Baseball lost a good man on Friday as Jim Fregosi died at the age of 71 following multiple strokes suffered last weekend.
Fregosi was taken off life support Thursday, two days after being transported from the Cayman Islands to a hospital in Miami. Fregosi was on an MLB alumni cruise and suffered multiple strokes over the weekend.
Fregosi was a six-time all-star as a shortstop for the California Angels. He was traded by the Angels to the Mets for Nolan Ryan in 1971. He played 18 seasons in the majors — 11 with the Angels, two with the Mets and Pirates and five with the Rangers. Fregosi also managed the Angels, Phillies, White Sox and Blue Jays.
For the past 13 seasons he has served as a special assistant to the Atlanta Braves GM. It was during his time as a special assistant that I briefly got to know him.
I worked for the Dodgers during the 2004 season, and Fregosi would frequently show up at the stadium for whatever scouting/special assistant work he was doing for Atlanta. Every time I would see him, he had a new funny story, great one-liner or dirty joke to tell me. Guy was a legend and could put a smile on anyone’s face. He was a cool ass dude and a great baseball man. He’ll be missed.
