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Former Cubs Manager Famous for Obscenity-Ridden Rant Against Fans Passes Away at 87

Originally posted on Chicago Cubs on SI
By Dylan Sanders | Last updated Jul 10, 2025 5:58 PM ET

An infamous figure in Chicago Cubs history, former manager Lee Elia, has passed away on Wednesday at 87. The Philadelphia Phillies announced his death on Thursday afternoon.

Though Elia was the manager of the Cubs for just two seasons, 1982 and 1983, his mark will always be there.

One fateful day in 1983, after Chicago dropped a game at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs manager went on a rant against the fans of the team that had been booing the team while speaking to local media.

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The tirade can be found below, but fair warning, there is extremely graphic language throughout:

Elia went 127-158 during his two years in Chicago. Though that was not a very long stint, he was a mainstay in baseball for quite a while.

His playing career started back in 1958 when he signed with his hometown Phillies. He was mostly a minor leaguer until he stopped playing in 1973, but he did have two Major League stints. One of which came with the Cubs in 1968, he spent parts of three years in the organization as a player.

Overall, across 12 seasons, he hit 113 home runs with 492 RBI.

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The majority of his time in the sport came as a coach and a manager. Philadelphia gave him his first job as a coach in 1980 and he bounced around between six different clubs for years until his final season in 2008. That's 50 years in baseball for Elia, a man who remains very hard to forget.

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This article first appeared on Chicago Cubs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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