RIP Phil Regan, 1937-2026

[Cowtipper]

Phil Regan, who served as Mets interim pitching coach in 2019 after Dave Eiland was fired*, has passed away at 89. He pitched in the majors from 1960 to 1972, winning 15 games as a starter in 1963 -- though he made his name in the bullpen. In 1966 and 1968, he led the league in saves and games finished; the former year, he went 14-1 and the latter, 12-5. He was also an All-Star in 1966 and received MVP votes both years. He got more votes than Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Orlando Cepeda, Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey in 1966!

From 2009 to 2015, he was the St. Lucie Mets pitching coach and from 2016 to 2019, he was the minor league assistant pitching coordinator.  

https://sny.tv/articles/former-mets-pitching-coach-phil-regan-dies-at-89

*remember when Dave Eiland was pitching coach? I barely could

[MFS62]

He was nicknamed "The Vulture" because he picked up so many wins in relief.

RIP

Later

[metirish]

Rest in peace,  liked him as the pitching coach , I'm sure he had some great stories 

[Edgy MD]

Managed the Orioles for one year before Davey Johnson took over and gave them some of their best baseball, and what should have been a championship.

Was with the Mets as a minor league pitching coach for 11 years, coaching St. Lucie from 2009–2015, and then become minor-league pitching coordinator from 2016 to 2019.  You can imagine the guys he got his grubby finger prints on — deGrom, Harvey, Syndergaard, Matz, Familia, Montero, Fulmer, Lugo, Sewald, etc.

But the rising whale gets the harpoon.  He could have labored down there in obscurity, but he had to go and accept the interim pitching coach position, and even though the pitching staff turned around, he was eased into an advisory role at the end of the season.

A coach at heart, and to prove he wasn't a liability, he went to the Dominican Winter League and coached the Toros del Este staff, where his team led the league in pitching (by a lot) and won the DWL championship.  He came back and found the Mets advisory role not to his liking, clashed with Bodie Van Wagenen, and sued the Mets for age discrimination when he was fired. 

Gave exactly zero fucks.  True Story: When he was coaching for the Mets, Fman nicknamed him "Dr. Nefario," and he showed up at Fman's front door and kicked his ass.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Phil was such nice guy. He was from West Michigan, and for a spell was manager of the West Michigan Whitecaps, the then low-A affiliate of the Tigers. It's a high-A team now.. 

When I was a reporter, he agreed to be part of a "live chat" where we talked in the comments about different issues. Phil was a guest as we where awaiting the Hall of Fame vote, and shared stories about his long and storied career with us and readers. It ended up being one of the years where no one was elected, so it fell a little flat. 

This was before the comments became a cesspool, and you could have interesting discussions.