Phil Regan, the pitcher who turned a nasty sinker and a knack for cleaning up other people’s messes into a 13-year big league career and a nickname that stuck for six decades, died Wednesday. He was 89.
The man they called “The Vulture” played for four teams, managed the Orioles, and spent nearly 50 years as a coach or scout. But the name is what people remember. Sandy Koufax gave it to him back in 1966, when Regan was running a 14-1 record out of the Dodgers bullpen. Koufax noticed how often Regan inherited runners on base and still somehow walked away with the win. The name wasn’t a compliment, exactly. It was more like a nod. A grudging one.
Regan’s 1966 season was absurd by any standard. He went 14-1 with a 1.62 ERA, led the National League in saves with 21, and made the All-Star team. That year he won Reliever of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year. He was 29. His career had already stalled in Detroit, where he started 105 games over six seasons and never quite stuck. Then he moved to the bullpen and became one of the best in the game.
He did it again in 1968 with the Cubs. Led the majors with 25 saves. Finished with a 2.10 ERA. The guy just kept getting outs when it mattered.
Regan finished his playing career with a 96-81 record, a 3.84 ERA, and 92 saves across 551 appearances. Solid numbers. But the coaching part of his life was even longer. He spent 47 years in uniform after he stopped throwing. He was the Orioles manager in 1995, the strike season, and went 71-73. He was the pitching coach in Seattle, Cleveland (twice), Chicago, and New York. He coached in the minors, scouted, worked as an assistant pitching coordinator. The Mets brought him back as interim pitching coach in 2019, when he was 82.
Regan also won a gold medal as the pitching coach for Team USA at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. That team had guys like Roy Oswalt and Brad Wilkerson, and Regan helped run a staff that dominated the tournament. It’s a detail most obits will mention in passing. But coaching Olympic baseball is weird and specific and hard, and Regan did it well.
In 2023, two years after his retirement, Regan sued the Mets. He alleged age discrimination and wrongful termination. The lawsuit is still pending. Regan was 87 when he filed it. He’d spent more than six decades in professional baseball, and he wasn’t going quietly.
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