Right-handed reliever George Frazier, who threw out of the Twins’ bullpen in 1987 as they won the World Series, passed away at age 68. The Colorado Rockies, where Frazier worked as a commentator for a long period, made the announcement. He passed away on Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to The Denver Post.
With the Twins in 1986 and 1987, Frazier made 69 bullpen outings, notching eight saves and a 4.83 ERA in 108 innings. He made his final MLB appearance in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series at St. Louis when he tossed two scoreless innings.
The Oklahoma native was one of the highest-paid relievers in baseball in 1987 when he was in his tenth season in the majors and making $733,000; he was traded by the Cubs to the Twins.
“I feel I’ve earned my money,” he told the Star Tribune during the World Series run. “People think you jump off the boat right into $800,000, but you don’t.”
From 1978 to 1987, Frazier pitched for five big-league teams. As the only pitcher to accomplish so in a best-of-seven series, he held the MLB record for dropping three games for the Yankees in the 1981 World Series. He allowed future teammate Kent Hrbek to hit the first of his 293 career home runs during the same season.
Frazier acknowledged that he sometimes spoke bluntly to reporters. He claimed that a journalist opened the conversation with a nasty question after he recorded a save in his first outing with the Twins.
“I don’t care if I get press or not, but people come off with vibes and say they don’t want to come to me,” he said. “But the guy asked a dumb question and I told him it was a dumb question.”
It was a loss for the media. Frazier was a great quote and joined the Twins broadcast in 1993 as a color commentator before joining the Rockies broadcast in 1998.
The Denver Post reported that Frazier had two sons, Mathew and Parker, the latter drafted in the eighth round of the 2007 draft by the Rockies, and a daughter, Georgia, who was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 2015. Frazier was born in Oklahoma City and pitched for the University of Oklahoma.