Obituary: Lee MacPhail dies at 95; former American League president and Hall of Fame member

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By Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

Nov. 10, 2012 12 AM PT

Lee MacPhail, a former American League president who was the oldest member of baseball’s Hall of Fame and part of one of the sport’s foremost families, has died. He was 95.

MacPhail, who with his father forms the only father-son duo in the baseball shrine, died of natural causes Thursday at his home in Delray Beach, Fla., the Hall of Fame announced.

During a baseball career that spanned five decades, the younger MacPhail was president and general manager of the New York Yankees and general manager of the Baltimore Orioles before serving as president of the American League from 1974 to 1983.

Earlier, he spent a decade as farm director and player personnel director for the Yankees, helping to develop players who would win seven World Series titles.

Born Leland Stanford MacPhail Jr. in Nashville on Oct. 25, 1917, MacPhail was the son of Larry MacPhail, who served as general manager of the Yankees, the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As American League president, Lee MacPhail oversaw the league’s expansion to Toronto and Seattle and, in 1981, played a role in negotiations that helped end a players’ strike.

His best-known baseball moment came in 1983, when he upheld a protest by the Kansas City Royals, ruling for the team’s slugger, George Brett, in what became known as the Pine Tar Game.

After Brett, the Royals’ third baseman, hit a two-run, two-out, ninth-inning homer in the July 24 game at Yankee Stadium, Yankees manager Billy Martin protested, arguing that Brett’s bat was covered with more than the permissible amount of pine tar. The umpires agreed and called Brett out, giving New York a 4-3 victory.

Several days later, MacPhail overruled the umpires, saying the home run should count and ordering the game continued. When the contest resumed three weeks later, the Royals held on to win, 5-4.

Although the pine tar did indeed reach more than 18 inches past the bat’s handle — the limit set by major league rules — MacPhail said the umpires’ interpretation did not reflect the intent or spirit of the rules.

“Although manager Martin and his staff should be commended for their alertness,” MacPhail wrote, “it is the strong conviction of the league that games should be won and lost on the playing field — not through technicalities of the rules.”

He stepped down as league president at the end of that season.

MacPhail’s son Andy became general manager of the Minnesota Twins, president of the Chicago Cubs and president of baseball operations for the Orioles. A grandson, Lee MacPhail IV, who has worked for the Cleveland Indians, is a scout for the Orioles.

Former Boston Red Sox second baseman Bobby Doerr, 94, is now the Hall of Fame’s oldest member.

news.obits@latimes.com