Phil Seghi

Phillip Dominic Seghi

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.
• School Northwestern University
• High School LaSalle-Peru High School

• Born March 9, 1909 in Cedar Point, IL USA
• Died January 8, 1987 in Thousand Oaks, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Early career

Phil Seghi played college baseball and basketball at Northwestern University. He then played 16 seasons in the minors, primarily as a third baseman. He broke in with the 1932 Cedar Rapids Bunnies, hitting .253. The next year, Seghi was on the Peoria Tractors , hitting .254/~.302/.386 and fielding .930, the best of any Mississippi Valley League regular at third base. In '34, Phil played for a couple Northern League teams, batting .331 with 22 homers, tied for fourth in the circuit. In 1935, the 26-year-old had a .323 average, 22 HR and 123 RBI for the Winnipeg Maroons. He was fourth in homers, second to Gene Corbett in RBI and about sixth in batting average. The next season, he joined the Sioux City Cowboys and hit .301 with 14 HR and 104 RBI. He led the Western League in fielding by a third baseman (.940) and RBI, was third in homers and fifth in total bases (224) but failed to make the WL All-Star team. In 1937, Seghi hit only .247 with two home runs for the Birmingham Barons. Dropping back down to the Pensacola Pilots, he had a .341/~.396/.513 line to take the Southeastern League batting title in a close race. He was third in the league with 17 triples and made the All-Star team. He was sold in December to the Dallas Rebels.

30th birthday until the War

In Dallas, Phil hit .267 with five homers in 1939. In '40, he spent most of the year with the Albany Senators and Williamsport Grays, batting .285 with 4 HR for those two Eastern League outfits. The 32-year-old only hit .230 with one long ball for the 1941 Portsmouth Cubs. Returning to Cedar Rapids 10 years after he got his start there, the veteran hit .301 with 11 HR and 88 RBI for the Cedar Rapids Raiders, third in the Three-I League in RBI. He hit .278/~.304/.385 with the Wilkes-Barre Barons in 1943, continuing to draw walks just as rarely as in his younger days.

World War II and the rest of his playing career

After serving in the Army during World War II, Seghi got his only look at AAA at age 37, going 5 for 18 with 2 RBI in six games with the Baltimore Orioles. He spent most of the year with the Hornell Pirates, hitting .331/~.395/.528 in 87 games and getting his first managerial job; he would manage nine years in the minors, beginning his long administrative career.

Seghi hit .276 as the player-manager of the Tallahassee Pirates in 1947, then .304 while guiding the Keokuk Pirates the next year. Turning 40 in 1949, he still batted .297 as the manager of the Green Bay Bluejays in his last regular action. He would pitch briefly two times during his managerial career, in '51 and '55.

Post-managerial career

He later became a scout. Seghi spent many years in the front office of the Cincinnati Reds organization and, while serving as the team's farm director from 1960 to 1963, was responsible for signing Pete Rose. He moved up to assistant GM from 1964 to 1968. Seghi was then the Oakland A's' director of player development from 1969 to 1971. He was then farm director of the Cleveland Indians in 1972 and took over as General Manager of the Indians in 1973 when Gabe Paul left to become GM of the New York Yankees. Paul returned in 1978 as President and minority owner of the team, but Seghi held the GM title until 1985. Under his leadership, the Indians made Frank Robinson the first black manager in major league history. Seghi made some astute trades as GM, such as Jackie Brown for Andre Thornton, and Paul Dade for Mike Hargrove. He also spent time working in the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics organizations.

Seghi's son Mike Seghi has been the Cleveland Indians' director of team travel since 1975 (as of 2011). Phil Seghi died of cancer at age 77.

Preceded by Gabe Paul

Cleveland Indians General Manager 1973-1985

Succeeded by Joe Klein

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	notes
1946	Hornell Pirates	PONY League			Pittsburgh Pirates		replaced Louis Briganti
1947	Tallahassee Pirates	Georgia-Florida League	80-60	3rd	Pittsburgh Pirates	Lost League Finals
1948	Keokuk Pirates	Central Association	61-67	4th	Pittsburgh Pirates	Lost League Finals
1949	Green Bay Blue Jays	Wisconsin State League	71-55	2nd	Cleveland Indians	none
1950	Green Bay Blue Jays	Wisconsin State League	63-62	5th	Cleveland Indians
1951	Green Bay Blue Jays	Wisconsin State League	64-57	3rd	Cleveland Indians	none
1952	Green Bay Blue Jays	Wisconsin State League	64-61	5th	Cleveland Indians	none
1953	Green Bay Blue Jays	Wisconsin State League	80-42	1st	Cleveland Indians	League Champs
1954	Fargo-Moorhead Twins	Northern League	85-55	1st	Cleveland Indians	League Champs
1955	Fargo-Moorhead Twins	Northern League		5th	Cleveland Indians		replaced by Paul O'Dea June 6-June 16

Sources include Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, 1934 and 1939 Spalding Guides, 1945 and 1947 Baseball Guides, The Western League by W.C. Madden and Patrick Stewart, The International League: Year-by-Year Statistics by Marshall Wright