Syd Thrift: A likeable man of big plans and even bigger ego
Syd Thrift
Syd Thrift, left, speaks with Pirates manager Jim Leyland.
Sydnor W. Thrift Jr., did not invent the game of baseball, though some people – actually, many people – believe Thrift thought he did.
Thrift, who helped to revive the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late 1980s, passed away in September of 2006 at the age of 77, hours after having knee replacement surgery in Milford, Del.
He remains an indelible figure to me, a baseball fan, long-time follower of the Pirates and someone who covered the team and Thrift in Pittsburgh.
To know Syd Thrift is to know that his big ego had more to do with enthusiasm and love of the game than some driven goal of being recognized as baseball’s maker. He wanted to turn the Pirates into a winner. He helped to do that. He wanted to help make them a championship team. He didn’t get that chance.
The former Pirates general manager left a wonderful baseball legacy behind. And what he did for baseball in Pittsburgh should not be taken lightly or forgotten.
Thrift did reinvent the Pirates, a process that began shortly after he was named general manager in the fall of 1985.
He had many jobs in his 50-plus years in the game. But it was in Pittsburgh from 1986 to his firing in the fall of 1988 that his career was defined and crystallized.
While he came off as a country bumpkin, a character from Palooka Ville, Thrift was daring and shrewd as the Pirates’ GM.
He took a chance on Jim Leyland, picking him as manager over Joe Torre and Art Howe, among others. Some wondered: “Jim Who?”
Baseball people certainly know who Jim Leyland was and is now and understand his managerial abilities.
It wasn’t only his selection of Leyland that helped reshape the Pirates.
Thrift targeted players he wanted and he was willing to part with the likes of Tony Pena, a multiple-time All-Star catcher, to reel in Andy Van Slyke and Mike LaValliere – cornerstones of the three-time National League East Division champion Pirates of 1990-1992.
He nabbed pitcher Doug Drabek from the New York Yankees. He helped develop Barry Bonds. He went out and reacquired Bobby Bonilla from the Chicago White Sox, which had nabbed Bonilla in the Rule 5 draft before Thrift was GM.
He drafted Jeff King, who became a solid player for the Pirates and Kansas City Royals in his career.
It was Thrift’s work, among others, that helped the Pirates become three-time division champions from 1990-92.
His biggest flaw, however, was that big ego – or extreme self-confidence in his ability.
He knew how well he was doing in resuscitating the Pirates. And he didn’t think he had to answer to anyone.
In fact, his meddling often irritated members of Leyland’s coaching staff and his style wasn’t to the liking of the late Douglas Danforth, then the Pirates’ chairman of the board, and the late Carl Barger, then Pirates’ president.
In fact, Pirates hierarchy and Thrift clashed from the beginning after Thrift boldly, and insensitively, made one of his famous proclamations: “It ain’t easy raisin’ the dead,” the day he was hired.
At the end of the 1987 season, Thrift won a power struggle with then Pirates president, Malcolm (Mac) Prine. It was Danforth and Barger who helped Thrift keep his job.
Thrift maintained he needed more of a free hand at running the ballclub and he didn’t care for reporting to Prine as far as baseball matters were concerned.
Prine resigned after he reportedly demanded to have the right to approve all of Thrift’s hirings, firings, trades or other dealings.
Prine exited while Thrift was rewarded with a two-year, $200,000 contract that October.
A trade for outfielder Glenn Wilson from Seattle for Darnell Coles was made without anyone’s approval other than Thrift’s in 1988.
He followed that with late-season acquisitions of pitcher Dave LaPointe, first baseman-outfielder Gary Redus and utility infielder Ken Oberkfell. All were veterans Thrift felt would strengthen the team’s chances of running down the New York Mets in the stretch run for the National League East Division title.
He did all that player procurement without the approval of Danforth and Barger.
It led to Danforth and Barger unceremoniously dumping Thrift after the 1988 season.
It was my fortune – or misfortune – to be one of the few beat writers in Pittsburgh that day. A few others were present, a fellow suburban paper colleague, and a few columnists and non beat writers.
Thrift was stunned, disappointed and downtrodden about his dismissal. He loved being the Pirates’ GM, and Pittsburgh loved him, his Southern drawl and the bigger than life – and baseball – image he portrayed.
“It was an ego battle,” said Jim Thrift, Syd’s son. “Sometime between mid-August (1988) and mid-September, the communication between dad and Carl Barger changed.
“Barger told him to not do anything until (Barger) approved it. They were two polar opposites – an attorney and a baseball guy. I think the Oberkfell acquisition did it. Barger went ballistic.”
Jim Thrift was a baseball man himself. He managed five years in the minor leagues. He played in the minors for a short time and was a scout and coach in the Pirates system.
“My dad was like anyone else, when you start something, you want to finish it,” the younger Thrift said. “We all know baseball is a business. But it is still a game. As a GM, you are only given so many months and it can take some time.
“Back in 1985, the Pirates were tarnished from the drug trials. He was determined to change the image and the team’s fortunes. He used to say, ‘You can’t turn around a runaway train before you get it stopped.’ “
Syd Thrift was the conductor in stopping the train and turning it around in Pittsburgh.
“In dad’s case in Pittsburgh, it came down to ego,” Jim Thrift said. “At first, ownership was quiet and reserved and behind the scenes. I don’t think it was the group (that forced) him out. It came down to Carl Barger. I don’t think it is fair to Mr. Danforth to put that on him.”
The interview with Syd Thrift the day of his firing was poignant. It was difficult from a personal standpoint because Syd Thrift was such a likeable and committed guy.
While there are so many memories of Syd, the other that remains burned into my memory is the day he traded talented, but hard-luck pitcher Jose DeLeon to the White Sox for Bonilla.
Said Syd, and I’ll paraphrase, “Going to the mound at Three Rivers Stadium was like visiting the scene of a bad accident,” for DeLeon. And he badly wanted to return Bonilla to Pittsburgh. The trade was huge for the Pirates moving forward.
The other moment came in 1987, when he challenged the Pirate players in the second half of the season to improve and move up in the standings. The team went on to win 27 of its last 38 games, including a season-ending win over Philadelphia, to finish at 80-82 and tied for fourth-place with the Phillies.
From that day forward, until Francisco Cabrera broke every Pirates fan’s heart in October of 1992, the Pirates were a force in Major League Baseball.
While Thrift never had the chance to celebrate any of the three division titles, or anguish in the three straight postseason NLCS defeats, his mark was all over the Pirates of the early 1990s.
Syd Thrift’s imprints are on the game of baseball from Pittsburgh to Oakland to New York to Kansas City to Baltimore to Chicago to Los Angeles to Tamp Bay.
Maybe he didn’t invent the game, but he certainly had a hand in shaping it.
Syd Thrift was a one-of-a-kind guy, a character and personality that is rare in this day and age of button-downed sports executives. He was daring in procuring players. He was brash in making comments about himself and his team. He was honest with the media. He was innovative. Most of all, he was himself.
He was a likeable guy, a great baseball man and one of those people you just never forget.
And Pittsburgh, especially Pirates’ fans, should never forget what he did for baseball here. It was profound indeed.