Houston Sports - Phil Garner

Phil Garner

Born: April 30, 1949

Sport: Baseball (All-American, 3-time All-Star, 985-1,054 managerial record, 2005 NL Pennant)

I had a few options to go with this week, but eventually decided to go with the birthday boy, former Astros manager Phil Garner.  He had a big week even without blowing out his candles, as the most successful team for "Scrap Iron" to manage celebrated a milestone, and many of his former players made a point of showing up to participate and support him.  While not the most decorated player or coach in Houston history, he nevertheless made a big impact and has certainly earned his spot in this list of memorable figures in the athletic history of Space City.

Minute Maid Park, home of Phil Garner's NL Champion Houston Astros in 2005

Born in eastern Tennessee, Phil Garner grew up in the greater Knoxville area as the son of a Baptist minister.  After he had made it through one year attending a high school that didn't include a robust athletic program, Phil's father decided to move the family into the city so his son could play multiple sports.  The decision paid off, as Garner excelled at both baseball and football, and this allowed the young man to earn an athletic scholarship to attend university - an option that would have otherwise been too costly for a family with modest means.  Despite being the starting quarterback on the football team, it was baseball that earned Phil his ticket as he was given a scholarship to the nearby University of Tennessee to play infield.  As a sophomore he led the NCAA in home runs, and the following year he earned All-American honors in what would become his final collegiate season.  Although he was drafted by the Montreal Expos, who had been an expansion team in the previous year, Garner opted not to sign and instead had to wait an additional seven months to be taken in the secondary draft in 1971.  This time he was taken by the Oakland Athletics, and soon thereafter he started play in their minor league system as a third baseman.  While he honed his craft and awaited his call to the big leagues, he continued his college studies and married his wife Carol, with whom he had three children.  The year 1973 was huge for the young man as he finally earned his degree in Business Administration and got his first taste of playing major league baseball.

Despite making the Oakland roster during both the 1973 and 1974 seasons, Phil Garner was essentially stuck in line behind All-Star third baseman Sal Bando, and was therefore not on the postseason roster when the A's won consecutive World Series titles those years.  In 1975, Oakland decided to convert Garner to their everyday second baseman and he was a workhorse, playing 160 games as a rookie but also leading the league in errors defensively at the new position.  The following year saw marked improvement across the board, as his numbers improved both offensively and defensively and he earned his first All-Star selection.  Oakland traded Garner to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he had his best offensive season in 1977 and finally had a chance to play for a World Series winner in 1979, batting .500 in the 7-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.  His nickname reportedly came from an interview between Pirates announcer Milo Hamilton and teammate Willie Stargell, who described Garner as being like an old piece of scrap metal that could be bent but never broken.  "Scrap Iron" earned two more All-Star nods with Pittsburgh, but was traded to Houston during the 1981 season.

The Houston Astros had lost a close NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980, but Phil Garner came to the team as they began to struggle.  Manager Bill Virdon was fired during Garner's second full season on the team, and Bob Lillis was tasked with bringing the team back to the top of the NL West.  Unable to do so, he was replaced in 1986 by Hal Lanier who took Houston to the NLCS once again but lost to the New York Mets.  Garner was the team's starting third baseman the entire time, but when the team was unable to reach the World Series he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He played there for one year, followed by a single season for the San Francisco Giants, but didn't return to the postseason with either team.  When Garner was unable to sign with a major league team during the entire 1989 season he decided to retire.  A former teammate made sure he didn't stay out of baseball long, however, as Sal Bando was the general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers and he chose Garner to manage the team despite his lack of experience. 

As a manager, Phil Garner emphasized running and scrappiness.  His Brewers teams were aggressive on the base paths, stealing bases at a much higher rate than in previous years.  He was also combative, challenging the broadcasters of other teams to fights and participating in brawls whenever benches cleared.  He left the Brewers after eight seasons as the franchise leader in wins (which stood until 2022), despite only having one season with a winning record.  After being let go during the 1999 season Garner was then picked up in 2000 for three seasons as the manager for the Detroit Tigers, where he led them to a pair of mediocre finishes in their division before getting fired following an 0-6 start to 2002.  Despite the letdown professionally, Garner was honored that year with induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.  His final professional stop was Houston, where he was hired to finish out the season of Jimy Williams who had led the team with high aspirations to a mediocre 44-44 record at the All-Star break.  Garner's presence seems to be just what the team needed, as they stormed to a 48-26 finishing kick to the season, winning a Wild Card playoff berth on the final day.  In the first round, Houston defeated their nemesis, the Atlanta Braves, for the first playoff series win in Astros history.  They fell one game shy of their first pennant, however, as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated them in the NLCS that went a full seven games.  The following year looked like it was lost early, as Houston limped to an anemic 15-30 start to the season before once again catching fire and earning another Wild Card with a 89-73 record.  Once again they defeated the Braves before facing St. Louis, but this time it was the Cardinals who went home when the Astros beat them in six games to advance to their first-ever World Series in 2005.  Although they were swept in four nail-biter games by the Chicago White Sox, Garner's leadership had led the franchise to new heights, and he became the first Astros manager to coach an All-Star game the following season - an honor reserved for the winners of the previous year's league pennant.  The 2006 season was Garner's third straight winning campaign, but an 82-80 record was not enough for the playoffs, and the Astros began to dismantle the aging team for a rebuild.  Despite having signed a contract extension before the season, he was let go with a month remaining in 2007 and finished his managerial career as one of only seven individuals to manage a World Series team without having ever won a division title.  In 2009 the University of Tennessee retired Garner's number, making him one of only three baseball players to have been so honored.  In early 2024 it was revealed that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he fought the disease with the same tenacity that he showed his entire career.  Scrap Iron celebrated his 76th birthday this past week by throwing out the first pitch at a Houston Astros game against the Detroit Tigers, surrounded by players from that 2005 World Series team who came to honor their manager and reminisce on the 20th anniversary of their spectacular season.

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