Former Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs manager and general manager Jim Frey died Sunday at age 88.
The Atlanta League’s Somerset Patriots, for whom Frey served as vice chairman, announced the news but did not provide a cause of death.
“We send our love to the Frey family,” the team said in a statement. “He will be greatly missed.”
Frey helped the Royals go 97-65 in 1980 en route to an appearance in the World Series, where they fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. He managed one more year for Kansas City, going 30-40 in the strike-marred season of 1981 and then joined the Cubs in 1984.
“Our condolences to family and friends of former #Royals manager, Jim Frey, who passed away on Sunday,” the Royals said in a statement.
Frey went 96-65 in his first year with the Cubs, who lost the National League Championship Series in five games to the San Diego Padres. He remained with Chicago through 1986, finishing his managerial career with a 323-287 record.
“The Chicago Cubs are saddened to learn of the passing of Jim Frey, former manager and GM,” the team said in a statement. “Jim was a central figure in our club’s most memorable moments of the 1980s.”
Frey, a native of Cleveland, went to the same high school as future MLB player and manager Don Zimmer in Cincinnati.
He played 14 years in the minor leagues without reaching the majors, then scouted and managed in the minors before joining the Royals.
“As you would expect from any close friend of Don Zimmer, Jim Frey was a terrific baseball man,” Hall of Fame manager and MLB chief executive officer Joe Torre said in a statement. ” Jim played with my brother Frank in Toledo in 1955, and he went on to a long and successful career, including leading winning teams for the Royals and the Cubs.
“Most importantly, he was a class act who earned the respect of others. I send my deepest condolences to Jim’s family, friends and all the people he touched.”
