The Vulture: Phil Regan

                         Over their long history, the Dodgers have had several very good closers. One of the more successful when they were in Brooklyn was Hugh Casey in the 40’s. Hugh only recorded 49 saves, but back then the save was not a recognized stat. Joe Black was a reliever before they decided to use him as a starting pitcher. 

                          Far and away the most successful reliever in Brooklyn though was Clem Labine. Labine would record 81 saves for the Dodgers, 69 of those came while the team was in Brooklyn. Clem also made some starts for the team, perhaps his best came in game 6 of the 1956 Series, a 1-0 win that kept the Dodger hopes alive. 

                         Phil Regan had one of the most dominant seasons of any reliever in Dodger history. Regan only pitched two full seasons with the Dodgers. And then just 5 games with the team in 68 before being traded to the Cubs with Jim Hickman for Ted Savage and Jim Ellis. 1966 was Regan’s best season as a reliever. 

                        Regan would earn his nickname, The Vulture as he would swoop in and get a win. He recorded 21 saves that season and win 14 while only losing 1. His ERA was a miniscule 1.62, by far the best of his career. The Dodgers had traded SS Dick Tracewski to the Tigers for Regan in December of 1965. 

                        They traded for him to be a partner with LHRP, Ron Perranoski. It turned out to be a good decision since Perranoski had lost some of his effectiveness since his standout 1963 season. 1966 would be only the second time in his career with the Dodgers that he would record less than double digit saves. 

                        Phil was born in Otsego, Michigan on April 6th, 1937. He lettered in three sports at Wayland High School. He spent one year at Western Michigan University before signing a contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1956. He would compile a 61-42 record with a 3.76 ERA as a starting pitcher before being called up by the Tigers in 1960. 

                       He made his major league debut on July 19th of 1960 against the Washington Senators. He entered the game with the Tigers down 3-0. He gave up two hits in five innings of work, one of them a homer to Harmon Killebrew. He made his first career start against the Orioles in the second game of a doubleheader. He left with the game with two outs in the 9th inning, the bases loaded, and the game tied 3-3. Relief pitcher, Clem Labine, walked Jim Gentile to drive in the winning run, and Regan had his first loss. 

                      Regan went 0-4 in his rookie season. He would get his first career win the next season against the Orioles. He went 10-7 in 1961 with a 5.25 ERA. After a 1-5 start to his season in 1965, he was demoted to the minors. After the season, he called the Tigers GM and asked for a trade. On Dec 15th he was traded to the Dodgers.

Phil Regan of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1966 season. (Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images)

                     The Dodgers envisioned him as a reliever, so he worked as a late inning reliever. He would become Walter Alston’s go to guy during the season. His nickname, The Vulture, was given to him by Sandy Koufax. According to Sandy, he would swoop in late in the game and get a victory. In the series loss to Baltimore, he got into two games and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.

                   The Dodgers were a totally different team in 1967. Koufax had retired. The starting rotation now featured Sutton, Drysdale, Osteen and Singer. The offense was not very good. They were last in the league at .236 in hitting. Regan was sharing time with Perranoski, who once again was the team leader in saves with 16, and Jim Brewer. Regan went 6-9 with 6 saved and a 2.99 ERA. He had started three games in his time with the Dodgers. He would only start one more the rest of his career. 

                  Early in 1968 after five games with a 2-0 record, he was traded to the Cubs. Regan would spend five seasons with the Cubs notching 60 of his career 92 saves with them. His record over that time was 32-26 with an ERA of 3.44. He finished his career with the White Sox, pitching in 10 games in 1971 and going 0-1. He then retired at the age of 35. He was 92-81 for his career with an ERA of 3.84. He pitched one complete game shutout in his career and hit the only home run of his career in that game. 

                After he retired, he went into coaching. His first coaching job was at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. He took the job simply because it was close to home. He was the head coach there from 1973-82. He won the Great Lakes conference title twice and the NAIA District 23 title twice. 

               In 1983 he became the Mariners minor league pitching instructor and an advance scout. In 1984 he was named their major league pitching coach. He earned a two-game suspension in 1985 for bumping umpire Darryl Cousins during a game with the Angels. He resigned his position with the Mariners following the 1986 season. In 1987, he joined the Dodgers, where he would stay for six years as their major league special assignment and advance scout. He was up for the Florida Marlins managerial opening in late 1992 but pulled his name from consideration. 

            He then joined the Indians in the strike shortened 1994 season. In 1995, he was hired as manager by the Baltimore Orioles. The season started late and was shortened to 144 games. The Orioles went 71-73 missing the playoffs and finishing third. He was fired and replaced by Davey Johnson. It would be his only managerial job. 

              He would later manage in both the Dominican and Venezuelan Winter Leagues. He managed the Dodgers AAA team in Albuquerque for one season, 1996. From 97-99 he was the major league pitching coach for the Cubs, 97-98 and then Cleveland, 99. He retired from baseball during the 2020 season. He had been the pitching coach there after Dave Eiland was fired.

               In 2023, Regan sued the Mets organization for age discrimination and wrongful termination after the 2019 season. The suit alleged a harassment and a hostile work environment. Regan is now 87 years old. 

                                                                                               Dodger Game Summary

                             The Dodgers lost 4-3 to the Phillies. Gavin Stone got the start and went 4.2 innings giving up 9 hits and all 4 runs. Schwarber tagged him for a solo shot in the first inning. In the second, Marsh doubled and then scored on a Merrifield ground out. Meanwhile, Sanchez kept the Dodgers off of the scoreboard until the top of the fourth inning. Hernandez singled, then Pages singled sending Teo to third. Rojas came up and hit a ball to the second baseman, Stott, who only had one play, forcing Pages out at second while Hernandez scored. 

                           Dodgers tied it up in the top of the 5th. Kike walked; Outman struck out. Barnes then hit a single sending Kike to third. Ohtani then hit a soft liner to center scoring Kike. Hernandez and Freeman then made outs and the threat was over. The Phillies retook the lead in the top of the fifth. Merrifield hit a fly ball to center field that Pages totally misjudged and lost. It went for a triple. After retiring Stubbs and Schwarber, Stone gave up a slow roller to short by Trea Turner. Rojas could not make the play on the speedy Turner and Merrifield scored. Bohm singled sending Turner to third. Banda was brought in to relieve. Stott hit a ball that Taylor at second had no chance of making a play on and Turner scored. That was all the Phillies would need. 

                         With Alvarado on the mound in the 8th inning, Pages doubled to center field. Rojas followed with another hit, scoring Pages, but Rojas was called out at second trying for a double. The Dodgers challenged saying he was pushed off of the bag, but the call was upheld. Hoffman came in to close and got the last three outs in the 9th inning. Will Smith was the last out and he hit a long drive to right that was caught by Castellanos right in front of the wall. Stone took his third loss. Rojas drove in 2 of the three runs, Ohtani the other. Pages, Ohtani and Barnes, each had two hits. Barnes got his average up to .250. 

                                                                                                  Minor League Scores

                                   El Paso 12 OKC 3    El Paso trailed 2-0 early, but then jumped all over OKC’s pitchers to score 10 runs over the last four innings. Joe Kelly pitched 1/3rd of an inning and was not effective at all. He gave up 1 hit, 3 walks and allowed 4 runs. He got the loss. River Ryan went 5 innings giving up 2 runs, striking out 6 and walking 2. The two runs came on a homer by Eguy Rosario. Avans, Cartaya and Owings had 2 hits each. Cartaya is now hitting .300.

                                   Tulsa 12 Corpus Christy 5   Tulsa jumped out to a 5-2 lead after two only to have CC tie it with three straight one run innings. In the bottom of the fifth, the Drillers scored 2 to take the lead back. They then scored 1 in the seventh and 4 in the eighth for the total of 12. Lockwood-Powell hit two homers, and Freeland also homered. Freeland went 2-4 with 3 driven in. Lockwood-Powell was 2-5 with 4 driven in. Fernandez and Alleyne also chipped in 2 hits apiece. Chris Campos pitched the first five innings and got the win. He allowed 5 runs on 7 hits with 8 K’s and a walk. He allowed 2 homers. Sublette, Hobbs and Henriquez all pitched scoreless innings.

        Fort Wayne and Great Lakes game was postponed due to rain and will be made up tomorrow in a doubleheader.

                                   Rancho 11 Stockton 9   Rancho came back from an 8-1 deficit in the 4th inning to win 11-9 in regulation. They scored 10 runs over the last five innings. Stockton helped their cause with 4 errors. Kendall George was 3-6 and scored 4 times. McLain and Perez also had 3 hits each and McLain drove in 4. Three of them came on a triple. Decker had 2 hits and drove in 3 including the 2 winning runs on a single, that was turned into three bases on an error by the outfielder. Cabrera pitched one inning of scoreless relief for the win, his 4th. And Ruebeck got his second save.