| Mike Scioscia | |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – No. 14 | |
| Catcher / Manager | |
| Born: November 27, 1958 Upper Darby, Pennsylvania |
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| Batted: Left | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 20, 1980 for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 2, 1992 for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .259 |
| Hits | 1,131 |
| Runs batted in | 446 |
| Teams | |
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As player As manager |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Michael Lorri Scioscia ( /ˈsoʊʃə/; born November 27, 1958) is a former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has worked in that capacity since the 2000 season, and is the longest-tenured manager in Major League Baseball.
As a player, Scioscia made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980. He was selected to two All-Star Games and won two World Series over the course of his 13-year MLB career, which was spent entirely with the Dodgers. He was signed by the San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers late in his career, but never appeared in a major-league game for either team due to injury. After his playing career ended, Scioscia spent several seasons as a minor league manager and major league coach in the Dodgers organization before being hired as the Angels manager after the 1999 season.
As a manager, Scioscia led the Angels to their first World Series championship in 2002. He is the Angels' all-time managerial leader in wins, games managed, and division titles. Scioscia was honored with the official American League Manager of the Year Award in 2002 and 2009. On May 8, 2011 Scioscia became the 56th manager to win 1,000 or more games and just the 23rd to have all 1,000 or more victories with a single team.[1]
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Mike Scioscia was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1st round (19th overall pick) of the 1976 amateur draft, debuting for the Dodgers in 1980 (replacing Steve Yeager) and went on to play 12 years for the team. Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda helped lobby Scioscia to sign with the Dodgers after the team drafted him out of Springfield [Delaware County] High School, a public school located in the suburbs of Philadelphia in 1976. Scioscia immediately made himself invaluable to the Dodgers by making the effort to learn Spanish in order to better communicate with rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
When I made Mike the No. 1 catcher, the writers came to me and said, "[Competing catcher] Steve Yeager said you made Scioscia the No. 1 catcher because he's Italian." I said, "That's a lie. I made him the No. 1 catcher because I'm Italian."—Tommy Lasorda
Scioscia went to the San Diego Padres in 1993, but suffered a torn rotator cuff injury during spring training that year and did not play in any regular season games for the team. He closed out his career with the Texas Rangers in 1994 after a failed attempt to come back from the injury, again without having played in any regular season games that year.
Exclusively a catcher, the 6-foot, 2-inch, 230 pound Scioscia was primarily known for his defense. Former Dodgers vice president Al Campanis once called Mike Scioscia the best plate-blocking catcher he had seen in his 46-year baseball career. In one collision with St. Louis Cardinals' slugger Jack Clark in July, 1985, Scioscia was knocked unconscious but still held onto the ball. Scioscia, however, has claimed he had an even harder plate collision the following season.
The one collision that absolutely I got hit harder than anybody else was Chili Davis in 1986 when he was with the Giants. Chili plays hard; he's 6' 3", looks like Apollo Creed, got a nice lean. I saw stars. That was the hardest I've been hit, including my years of playing football. It was a heck of a collision…He was out that time. We were both out.—Mike Scioscia
Scioscia's technique for blocking the plate and making a tag varied slightly from the traditional manner employed by most catchers. When applying the tag, most catchers hold the baseball in their bare hand, with that hand then being inside their catcher's mitt to apply the tag with both hands. Scioscia preferred to hold the ball in his catcher's mitt without making use of his bare hand. Also, Scioscia felt he was less prone to injury in a collision if positioned his body so that he was kneeling on both knees and turned to the side, whereas most catchers make their tag either standing or on one knee. Scioscia used the same catcher's mitt for most of his playing career.[2]
Indeed, Scioscia was noted for his durability. After missing most of the 1983 season after tearing his rotator cuff, Scioscia played in more than 100 games each season for the remainder of his career with the Dodgers.
Offensively, Scioscia was generally unspectacular, but he was known as a solid contact hitter, striking out fewer than once every 14 at bats over the course of his career. Because of his ability to make contact, he was sometimes used as the second hitter in the batting order—an atypical slot for a player with Scioscia's large-set frame and overall batting average. He had a particularly strong season on offense in 1985, batting .296 and finishing second in the National League in on-base percentage.
Scioscia also hit a dramatic, ninth inning, game-tying home run against the New York Mets' Dwight Gooden in Game 4 of the 1988 National League Championship Series. With the Dodgers going on to win that game in extra innings, Scioscia's blast (which came after he had hit only three home runs that entire season) proved crucial to the Dodgers' ultimately prevailing in that series.
Scioscia was a key player on the Dodgers' 1981 and 1988 World Series champion teams, and is the Dodgers' all-time leader in games caught (1,395.)
Scioscia caught two no-hitters in his career, thrown by Fernando Valenzuela on June 29, 1990 vs. the St. Louis Cardinals and by Kevin Gross on August 17, 1992 vs. the San Francisco Giants.
In 1990, Scioscia became the first Dodger catcher to start in an All-Star Game since Hall of Famer Roy Campanella.
Mickey Hatcher and Alfredo Griffin, Scioscia's teammates from the 1988 Dodger team, are currently on Scioscia's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Scioscia earned as much as $2,183,333/year in salary toward the end of his career, and earned the unofficial total sum of $10,109,999 over his career.
Career statistics
| G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | SLG | OBP |
| 1,441 | 4,373 | 398 | 1,131 | 198 | 12 | 68 | 446 | 567 | 307 | 29 | .259 | .356 | .344 |
After spending several years as a coach in the Dodgers' organization, Scioscia was hired by new Angels general manager Bill Stoneman to be the Angels' field manager after the 1999 season, following the late-season resignation of Terry Collins and interim managerial tenure of Joe Maddon. Scioscia would retain Maddon as an assistant until Maddon received his own managerial position with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006.
Under the leadership of Stoneman and Scioscia, the Angels ended their 15-year playoff drought in 2002, winning the AL Wild Card and ultimately winning the franchise's first World Series, a series that pitted the Angels against a San Francisco Giants team managed by Scioscia's former Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker. In winning the series, Scioscia became the 17th person to win a World Series as both a player and a manager (not including those who won as a player-manager).
The 2002 World Series was considered the worst nightmare for a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers because it was a showdown between the Angels and their most hated rival.[3][4] However, many Dodger fans, including their chair, Bob Daly, rooted for the Angels during the series and attended games at Edison International Field.[3][5][6] Most of the Angels coaching staff, including Scioscia, helped relieve Dodger fans, having played for the Dodgers at one point of another during their careers.[6]
Scioscia was honored as 2002 American League Manager of Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America (the official Manager of the Year award, as recognized by Major League Baseball). He was also named 2002 A.L. Manager of the Year by The Sporting News, USA Today Sports Weekly, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. He was further named the overall Major League 2002 Manager of the Year by Baseball America.
The Angels under Scioscia would go on to enjoy a period of on-field success never before seen in franchise history, winning five American League West division titles in six years (surpassing the number won by all previous Angels managers combined). Scioscia's Angels broke the franchise single-season win record with 99 wins in 2002, and again with 100 wins in 2008. However, they have yet to win another American League pennant or World Series since their memorable 2002 run.
Scioscia is currently the Angels' all-time leader in wins and games managed, surpassing original manager Bill Rigney's totals in both categories in 2007 and 2008, respectively. He is also currently the longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball. In January 2009, he received a multi-year extension on his contract; his former contract ran through the 2010 season. The number of additional years created through this contract has been publicly announced as 10 years, so it has been confirmed by MLB that the new contract will be through 2018.[7] Scioscia was honored as 2009 American League Major League Manager of Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America (the official Manager of the Year award, as recognized by Major League Baseball).[8]
He is the first manager to reach the playoffs in six of his first ten seasons.[9]
On May 9, 2011, the Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians, which marked Scioscia's 1,000th win as a major league manager.
In addition to his more orthodox work in baseball, Scioscia is also notable for a guest appearance as himself on The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat" in 1992, while he was still a player. In the storyline, Scioscia is one of several Major League players recruited by Smithers to work a token job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant so that he could play on the plant's softball team against a rival power plant. Scioscia tells Smithers, who found him while deer hunting, that while he enjoyed playing baseball, he always wanted to be a blue collar power plant employee, and consequently is the only player who takes the power plant job seriously. Eventually his character suffers from radiation poisoning.
They called and asked if I'd be interested in doing it, and it so happened that it was my favorite show. I was excited . . . Every year I get a (residual) check for like $4 . . . I cash 'em. I don't want to mess up their accounting department.
- — Mike Scioscia, about his appearance on The Simpsons
Scioscia made a second appearance on The Simpsons with the episode "MoneyBART," which premiered on October 10, 2010. His appearance references his previous spot on the show. Scioscia acts a celebrity endorser of the Howard's Appliance & Big Screen Superstore chain in Southern California.
Scioscia and his wife Anne have two children, a son Matthew and a daughter Taylor. They reside in Westlake Village, California. Scioscia is also a graduate of Pennsylvania State University.
His son, Matt, was selected in the 45th round by the Angels in the 2011 MLB Draft. Matt was signed by the Angels on June 20, 2011 and was assigned to the AZL Angels of the Arizona League. [1]