Lee Elia

Lee Constantine Elia (born July 16, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball. He is presently the bench coach for the Seattle Mariners, previously the hitting coach until the termination of manager John McLaren, the same position he held with the Mariners from by|1993-by|1997. After McLaren's termination, Elia was promoted from hitting coach to bench coach. After being named "special assistant to the manager" during the 2007-2008 offseason, he was moved into the hitting coach position on June 9, 2008 upon the dismissal of Jeff Pentland. He previously was a manager of the Chicago Cubs (by|1982 - by|1983) and the Philadelphia Phillies (by|1987 - by|1988). Additionally, he has served as a coach for the Phillies, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Baltimore Orioles. He is of Albanian heritage.

Elia was a shortstop for the Chicago White Sox in by|1966 and a pinch hitter for the Cubs in by|1968.

His most remembered moment occurred on April 29 by|1983, during his tenure as the Cubs' manager, when he lashed out in a profanity-laced tirade directed at the fans at Wrigley Field. After the Cubs suffered a one-run home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Elia made post-game remarks to the press at which he blasted Cubs fans in the stands for booing and heckling the team. Most memorably, he opined:

At the time, games at Wrigley Field were only held during the afternoon, which normally are work hours. The team was 5-14 at that point, but Elia felt that they were a better team than they were getting credit for being (which was arguably proven by the Cubs winning the division next year with largely the same team). His comments have reached near legendary status with Cubs and White Sox fans.

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/eliale01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com] - managing record and playing statistics
* [http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/rogers_phil/1546310.html ESPN.com article: "Elia's tirade becomes part of Cubs' lore"]