John Vukovich | |||
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Infielder | |||
Born: Sacramento, California |
July 31, 1947|||
Died: March 8, 2007 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
(aged 59)|||
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MLB debut | |||
September 11, 1970, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
August 23, 1981, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .161 | ||
Hits | 90 | ||
RBI | 44 | ||
Teams | |||
As Player
As Manager |
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Career highlights and awards | |||
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As Player
As Manager
John Christopher Vukovich (July 31, 1947 – March 8, 2007) was an American third baseman and coach in Major League Baseball best known for his years of service with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played in parts of ten seasons from 1970 to 1981 for the Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. He was mainly used as a utility infielder capable of playing all four positions. He is also known for recording the lowest career major league batting average (.161) of any non-pitcher with 500 ABs or more.
Vukovich was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in Sutter Creek, California. His father was the baseball coach for the local Amador High School. He was a backup for the 1975 Reds World Series-winning team, although he was traded back to the Phillies before the playoffs began, and also for the 1980 Phillies World Series-winning team. He actually began the 1975 season as the Reds' starting third baseman, but was benched in favor of Pete Rose so that the Reds could get outfielder George Foster's bat into the lineup every day. He batted above .200 only twice in his ten-year career, appearing in 277 games while batting .161 with 6 home runs and 44 runs batted in, and had a .956 fielding percentage. During his second period of playing with the Phillies, he became beloved to the fans even though he seldom appeared in games; he was seen as a blue-collar player and the ordinary fan respected his effort. After his playing career ended, he joined the Chicago Cubs as a coach, and in 1986 he was manager for a day after Jim Frey was fired (he split that day's doubleheader). In 1987, he rejoined the Phillies, and after Lee Elia was fired with nine games to go, he took over as skipper, going 5-4 the rest of the season.