Joey Amalfitano

John Joseph Amalfitano (born January 23, 1934) is a former utility infielder, manager and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played a combined ten seasons with the New York/San Francisco Giants (1954–1955, 1960–1961, 1963), Houston Colt .45s (1962) and Chicago Cubs (1964–1967). He managed the Cubs from 1979 to 1981. He is best known as the Los Angeles Dodgers' third-base coach for sixteen years from 1983 to 1998, which included a World Series championship. He is currently a special assistant for player development for the San Francisco Giants, primarily working in its farm system.

Playing career

Amalfitano attended Loyola University of Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. Because he signed a "bonus contract" when he became a professional player in 1954, Amalfitano spent the first two years of his pro career sitting on the bench of the New York Giants under the terms of the rule then in force. But after four years in the minor leagues, he returned to the National League in 1960 and played through the middle of 1967 for the Giants, Houston Colt .45s and Chicago Cubs. Amalfitano, a right-handed hitter and thrower, batted .244 in 1,715 at bats with nine home runs.

Managerial/coaching career

After playing his final game on June 27, 1967, Amalfitano became a coach for the Cubs, serving under his first-ever manager, Leo Durocher. He moved back to the Giants as a coach in 1972, then to the San Diego Padres from 1976-1977 before rejoining the Cubs as a member of Herman Franks' staff in 1978 and 1979.

Amalfitano served as Chicago's interim manager after Franks' resignation in September 1979, compiling a record of 2-5 to finish the season. That autumn, the Cubs appointed Preston Gómez manager, with Amalfitano retained as a coach. But when Chicago started the 1980 campaign poorly under Gómez, winning only 38 of 90 games, he was fired in July and Amalfitano was named his permanent successor. The Cubs won only 26 games, losing 46, to remain in the basement of the National League East Division, but Amalfitano was allowed to return for 1981. During that strike-shortened, split-season campaign, his team won a total of 38 games, losing 65, finishing last and next-to-last with the worst overall record in the division. At season's end, he was fired during a general housecleaning of the Chicago front office. Amalfitano's career record as a manager, over all or parts of three seasons with the Cubs, was 66-116 (.363).

However, he remained active in baseball, returning to coaching with the Cincinnati Reds (1982) and then spending 16 seasons as the third base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1983-1998). He then was a consultant with the Dodgers' baseball operations department and worked with minor league infielders in his original organization, the Giants, before assuming his current position with them. His primary role has been to instruct the Giants' minor leaguers on baseball fundamentals, especially bunting.^[1]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Retrosheet