Former Blue Jays bench coach Lee Elia dies at 87

July 18, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Lee Elia, who served as the Toronto Blue Jays bench coach in 2000, died on July 9 at the age of 87.

The Philadelphia Phillies announced his passing on social media. No cause of death was given.

“The Phillies mourn the loss of Lee Elia, who managed the club from 1987-88. He passed away on July 9 just shy of his 88th birthday . . . Affiliated with 10 different organizations throughout his distinguished career, he always considered himself a Phillie at heart,” said the Phillies in a statement.

Elia was widely regarded as one of the top teachers of baseball fundamentals. And that was a key reason he was hired by Blue Jays manager Jim Fregosi to be his bench coach in 2000.

Philadelphia native

Born in 1937 in Philadelphia, Elia was a standout infielder in high school and at the University of Delaware prior to being signed by the Phillies in 1958.

He excelled in his first pro season with Class-D Elmira, batting .297 with eight home runs and 66 RBIs in 98 games. It was his first of six campaigns as a scrappy infielder in the Phillies’ organization.

Traded to White Sox

On December 1, 1964, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox, where he proceeded to belt a career-high 29 home runs in triple-A in 1965. That performance opened the eyes of the big league Sox and he spent a large chunk of the 1966 season as their starting shortstop, batting .205 with three home runs and 22 RBIs in 80 games.

Back in triple-A the following season, he was sold to the crosstown Cubs on May 23.

He didn’t play in the majors that season, but he returned to the Show in 1968 to suit up for his final 15 big league games with the Cubs.

After another season in the minors, he transitioned into coaching and then became a minor league manager. From 1975 to 1979, he piloted Phillies’ class-A, double-A and triple-A affiliates before he was promoted to be the third base coach on the Phillies’ World Series-winning team in 1980.

Hired to manage Cubs

Following another campaign with the Phils, he was hired as field manager of the Chicago Cubs and he led them to a 73-89 record in 1982.

On April 29, 1983, after the Cubs lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers to drop their record to 5-14, some fans at Wrigley Field tossed garbage at Larry Bowa and Keith Moreland. This inspired Elia’s profane rant against Cubs fans which he’s probably most remembered for. There are too many F bombs to quote much of it, but you can listen to it in full here.

“The motherf*&%!ers don’t even work,” said Elia, in part, about the Cubs fans who attended the team’s home games which were played during the day. “That’s why they’re out at the f!@kin’ game. They oughta go out and get a f!@kin’ job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a f!@kin’ living. Eighty-five percent of the f!@kin’ world is working. The other 15 percent come out here.”

Despite his epic tirade, Elia wasn’t dismissed until August when the Cubs’ record had fallen to 54-69.

Back to Phillies

Elia then returned to the Phillies’ organization to manage their triple-A affiliate in Portland in 1984 before reclaiming his position as the Phillies’ third base coach in 1985. When the Phillies fired manager John Felske in mid-June 1987, Elia was named his replacement. The Phillies improved to a 51-50 record under Elia, but the team fell to a 60-92 in 1988 and Elia was let go.

In-demand coach

Over the next decade, Elia held various minor league managerial positions and big league coaching jobs.

He was a coach with the New York Yankees in 1989 prior to becoming the Seattle Mariners’ hitting coach from 1993 to 1997.

From 1997 to 1999, Elia was a special assignment scout with the Phillies while he battled prostate cancer. After he recovered, Blue Jays manager Jim Fregosi, who lived in the same area of Florida in the off-season, contacted him with an offer to return to the dugout.

Comes to Toronto

Fregosi was hired as Blue Jays manager during the spring of 1999 when Tim Johnson was dismissed abruptly after his false Vietnam stories became too much of a distraction. Fregosi inherited Johnson’s staff for his first season but was given the opportunity to handpick his coaches for his second campaign.

He wanted the fiery Elia to be his bench coach.

“We [him and Fregosi] spent a lot of time this winter going over the program,” Elia told the National Post in April 2000. “The more we talked the more I realized that his teaching of different fundamental plays was the same as mine. And now that I’ve watched him . . . I can see how well he knows the game. He’s got a great instinct with people.”

Teaching players in a classroom

One of the initiatives Elia introduced at Blue Jays’ camp was teaching the players in a classroom setting about baseball fundamentals – something the Blue Jays had struggled with in 1999.

At the beginning of camp, the players were divided into groups and each day a different group was taught in a classroom before their on-field workout.

“I’ve been around a long time,” Elia told the Toronto Star about the importance of baseball fundamentals. “I’ve had success. I’ve been on World Series teams and it seems the team that executes both offensively and defensively with the fewest mistakes is going to win the majority of its games.”

Working with Delgado

Another pet project for Elia was working with Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado, who wanted to improve defensively after making 14 errors in 1999.

Almost every morning that spring, Elia could be found hitting grounders to Delgado on the half-diamond near the players’ parking lot at the Blue Jays’ complex.

“We’ve had fun,” Elia told the National Post about his sessions with Delgado. “We’ve enjoyed it. I used to do the same thing with Pete Rose (with the Phillies). It’s just part of it.”

Delgado and Elia bonded and the slugger did improve defensively while also putting together one of the greatest offensive seasons in Blue Jays’ history.

“He has a great work ethic, and not just on defence,” Elia told the National Post about Delgado. “Every day he’s out here an hour and a half before he has to be, hitting in the tunnel.

The Blue Jays finished the 2000 season with an 83-79 record and in third place in the American League East. Fregosi was let go after the season and Elia resigned.

Rejoined Mariners

Elia would rejoin the Mariners as their bench coach for 2001 and 2002 before landing with the Tampa Bay Rays as their hitting coach from 2003 to 2005.

The baseball lifer returned to the Mariners later that decade to briefly serve as their bench coach again.

Elia spent his final years in baseball as a special assistant with the Atlanta Braves.

“Lee was special,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson told USA Today after Elia’s death. “Baseball has lost a giant. A great baseball man and an even better human. He was like a father to me and taught me how to be a big leaguer.”

Elia is survived by his wife, Priscilla, and daughters Tana and Ashley.