Former Angels Coach, Scout Passes Away

Joe Coleman, a coach and scout who held multiple roles in the Angels organization during the 1980s and 1990s, passed away on Wednesday. He was 77.

Coleman held several jobs with the Angels after his playing career ended, from minor league manager to roving pitching instructor, major league bullpen coach to pitching coach. He is credited with teaching a number of future major leaguers — including future Angels All-Stars Bryan Harvey and Chuck Finley — a "forkball," a version of a split-fingered fastball that some claim is indistinguishable from those thrown today.

Coleman came to fame as the first player chosen in the inaugural 1965 MLB Draft to reach the majors. Less than four months after he was drafted out of Natick (Mass.) High School, where he struck out a school-record 19 batters, Coleman debuted in September 1965 with the Washington Senators.

That was the start of a 15-year career as a major league pitcher, which included two 20-win seasons and an All-Star selection with the Detroit Tigers in 1972.

After his final major-league season (1979), Coleman served as a pitcher/coach for the Seattle Mariners' top farm team in 1980. After appearing in 40 games with the Spokane Indians from 1980-82, Coleman focused full-time on coaching, a role that would keep him active in professional baseball for another four decades.

In 1982, the Indians became affiliated with the Angels. That led to a promotion, in 1983, to manager of the Angels' Class-A affiliate (Peoria Suns) in the Midwest League. Coleman's roster that season included future Angels Devon White, Mark McLemore, and Wally Joyner.

In 1984, Coleman became a roving minor league pitching instructor, a role he would fill for another four seasons. In 1987, he briefly filled in as the Angels' bullpen coach. When the regular bullpen coach, Bob Clear, retired after the season, Coleman was announced as his replacement.

Coleman remained in that role when the Angels fired manager Cookie Rojas and replaced him with Doug Rader in November 1988.

When the St. Louis Cardinals hired Angels broadcaster Joe Torre to replace Whitey Herzog, Torre brought Coleman with him, giving him his first job as a major league pitching coach prior to the 1991 season.

Coleman would return to the Angels as a minor league pitching instructor in 1995. When Marcel Lachemann resigned as manager in August 1996, Coleman was promoted to pitching coach under interim managers John McNamara and Joe Maddon.

When Maddon was ejected from a game in Baltimore on Aug. 25, 1996, Coleman managed the Angels for the game's final seven innings.

Terry Collins was named the Angels' manager for the 1997 season, and Coleman remained in the organization as a scout. Collins then tapped Coleman to return to the Angels' bullpen coach position in 1998, but he left after the 1999 season after Collins' resignation.

From 2000-16, Coleman held minor-league pitching coach assignments with the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins, ultimately ending his 50-year career in professional baseball as a special advisor in Miami.

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