New York Mets: The Phil Regan All Star team
By Bill Felber
Second base
Jim Gilliam is the link between Regan and Jackie Robinson.
Gilliam came to the major leagues in 1953 as replacement second baseman for Robinson, who the Dodgers shifted to left field. He batted .278 in 151 games and won the National League’s Rookie of the year Award.
Gilliam was a two-time All Star for the Dodgers, where his versatility paid off. Over the course of his 14-season career, all of it with the Dodgers, he started alternately at second base, third base and in the outfield. He averaged .265, and played on seven pennant winners, four of those teams going on to win the World Series.
When Regan joined the Dodgers bullpen in 1966, Gilliam was a 37-year-old in his final season. He batted just .217, although in those dead ball days that was good enough to get him 88 starts, splitting time at first, second and third bases. He was hitless in six official at bats against the Baltimore Orioles in that fall’s World Series.
That 1966 season was, coincidentally, perhaps Regan’s best. Appearing in 65 games in relief of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen or Don Sutton he went 14-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 117 innings. It was for his penchant of picking up victories that Regan acquired his nickname, “The Vulture.”
As with Cash, Gilliam’s post-career time was brief. He coached first base for Walter Alston, the man who had managed him virtually his entire career, until Alston retired in 1976. Then, when Tom Lasorda was named Alston’s successor ahead of Gilliam, he agreed to stay on as a coach.
But in mid-September of 1978, with the Dodgers comfortably in front of the NL West race, Gilliam suffered a stroke that would prove fatal within the month. At his death, he was not yet 50 years old.