Syd Thrift, 77, Long-Time Baseball Executive
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Syd Thrift, a former general manger of the Pittsburgh Pirates who spent nearly a half century in baseball, died Monday in Delaware at 77 after undergoing knee replacement surgery.
His death was announced by the Baltimore Orioles, one of many teams he worked for. Thrift became GM of the Pirates in 1985 and gave Jim Leyland his start as a major league manager.
In 1989, he became senior vice president of baseball operations for the Yankees, but quickly clashed with owner George Steinbrenner, and left before the end of hte season.
His long baseball career began in 1949 when he joined the Yankees’ minor league organization. Among the teams he worked for was the Kansas City Royals, where he founded their renowned baseball academy.
Thrift worked in the Orioles’ front office for eight seasons after joining the team in 1994. Five years later, he became the team’s vice president of baseball operations, a job he held until 2002. After leaving the Orioles, he consulted for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays until his retirement in 2004.
Thrift, who during one stretch left baseball for nine years to work in real estate, lived in Kilmarnock, Va., and was hosting a syndicated weekly radio show at the time of his death.
