Categories: News

Ruben Amaro Sr. dead at age 81

Ruben Amaro Sr., who spent six seasons with the Phillies as a player before returning to scout and coach, died Friday at age 81.

Amaro – whose son is former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. – hit .241 with a .315 on-base percentage over his time with the Phils. He also won a Gold Glove and finished high in MVP voting in 1964.

After retiring in 1969, Amaro rejoined the Phillies in 1972 as a scout. He was the Latin American scouting coordinator (with signings including Juan Samuel, Julio Franco and George Bell) before joining Dallas Green’s staff as a first base coach in 1980. Green died last week at age 82.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.