Former American League President Lee MacPhail, who as a baseball executive with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles helped build World Series champions, has died. He was 95.
MacPhail had been the oldest living member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and was the younger half of the only father-son duo in the hall. His father, Larry MacPhail, was also a baseball executive and was the man credited with bringing night games to the majors — in 1935 at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.
Lee MacPhail, according to the Hall of Fame, "passed away peacefully on Thursday evening of natural causes at his home in Delray Beach, Fla." With his death, former Boston Red Sox second baseman Bobby Doerr is now the oldest living member of the Hall. Doerr, born April 7, 1918, is 94.
Lee MacPhail's Hall of Fame plaque reads:
"One of the leading executives in baseball history, his name is synonymous with integrity and sportsmanship. As farm director and player personnel director of the Yankees (1949-58), helped build a system which yielded seven world championships. As Orioles general manager (1959-65), helped lay the groundwork for one of the game's most consistently successful franchises; and he later rejoined the Yankees in the same capacity. Served admirably as American League president (1974-83) before concluding his 45-year career as president of the Player Relations Committee. He and his father Larry form the first father son tandem in the Hall of Fame."
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