Roger Craig, R.I.P.

Former MLB pitcher, pitching coach and manager Roger Craig passed away on Sunday following a brief illness. He was 93. 

Craig grew up in Durham, North Carolina the 8th child in a family of 10. He was a standout baseball and basketball player at both Durham High School and at North Carolina State University. In 1950, Craig began his professional career by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Craig would make his MLB debut in 1955. It couldn't have come at a better time as he was part of a team that would win its first ever World Series title besting the New York Yankees in seven games. Craig would appear in the World Series again in 1956, but the Dodgers would revert to familiar form falling short against the Yankees. 

In 1958, Craig would follow the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles though he would spend much of the season in the minor leagues. Craig would recover to have the best season of his career in 1959 when he went 11-5 with a 2.06 ERA while leading the NL in shutouts with four en route to earning his second World Series ring as the Dodgers would win the Fall Classic in seven games against the Chicago White Sox.

After two more seasons in Los Angeles, Craig would return to New York in 1962 as he was selected in the expansion draft by the New York Mets. Craig would lead the NL in losses in both 1962 and 1963 posting records of 10-24 and 5-22. Amazingly, Craig somehow completed 27 games despite the misery of pitching for the Mets. Nevertheless, Craig has the ignominious distinction of being the last MLB pitcher to post back-to-back seasons of 20 or more losses. 

But Craig would rebound in 1964 when he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Splitting his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, Craig would help the Cardinals win the World Series for the first time since 1946. It was Craig's third World Series ring as a pitcher. 

After pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in 1965 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1966, Craig's 12-year MLB career came to an end. In 368 appearances (including 186 starts), Craig went 74-98 with a 3.83 ERA striking out 803 batters while walking 522 in 1536.1 inning pitched. 

But Craig's life in baseball was far from over. He would return to the Dodgers' organization working as a scout in 1967 and a manager at their Double-AA affiliate in Alburquerque in 1968. Craig would return to the big leagues in 1969 as the pitching coach for the expansion San Diego Padres. His experience with the Mets would help the young Padres pitchers through their growing pains. Craig would serve in this role through the 1972 season until being replaced by one-time Dodgers teammate Johnny Podres. 

In 1973, Craig would return to the Dodgers as a minor league pitching instructor before returning to the big leagues in 1974 as the pitching coach for the Houston Astros. After serving two seasons in that role, Craig would return to the Padres as their pitching coach in 1976. Then during spring training in 1978, the Padres unexpectedly fired manager Alvin Dark and named Craig as their new manager. 

The Padres responded to Craig's jovial demeanor by enjoying their first winning season in franchise history going 84-78 in '78. However, the Padres would revert to old form in 1979 and Craig would be fired at season's end. But Craig quickly rebounded when Sparky Anderson, an old friend from his Dodgers days who also served on the Padres coaching staff in 1969 before moving on the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati, tapped him to be his pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers. 

While with the Tigers, Craig became a practitioner of the split-fingered fastball and taught the pitch to future Hall of Famer Jack Morris. Craig's tenure under Sparky in Detroit would culminate in a fourth World Series ring in 1984. However, when Craig wanted a raise, the Tigers declined. Craig opted to retire from baseball.

The retirement proved to be short-lived as San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie lured Craig into his second big league managerial gig towards the end of the 1985 season. In San Francisco, Craig taught his pitcher the split-fingered fastball and emphasized aggressive baserunning including frequent use of the safety squeeze. The Giants would win the NL West in 1987 and the NL pennant in 1989. Alas the Giants would be swept in four games by the Oakland A's and could not play a game in San Francisco due to the infamous earthquake which occurred moments before Game 3 was scheduled to start. 

Craig would spend three more seasons in the Giants dugout when he was dismissed after Bob Lurie sold the team to Peter Magowan prior to the 1993 season and would be succeeded by Dusty Baker. During his decade as a big-league manager, Craig had a record of 738-737. 

Craig stayed out of baseball following his dismissal by the Giants except for when he worked as an informal advisor to Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly during the 2001 season. Brenly had caught for Craig in San Francisco. When the D'Backs won the World Series in 2001, Brenly bequeathed Craig with one more World Series ring. 

I leave you with a short interview Craig conducted while managing the Giants during spring training in 1988. R.I.P.