Lloyd mcclendon biography

American baseball player & coach (born )

Baseball player

Lloyd Glenn McClendon (born January 11, ) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from to for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After his playing career McClendon served as the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from to and the Seattle Mariners from to He most recently served as the interim manager for the Detroit Tigers in

Playing career

Amateur career

In , McClendon played in the Little League World Series for his hometown Gary, Indiana, team, and earned the nickname "Legendary Lloyd" by homering in five consecutive at bats.^[1] In fact, they were his only official at-bats; in all his other plate appearances, the opposing coaches had him intentionally walked.^[2][3] McClendon's team was the first all-African American team to reach the final stage of the LLWS.^[4] He attended Roosevelt High School in Gary and graduated in ^[5]

McClendon played collegiate baseball at Valparaiso University, not far from Gary.

While at Valparaiso, he compiled a career batting average of , and produced 18 home runs and 73 runs batted in. Twice he received all-conference honors ( and ).^[6]

Professional career

New York Mets

McClendon was drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the Major League Baseball Draft as a catcher.

He began his professional baseball career with the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League.

While playing at the A ball level for the Lynchburg Mets, McClendon was roomed with teammate Darryl Strawberry by their manager, Gary Dusan, as Strawberry was struggling with adversity and McClendon a positive influence. 43 years later, shortly before Strawberry had his uniform number 18 retired by the New York Mets, Strawberry recalled in an interview how helpful both Dusan and McClendon had been helping him survive a particularly challenging season and enabling him to go on to a successful major league career.^[7][8]

After the season, he was traded along with two other players to the Cincinnati Reds in a deal to bring Mets legend Tom Seaver back to New York.

Cincinnati Reds

was the first season in which McClendon began to get significant time at positions other than catcher, playing both third and first base while with the Waterbury Reds. He continued to be used as a utility player over the next several seasons, before finally breaking into the majors with the Reds in

McClendon made his major league debut on Opening Day in as a pinch hitter,^[9] He spent most of the season with the Reds, aside from a brief return to the minors with the Nashville Sounds in August.

Lloyd mcclendon video Paul Bretscher. Download as PDF Printable version. McClendon managed the Mariners for two seasons before parting ways with the team in Retrieved November 1,

He played in 45 games, mostly as a pinch hitter, but also appeared at five different positions in the field (catcher, first base, third base, and left and right field).

saw McClendon playing a similar role, although his playing time increased. He again played five positions on defense while batting in 72 games overall.

After the season, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for outfielderRolando Roomes.

Chicago Cubs

McClendon saw the most playing time of his major league career with the Cubs in Playing mostly left field and first base, he batted with career highs in home runs with 12 and runs batted in with He also scored a career-best 47 runs and even stole 6 bases.

McClendon struggled at the plate in , however, playing in 49 games for the Cubs and batting an anemic Late in the season, he was traded to the Pirates for a player to be named later.

Pittsburgh Pirates

McClendon played in 4 games for the Pirates at the end of , going 1-for-3 at the plate.

He played for the Pirates through the end of the season, spending most of his time in the outfield. In the postseason, he batted while playing in five games of the National League Championship Series, collecting eight hits in eleven at-bats. It is the highest batting average posted in one postseason.^[10] He bounced back to hit in , but slumped to in and in He was hitting in when the season was interrupted - and ultimately ended - by a players' strike.

After the season he became a free agent.

Cleveland Indians

McClendon signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians in After failing to make the team out of spring training, he was assigned to the Buffalo Bisons. He played 37 games, including his first games at third base since However, he never received a promotion to the majors, and retired after the season.

Coaching and managerial career

Pittsburgh Pirates

After retiring from playing, McClendon served as a hitting coach for the Pirates until he was appointed manager after the season. At the time of his hiring, he became the first African American manager or head coach of any of Pittsburgh's three major sports teams, preceding the Steelers hiring of Mike Tomlin by six years.^[11] McClendon held the Pirates managerial position until he was fired September 6, ^[12] In his five seasons as manager of the Pirates, McClendon compiled a – record.^[13]

Detroit Tigers

When Jim Leyland was hired as manager of the Detroit Tigers, he brought former player McClendon on board as bullpen coach.

For the season, he was promoted to hitting coach, replacing former Pirates teammate Don Slaught. On May 28, , he changed his jersey number from 12 to 19 due to Gerald Laird changing his jersey number from 8 to

The Tigers did not have an official bench coach until Gene Lamont was named to that position for the season, but McClendon served a part of that role as acting manager in the absence of Jim Leyland.^[14][15]

A Detroit player won the American League batting title in four of McClendon's seven seasons as the team's hitting coach.

Seattle Mariners

On November 5, , the Puget Sound Business Journal reported that McClendon would be the new Seattle Mariners manager. On November 7, general manager Jack Zduriencik officially announced McClendon as the team's manager.^[16]

In McClendon's first season as the manager of the Mariners, the team finished with an 87–75 record.^[17] The team's record represented an improvement from 71–91 in ^[18] However, in , the Mariners struggled and finished 76–86; McClendon was fired on October 9, ^[19] He finished with a record of wins and losses.^[13]

Toledo Mud Hens

On November 23, , McClendon was hired as the manager of the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, the Toledo Mud Hens.^[20] In the season, the Mud Hens struggled, finishing 68– Following that season, McClendon was named the Tigers new hitting coach.

Second stint with Detroit Tigers

On October 21, , McClendon was named the Tigers' hitting coach, a position he previously held with the team from to ^[21] On September 30, , McClendon succeeded Steve Liddle as the Tigers' bench coach.^[22] On September 19, , McClendon was named interim manager of the Tigers following the retirement of Ron Gardenhire.^[23][24] After the season, the Tigers named A.

J. Hinch as the team's new manager, and McClendon was not retained on the coaching staff.^[25][26]

Second stint with Toledo Mud Hens

On January 27, , McClendon was hired to manage the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, the Toledo Mud Hens for a second time, following the promotion of Mud Hens manager Gary Jones to first base coach for the major league team.^[27]

History of challenging umpires

McClendon has a history of challenging close calls on the diamond, and stated his belief that the Pirates didn't always get fair calls from the umpires.

As he put it during the season, "I'm sure it's nothing intentional on their part. I certainly would never question their integrity. But it's human nature to relax a little and take something for granted. We've lost for so long that I think it's easy for umpires to lose respect for us and take us for granted. I've got to change that.

If I get thrown out of games, then I get thrown out of games. I'm going to keep demanding a playing field that's equal for my players. I don't think it's wrong to demand the umpires' best effort every day."^[28]

On June 26, , in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, McClendon saw two questionable calls made against his Pirates by the first base umpire, Rick Reed.

After Jason Kendall was called out at first base, McClendon went onto the field to argue the call. After being ejected from the game, McClendon removed first base and walked off the field with it, later throwing it into the dugout, where a batboy placed a Pirates cap on top of it.

Lloyd mcclendon pirates Randy Goede. Lance Parrish. When Jim Leyland was hired as manager of the Detroit Tigers, he brought former player McClendon on board as bullpen coach. Late in the season, he was traded to the Pirates for a player to be named later.

Rather than risk McClendon's wrath by retrieving the base, the field crew replaced the base with a new one. The Pirates rallied to win the game in the 12th inning, 7–6.^[29] The next day, the players mounted the base in their clubhouse. McClendon's act of anger made the No.&#;4 place on Page 2's "Coaches Gone Wild" list, which jokingly called it an incident of "stealing" first.^[30]

In the season, McClendon exhibited signs of a desire to end this tendency.

During a series against the Washington Nationals at the end of June, when replays of the first base theft were being shown on the scoreboard, he said, "I don't like that being shown, I don't want people to identify (that) with me. To me, that's ridiculous. That's not who I am.

Lloyd mcclendon contract: The Free Lance-Star. I don't think it's wrong to demand the umpires' best effort every day. Stephanie Greer McCalment. Toggle the table of contents.

That's something that happened and it should be over with."^[31]

However, on June 2, ,^[32] McClendon once again made national news after challenging the entire umpire crew after a couple of questionable check-swing calls by Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez during the Mariners game against the New York Yankees.^[33] Mariners catcher Mike Zunino expressed displeasure with first base umpire Will Little's safe call on a check swing, leading to Zunino's ejection.

McClendon initially argued with home plate umpire Mike DiMuro before throwing his hat and proceeding to argue with Little, eventually kicking his hat and running around the diamond to argue with each member of the umpiring crew.

Managerial interviews

Following their season, the Seattle Mariners interviewed McClendon, as well as several others, for their managerial position,^[34] with Seattle eventually deciding to hire Eric Wedge.^[35] On October 30, , McClendon was interviewed by the Miami Marlins as a candidate to succeed Ozzie Guillén, who was fired after a single season.^[36] However, the Marlins hired Mike Redmond instead.^[37] On October 24, , McClendon interviewed for the Tigers' managerial job,^[38] but that job went to Brad Ausmus.

On November 3, , McClendon was in Seattle for a second interview for the managerial job for the Mariners.^[39] He ultimately was hired by the Mariners as their new manager beginning in the season.

Managerial record

Personal Life

McClendon is one of twelve^[40] or thirteen^[41] children.

Sources differ.

McClendon met Ingrid Scott while the two were students at Valparaiso University; They went on to marry in The couple has two children, daughter Schenell (born c. ) and son Bo (born c. ).^[41] Schenell graduated Valparaiso, followed by law school, then married in Bo also attended Valparaiso, and was a 39th round draft choice the Detroit Tigers in He played in the minor leagues for two years.^{[42][43][44][45]}

Granddaughter Bryn was born to Schenell and her husband in ^[46]

McClendon and his wife continue to live in Indiana.^[47][48]

References

External links