21 saves.
During his tenure with the Dodgers, he was nicknamed “The Vulture” by teammate Sandy Koufax for his ability to come in from the bullpen and get credited with a win. Regan went 96-81 in 551 career MLB games, making 446 relief appearances where he earned 58 of his wins.
He then went to the Chicago Cubs, where he went 12-6 with a 3.70 ERA in 112 innings on the Cubs’ team that coughed up their lead in the National League East to a hot New York Mets team when they had an eight-game losing skid in September. Baseball historians frequently chalk the collapse up to manager Leo Durocher’s over-reliance on his starters and key pitchers, of whom Regan was one. He made 71 appearances out of the bullpen that year and finished 49 games for the Cubbies, posting a 3.70 ERA and a 109 ERA+.
Following his playing career, Regan began coaching, first at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he was head coach from 1973-82 before joining the Seattle Mariners organization, first as a scout and later as pitching coach for the Major League club. He later scouted and coached for the Dodgers and Cleveland Indians before getting his lone MLB managing job with the Baltimore Orioles in 1995, leading them to a 71-73 record in the strike-shortened season before he was fired and replaced by Davey Johnson.
