Joe Altobelli has passed away at 88

[SteveA]

There's now no one alive who's led the Orioles for a World Series as manager.

[wildcard]

Joe found his place in the world in Rochester.  We should all be that lucky.

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Altobelli was referred to as Rochester's "Mr. Baseball." His number 26 has been retired by the team, he was an inaugural inductee into the Red Wings Hall of Fame, and in 2010 a statue of Altobelli was installed on the Frontier Field concourse, which included a plaque noting he is the only man to have been a player, coach, manager, and general manager of the team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Altobelli

He was also a long time broadcaster for the Red Wings.

RIP Joe

[rudyrooster]

A true "old school" baseball guy.  RIP.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[OFFNY]

o

 

The first time that I read about Joe Altobelli was in my older brother's 1977 Complete Handbook of Baseball, which I read about 30 times. At the time, he was the manager of the San Francisco Giants. He may have gotten the NL Manager of the Year Award in 1978 when the Giants went 89-73, if the award had existed at the time. It was the franchise's first winning season since 1973.

At 88 years-old, he didn't get cheated out of his years.

 

o

[Tony-OH]

And from everything I've heard or read about him, he was a first class person as well as a great baseball man. 

[Tbone83]

Meeting Joe in the spring of 84, as well as attending an O's/Red Wings exhibition game in Rochester that same spring, made me an Orioles fan for life. I can't overstate how amazing it was for a rural Upstate NY kid to get to meet guys he only knew through baseball cards, or via watching them win the Series on TV 8 months prior. Joe was a great guy. RIP. 

 

[OFFNY]

53 minutes ago, Tbone83 said:

 

Meeting Joe in the spring of '84 (in addition to as well as attending an Orioles/Red Wings exhibition game in Rochester that same spring) made me an Orioles fan for life. I can't overstate how amazing it was for a rural Upstate NY kid to get to meet guys he only knew through baseball cards, or via watching them win the Series on TV 8 months prior. Joe was a great guy. RIP. 

 

o

 

I love the fact that there is still a rather large contingent of Oriole fans in northwestern New York State because of their affiliation with the AAA-Rochester team between 1961 and 2002.

 

o

[Tbone83]

2 hours ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

I love the fact that there is still a rather large contingent of Oriole fans in northwestern New York State because of their affiliation with the AAA-Rochester team between 1961 and 2002.

Yeah, we are starting to age out, but there are many of us still representing. Rochester was a great baseball town, and Joe was a big part of that. I fondly remember going to the sports stores in the mall in the 80s. There was more Orioles gear than Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays and Red Sox combined. I was always kind of bothered by how a lot of O's players in the 90s started to complain about having to do the exhibition game, because Rochester was a very loyal fanbase. But I guess by then much of the MLB roster hadn't come up through the system like the guys in the 70s and 80s. Rochester has gone into the crapper since the Os left (thank Kodak's epic business fail) but it was a fun place back in the day. 

 

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o

 

[Just Regular]

I want to say Dempsey or one of Earl's guys on the teams of that era gave the observation the team managed itself, Earl left it ready to win, etc., but nevertheless in the days of big benches and small bullpens, Altobelli nevertheless famously used FOUR straight pinch-hitters in the middle innings of Game 4 to take back the lead in the middle innings on the way to a 3-1 advantage.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198310150.shtml

Looking back on the Series box with the filter of today's tools, I wouldn't have guessed Sammy Stewart led in pitching WPA despite McGregor's shutout, and had forgotten that DH Singleton got just 2 PA's.   I think DH and no DH alternated years back then.

 

[BirdinBama]

That 1983 team was great.

[eddie83]

4 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

I want to say Dempsey or one of Earl's guys on the teams of that era gave the observation the team managed itself, Earl left it ready to win, etc., but nevertheless in the days of big benches and small bullpens, Altobelli nevertheless famously used FOUR straight pinch-hitters in the middle innings of Game 4 to take back the lead in the middle innings on the way to a 3-1 advantage.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198310150.shtml

Looking back on the Series box with the filter of today's tools, I wouldn't have guessed Sammy Stewart led in pitching WPA despite McGregor's shutout, and had forgotten that DH Singleton got just 2 PA's.   I think DH and no DH alternated years back then.

 

Dan O’Dowd told a story on MLB Network tonight. When Hank Peters hired him he told him there was one thing he had to do in 1983, nothing. 
 

The team was ready to win coming off of 82. 
 

Of course in 85 Earl was brought back and it failed. Joe wasn’t the reason that team faded.  

[InsideCoroner]

5 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

I want to say Dempsey or one of Earl's guys on the teams of that era gave the observation the team managed itself, Earl left it ready to win, etc., but nevertheless in the days of big benches and small bullpens, Altobelli nevertheless famously used FOUR straight pinch-hitters in the middle innings of Game 4 to take back the lead in the middle innings on the way to a 3-1 advantage.

 

“Everyone says Earl was the smartest manager I ever played for, but I think Altobelli was the smartest because he did nothing when he took over,” John Lowenstein said in commenting on the season. “He just put that lineup up in the dugout and sat down next to it and made his pitching changes. He relied on the team and let it fly, and that was smart, because we were fine-tuned to win in ’83, and he recognized that and didn’t screw it up.”

[Frobby]

RIP.    When I think of Joe, the first thing that comes to mind is when he sent up four pinch hitters in a row in Game 4 of the Series.  Intentional walk to load the bases (Nolan), walk to force home the tying run (Singleton), sac fly to bring home the go ahead run (Shelby), and a strikeout (Ford).        

[HOF19]

RIP Joe and Thanx a bunch for 1983.