Lee Thomas, architect of NL champion 1993 Phillies, dies at 86

Lee Thomas, a two-time All-Star and the chief architect of the Phillies’ 1993 National League championship team, died Wednesday after a long illness at his home in St. Louis. He was 86.

Mr. Thomas was hired by the Phillies midway through the 1988 season and served as general manager through 1997. The team had one winning season during his tenure, but it was among the most memorable in franchise history.

Known for his direct, no-nonsense approach in trade talks, Mr. Thomas’ signature moves with the Phillies were trades for John Kruk, Terry Mulholland, Lenny Dykstra, Tommy Greene, Mitch Williams, Curt Schilling, and Danny Jackson. All took star turns in leading the Phillies on a last-to-first, 27-win turnaround that resulted in their only playoff appearance in a 23-year span and netted MLB Executive of the Year honors for Mr. Thomas in 1993.

“Such a good, kind man,” Schilling said via text message. “Every interaction with Lee was a good one, even the bad ones. I loved everything about him.”

In a phone conversation Wednesday, former Phillies general manager Ed Wade said he developed a “lifelong friendship” with Mr. Thomas as his assistant for nine seasons with the Phillies.

“To be around him basically 24 hours a day for nine years, we developed a very close friendship,” said Wade, who replaced Mr. Thomas in December 1997. “Watching the way he worked and the way he put clubs together, he was ultra-aggressive in the moves that he made and then some of the smaller deals. He paid attention to the big stuff and the small stuff from the standpoint of team construction.”

To wit: After the Phillies selected outfielder Sil Campusano in the first round of the 1989 Rule 5 draft, Thomas turned to Wade before packing up to leave the winter meetings.

“He asked me: Was there anybody else on our list that our guys have interest in?” Wade recalled. “I said, ‘Well, there’s a third baseman in San Diego that a couple guys like named Dave Hollins.’ He said, ‘Do we have a roster spot?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we have one left,’ so he said, ‘Well, go ahead and take him.’”

Hollins hit 27 homers for the Phillies in 1992 and 18 in 1993.

Born in 1936 in Peoria, Ill., James Leroy Thomas played eight major league seasons. He signed with the New York Yankees out of high school and spent seven years in the minors before making his debut on April 22, 1961, for a Yankees team that had Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Yogi Berra in its lineup in Baltimore. In a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning, he singled against Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm.

Two weeks later, Mr. Thomas got traded to the expansion Los Angeles Angels, a move that enabled him to get more playing time. In a 2012 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Thomas said Mantle and Maris advised him to show up early for batting practice before a road game against the Angels to show off his swing and perhaps spark trade interest.

“They said, ‘Just go out there and try to impress them and maybe something will happen, because we heard some rumors,’” Mr. Thomas said. “I think Mantle and Maris knew what they were talking about.”

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Mr. Thomas played 1,027 games for the Yankees, Angels, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros. His best year came in 1962. At age 26, he batted .290 with 26 home runs, 104 RBIs, and an .821 on-base plus slugging percentage for the Angels. That was the last of four seasons that featured two All-Star Games, and Thomas played in both.

Upon retiring from playing in 1970, Mr. Thomas worked for the St. Louis Cardinals in several capacities, from bullpen coach and minor league manager to sales and promotions and as the traveling secretary. He took over as director of minor league operations in 1981 and stayed through the Cardinals’ run of three NL pennants and the 1982 World Series title.

“He had an ability not only to put a club together but also to relate to the guys in the clubhouse,” Wade said. “whether it was his good friend Jim Fregosi as the manager or understanding what the players were going through over the course of a season. He really had a good sense or feel for that human side of the game that sometimes gets dismissed. There are disconnects sometimes that didn’t exist with Lee because he was a been-there, done-that kind of guy at almost every level of an organization.”

Mr. Thomas got his opportunity with the Phillies midway through a 96-loss season in 1988. He reshaped the roster through a series of trades, while adding Mariano Duncan, Pete Incaviglia, Larry Andersen, and Jim Eisenreich as free agents. He was proudest of the Dykstra trade because it satisfied a long-standing need for a center fielder and leadoff hitter.

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“I don’t think anybody ever thought they could pry Dykstra away from the Mets,” Mr. Thomas told The Inquirer in 1993, four years after doing so in a trade for Juan Samuel. “I think Dykstra was probably one guy everyone thought was going to be a star in New York and never leave.

“They knew I had liked him for quite some time before the deal was ever discussed. Finally, one day, they called me and said, ‘Do you still have some interest in Dykstra?’ And I said I did. Juan Samuel was the guy they wanted, and at that time, Juan Samuel was a heck of a player. I was very leery of something blowing up in our faces. Either they would send him to some other club or they would change their minds.”

The Phillies slid from 97 wins in 1993 to 54 in a strike-shortened 1994 season. They lost 95 games in 1996 and 94 in 1997. Mr. Thomas fired Fregosi after the 1996 season, causing a rift in their friendship, and replaced him with Terry Francona. Two months after the 1997 season ended, the Phillies fired Mr. Thomas, who later worked in scouting or as a special assistant for the Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Baltimore Orioles.

“Lee was a great man and will be missed incredibly,” Phillies chairman emeritus Bill Giles said in a statement released by the team. “I will never forget all the fun we had watching the 1993 Phillies National League championship team that he put together. Through his leadership, Lee has left an indelible mark on Phillies history.”

Mr. Thomas is survived by his wife, Susie, and his sons, Matthew, Scott, Deron, and Daryl.