Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, one of the greatest second basemen in baseball history and a spark plug for the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine, has died. He was 77.
A family spokesman said Morgan passed away Sunday night in his Danville home due to complications from non-specified polyneuropathy, a nerve condition.
The oldest of six children born to Ollie and Leonard Morgan, Joe moved with his family from Bonham, Texas to Oakland when he was 5. Growing up in Oakland, Morgan was often overlooked because of his small stature. He was a high school star at Castlemont, but at 5-foot-5, 140 pounds, most scouts didn’t consider him someone worth pursuing.
But those doubts helped Morgan eventually grow into one of baseball’s giants on the diamond.
What he lacked in size he made up for with his talent and an unwavering desire to outwork anyone else around him. A 5-foot-7 dynamo known for flapping his left elbow at the plate in the majors, Little Joe could hit a home run, steal a base and disrupt any game with his daring.
“I’ve always felt my size was a plus because it made me work harder,” Morgan once said. “I had to prove I could do the same thing the bigger guys could do. The only way I could do it was to work harder.”
He led the Reds to back-to-back World Series championships in 1975 and ’76 while being named the National League’s Most Valuable Player in both seasons. Morgan was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990 on the first ballot.
We are beyond saddened by the passing of Joe Morgan. A trailblazer on and off the field, his impact on our sport and community will be felt for generations to come in Oakland. We send our condolences to his loved ones and the baseball family. pic.twitter.com/hQIazwMs09
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) October 12, 2020
We join the Major League Baseball community in mourning the passing of Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who died yesterday at his home in Danville at the age of 77. Morgan was a member of our #SFGiants family as a player from 1981-1982 and as a broadcaster from 1986-1993. pic.twitter.com/VnbqxUrmwF
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 12, 2020
It turned out to be quite a journey of vindication for Morgan, who felt stinging rejection back when he desperately wanted to sign a professional contract out of high school. But he found there was little interest in him. He went to old Oakland City College to play, and two years later he suddenly had scouts lining up to sign him.
Morgan signed with the Houston Colt .45s (now Astros) in 1963, mostly because their scout, Bill Wight, saw something other scouts didn’t.
“A lot of baseball people would come up and say, ‘Joe, you’re a good little player and we’d like to have you,’ ” Morgan once told this news organization. “What Bill Wight said was ‘You’re a good player.’ He never brought my size into question.”
Morgan, a 10-time All-Star, played for both the Giants and the A’s during his 22-year career. In fact, he hit one of the most memorable home runs in Giants history on the the last day of the 1982 season. He endeared himself to Giants fans by smashing a dramatic, game-winning three-run homer against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park that eliminated the Giants’ hated rivals from postseason contention.
No matter where he played, though, Morgan always maintained a home in the East Bay.
After his playing career, Morgan became a familiar face on baseball broadcasts across the country as an analyst for both NBC and ESPN, where he teamed for years with Giants announcer and fellow East Bay product Jon Miller. They were a TV tandem for 21 years.
Morgan had been a special adviser to the Reds’ baseball operations department and CEO Bob Castellini since 2010.
The Reds are heartbroken to learn of the passing of baseball legend Joe Morgan. pic.twitter.com/zBoQ2gHZys
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) October 12, 2020
“The Reds family is heartbroken. Joe was a giant in the game and was adored by the fans in this city,” Castellini said. “He had a lifelong loyalty and dedication to this organization that extended to our current team and front office staff. As a cornerstone on one of the greatest teams in baseball history, his contributions to this franchise will live forever. Our hearts ache for his Big Red Machine teammates.”
Man i played joe Morgan tee ball in Oakland California. Got a chance over the years to speak to the great man and talk baseball and about life. I was truly honored that he even knew my name. Rest In Peace
https://t.co/bEmPitCFOx
— Dontrelle Willis (@DTrainMLB) October 12, 2020
He completed Cincinnati’s two-time World Series championship team, driving a club featuring the likes of Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez to back-to-back titles.
Morgan’s tiebreaking single with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 7 in 1975 gave the Reds the crown in a classic matchup with Boston, and he spurred a four-game sweep of the Yankees the next season.
The Big Red Machine won a combined 210 regular-season games over their two championship years and were 14-3 in the postseason. Morgan’s average WAR (wins above replacement) for those two seasons was a whopping 10.3.
His Hall of Fame teammates and manager readily acknowledged he was the one that got it all started. The smallest cog in the Big Red Machine was its most valuable piece.
“He was just a good major league player when it didn’t mean anything,” Sparky Anderson once said. “But when it meant something, he was a Hall of Famer.”
In a career that stretched from 1963 to 1984, Morgan scored 1,650 runs, stole 689 bases, hit 268 homers and batted .271. But those stats hardly reflected the force created on the field by the lefty-swinging No. 8.
Confident and cocky, he also was widely copied. His habit of flapping his back elbow at the plate — an effort to keep the elbow high and the swing straight — was imitated by many a Little Leaguer in those days.
“Joe wasn’t just the best second baseman in baseball history,” Bench said. “He was the best player I ever saw and one of the best people I’ve ever known.”
Health issues had slowed down Morgan in recent years. Knee surgery forced him to use a cane when he went onto the field at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park before the 2015 All-Star Game and he later needed a bone marrow transplant for an illness.
In his prime, Morgan helped to revolutionize the game with his quickness and many talents, especially once he hit the turf at the Reds’ old Riverfront Stadium.
“He meant a lot to us, a lot to me, a lot to baseball, a lot to African Americans around the country, and a lot to players considered undersized. He’s the first modern-day (Jose) Altuve,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said.
Morgan is survived by his wife, Theresa, twin daughters Kelly Ann and Ashley Lauren, as well as daughters Lisa and Angela from his marriage with his first wife, Gloria.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.