Former Major League Player, Beloved Coach, Dies in Car Accident at 61
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 28: Craig Worthington #25 tries to break up a double play as Mike Brumley #7 of the Seattle Mariners leaps to avoid him in a game at Memorial Stadium on April 28, 1990 in Baltimore, Maryland. Brumley died Saturday at age 61.
Mike Brumley's major league playing career was not the most distinguished. A second-round pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 1983 draft, Brumley batted .206 for six different teams from 1987-95.
For his second act, Brumley took on coaching baseball, a job that lasted from 1997 until his death and touched the lives of players past and present.
Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley hit a game-tying home run in an 8-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He would tell reporters after the game that his thoughts were with Brumley, a minor league hitting coordinator with the Braves since 2021.
"(Brumley) was in the back of my mind really all day. It's just tough," Riley said via MLB.com. "There's very few people who have been models in my baseball career," Riley said. "My dad is number one, and Mike Brumley has been number two. I feel for his family and his kids and everybody that he was close to."
Brumley's early years in professional baseball saw him included in trades with two future Hall of Fame closers. The Red Sox traded Brumley and Dennis Eckersley to the Cubs for Bill Buckner in May 1984, which led to Brumley making his MLB debut with Chicago in 1987. The Cubs traded Brumley and Keith Moreland to the Padres in Feb. 1988 in the deal for Goose Gossage and Ray Hayward.
Brumley would go on to play 295 games for the Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, and Oakland A's in parts of eight seasons. He played another 1,135 games at the minor league level before retiring after the 1996 season.
In 1997 Brumley was hired to manage the minor-league Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings.
In 2002, in his first of three seasons managing of the Angels' Triple-A affiliate, he led the Las Vegas Stingers to the Pacific Coast League championship finals. Although he would never get the call to manage in the major leagues, Brumley coached first and third base with the Mariners from 2010-13.
Brumley's minor league coaching career included stints as a minor league manager with Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers' affiliates. He also served as a roving instructor for the Dodgers and as a field coordinator in the Texas Rangers' organization.
Brumley's father, Mike, appeared in parts of three seasons for the Washington Senators from 1964-66.
According to WLBT-TV in Mississippi, Brumley died as the result of injuries he sustained in a multi-vehicle crash involving two 18-wheelers and several cars on Interstate 20 near Edwards, Mississippi.
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