Lee Thomas and the 1993 Phillies: "Mad Dog" Assembles that "Wacky, Wonderful, Bunch of Misfits."

Perhaps no team in Phillies history captures the hearts of Philadelphia Phillies fans more than the 1993 National League pennant winners. The team was made up a cast of castoffs, misfits, and baseball journeymen, who somehow jelled into, not only a winner, but as entertaining a baseball team as the world is ever likely to see. It is amazing to consider that 20 of the 25 players on that team were acquired by Phillies General Manager Lee Thomas. Thomas passed away this week at the age of 86 in his adopted hometown of St. Louis. Newspaper reports said he had been battling several illnesses for the past few years.

When Thomas came from the St. Louis Cardinals front office to be the general manager of the Phillies in June 1988, the team was well on its way to a 96-loss season. Thomas said he didn't make many trades immediately, because he thought his counterparts on other teams were trying to take advantage of the new GM on the block. After about a year though Thomas began the wheeling and dealing that put the 93 team together. Thomas thought the late 80s Phillies were listless and he went looking for players to give the team some intensity. 

In one week in June 1989, Thomas traded away fan favorite Juan Samuel to the New York Mets for Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell and sent Chris James to the San Diego Padres for John Kruk and Randy Ready. A week later he sent star reliever Steve Bedrosian to San Francisco for Terry Mulholland, Dennis Cook, and Charlie Hayes. He snatched up Dave Hollins as a Rule 5 draftee from the Padres that winter. He got Wes Chamberlain and Tony Longmire in a 1990 trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1991, closer "Wild Thing" Mitch Williams came over from the Cubs. In 1992 he got Curt Schilling in a trade for Jason Grimsley. When he thought he was getting close to a good team he added a few more pieces to the puzzle just before the 1993 season: Jim Eisenreich, Pete Incaviglia, Milt Thompson, Danny Jackson, Larry Andersen. As Andersen put it, "It was kind of like they had a puzzle with some missing pieces. And they knew exactly what those pieces were and where they fit."

These players seemingly all had three things in common. They had failed in other major league cities; they were intense on and off the field; and they were quirky. Somehow, they all molded together under the leadership of holdover catcher Darren Daulton and former Thomas teammate, manager Jim Fregosi. 

What fascinates me about Lee Thomas is this: What made him think that this bunch of castoffs and cutups could mold themselves into a winning baseball team? To get to the answer, I decided to look at Thomas' playing career.

Lee Thomas was a promising left-handed hitting prospect in the New York Yankees organization. He made his way steadily up the minor league ladder until he finally found himself on the Yankees opening day roster in 1961. Unfortunately for Thomas, his path to playing time was blocked by a couple of pretty good outfielders named Mantle and Maris. He rode the bench in New York in April, getting just two pinch hitting at bats, and singling in his first big league appearance. With no room at the inn, the Yankees traded Thomas to the expansion Los Angeles Angels for former Yankee, Bob Cerv. Thomas thrived in his rookie campaign with the Angels. Dividing his time between the outfield and first base, he hit .285 with 24 home runs. 

On September 5, 1961, in a doubleheader against the Kansas City A's at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Thomas had his greatest day in the major leagues and one of the greatest doubleheader hitting performances in major league history. In Game 1, Thomas went five-for-five with four singles and a double, as the A's beat the Angels, 7-3. In the second game, Thomas went four-for-six with three home runs and eight RBIs. The A's prevailed again, 13-12. Thomas' nine hits in a doubleheader tied a major league record that still stands. The last player to achieve the feat, and the first since Thomas did it, was Christian Yelich of the Florida Marlins in 2015.

Thomas had another fine season in 1962, hitting .290, with 26 home runs and 104 RBIs. He was named to the 1962 American League All-Star team for the only time in his career. After the 1962 season, Thomas had knee surgery to correct an old high school football injury. After the surgery, he was never the same player. His batting average and power production both fell off precipitously. He bounced from the Angels to several other teams and even spent one season in Japan, but he could not recapture the magic of his first two seasons. He retired from playing at age 34 in 1970 and went to work as a coach and minor league manager for the Cardinals. Eventually he moved to the Cardinals front office, where Bill Giles found him and brought him to Philadelphia.

During his playing days, Thomas' temper earned him the nickname "Mad Dog." He once was so incensed that what he considered inferior players were being promoted ahead of him that he stormed out of Yankees spring training, vowing to quit. He cooled down and came back. He was occasionally known to throw equipment around when he thought an umpire missed call. The legend goes that he once threw all his golf clubs into a lake during a charity golf tournament. When the caddie retrieved them, he threw them back into the lake again. 

Here, I believe, is the clue to what attracted Thomas to players like Dykstra, Kruk, and Hollins. Lee Thomas was an intense competitor, and he was looking for that sort of intensity from his players. The team he assembled for the 1993 Phillies, were certainly intense. As Harry Kalas memorably called them, this "whacky, wonderful, bunch of throwbacks." 

That 1993 team is a key part of Lee Thomas' legacy in Philadelphia. Another is Ed Wade, the architect of the 2000 teams, who was Thomas' protege. Old "Mad Dog" apparently curbed the temper when he got his front office jobs. Tributes to Thomas all indicated what a genuinely nice guy he was. Baseball lifer Lee Thomas is survived by his wife and four sons.