Jim Fregosi

Short Biography

James Louis Fregosi (April 4, 1942 – February 14, 2014) was a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager. During an 18-year baseball career, he played from 1961–1978 for four different teams, primarily the Los Angeles and California Angels. In that franchise's first eleven years of play, he became its first star as the team's most productive and popular player. He led the American League (AL) in double plays twice, winning the 1967 Gold Glove Award, and upon leaving the team ranked ninth in AL history with 818 double plays. He holds the franchise record with 70 career triples; several of his other team records, including career games (1, 429), hits (1, 408), doubles (219), runs (691) and runs batted in (546), were broken by Brian Downing between 1986 and 1989. He returned to the team as manager, guiding it to its first-ever postseason appearance in 1979, and later managed the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1993 National League pennant. He was the top advance scout for the Atlanta Braves when he died. He suffered a stroke while on a cruise with Major League Baseball alumni in February 2014 and was taken to a hospital in Florida for treatment where he was put on life support. He was taken off life support after suffering multiple strokes in the hospital, and died a few hours later.