Pro baseball manager and player Joe Altobelli died on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 of natural causes. He was 88 years old.

Altobelli played first base and outfield, then became a manager and coach with the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins. In 1983 he joined the Baltimore Orioles as their manager, leading the team to their sixth American League pennant and third, and most recent, World Series championship.

He was born on May 26, 1932 in Detroit where he was awarded All-City status in baseball, football, and basketball. Altobelli’s on-field career alternated between the MLB and AAA. He played for the Indians and Twins, batting a .210 in 166 games. He had a 36-game hitting streak in 1951 with the Daytona Beach Islanders. With the AAA Montreal Royals he led the 1960 International League in home runs with 31 and RBIs with 105.

In 1966 he began working as a manager in the Baltimore farm team system, including managing the Rochester Red Wings from 1971 to 1976. The team finished first during four of those six seasons. From there he started working with the New York Yankees as manager of their farm team, the Columbus Clippers, then became a Yankees coach in ’81 and ’82.

Once Altobelli became manager of the Orioles, they won 98 games, then went on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies for the World Series. He was there for three seasons then went back to coaching the Yankees in 1986-1987 then moved on to the Chicago Cubs from ’88 to ’91.

Altobelli returned to Rochester as the Red Wings’ general manager in ’91. After three years he became special assistant to the club president until ’97, then he did color commentary for their home games. He retired in 2009.