Three-time All-Star, former manager Phil Garner dies at age 76 - ESPN

HOUSTON — Phil Garner, a three-time All-Star infielder who went on to manage the Houston Astros to their first World Series appearance, has died. He was 76.

Garner's family issued a statement Sunday saying Garner had died Saturday after a two-plus-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

«Phil never lost his signature spark of life,» Garner's son, Ty, said in a statement. «He was so well known for or his love for baseball, which was with him until the end.»

Nicknamed «Scrap Iron» for his blue-collar approach to the game, Phil Garner had a 16-year playing career with the Oakland Athletics (1973-76), Pittsburgh Pirates (1977-81), Astros (1981-87), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987) and San Francisco Giants (1988).

He played 150 games and had an .800 OPS for Pittsburgh during the Pirates' 1979 World Series championship season. He batted .417 in the NL Championship Series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds and hit .500 (12-for-24) in the World Series as the Pirates rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles.

Garner made All-Star teams with Oakland in 1976 and with Pittsburgh in 1980 and 1981.

«Phil Garner was a fierce competitor, a respected leader, and a cherished part of the Pirates family,» Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. «His contributions to the 1979 World Series championship team will forever be part of Pirates history. We always appreciated welcoming Phil back to Pittsburgh, and it was evident how deeply this city, this team, his teammates, and our fans meant to him.

»He will be remembered not only for the grit, passion, and heart he brought to the game, but also for the way he carried himself as a devoted family man and respected member of the baseball community."

Garner hit .260 with 109 homers, 738