Veteran Minor League Manager P.J. Carey passes away after long illness- MLB News
Longtime Minor League manager P.J. Carey died Friday December 7, 2012 after a long illness. He was 59 years old.
Carey had an association with professional baseball that spanned over a period of 40 years. He had a relatively short playing career and was a part of the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League System for four years as a catcher.
The Scranton, Pennsylvania native mainly played ball for Rookie, Short season Class-A and Class-A level teams in the Minors. He had little success during the stint and posted a career batting average of .215 in a total of 143 games.
After calling time on his playing days, he started baseball coaching and was a coach in the Phillies farm system from 1976 to 1979 before taking up his first managerial assignment with Bend Phillies, a Short Season-A team in the Northwest League.
During his 22 seasons as a Minor League Manager, P.J. mainly was in charge of Rookie and Short Season-A teams. He managed various teams between 1980 and 2006. He had a long association with the Colorado Rockies Organisation and was associated with them from
1993 to 2006. During the 1997 season, he was the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies.
He managed a total of six affiliate teams of the Colorado Rockies and was also active in the off seasons with the catchers, giving special instructions to all levels including the Majors.
Before joining the Rockies, he had managerial stints in the Minor League Systems of Philadelphia Phillies, the Cincinnati Reds and the Seattle Mariners. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007 and was serving as a senior advisor of player development with
them.
He won several accolades during his career including the South Atlantic League Manager of the Year twice in consecutive years in 1996 and 1997. He also won the Arizona Rookie League Manager of the years in 1998 and 2000.
The Colorado Rockies expressed their sentiments on the demise through a statement. They expressed their grief on the great loss.
"Our entire organization grieves at the death of P.J. Carey. We were deeply saddened to learn of P.J.'s passing on Friday evening. He was a great husband, son, brother and friend to so many throughout our organization and the baseball community. Our thoughts
and prayers go out to his wife Katherine, family, and to all of those whose lives were touched by P.J. over his life and 40-year career in professional baseball," the statement said.
It is indeed a great loss for the baseball community. Figures such as P.J Carey are rare as they show great dedication to their work and continue to develop future prospects for the Major League. We hope that the family and the loved ones of the deceased
find the strength to bear this loss.
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