Former San Francisco Giants supervisor Roger Craig lifeless at 93 – WSB-TV Channel 2

Roger Craig, a veteran pitcher who later led the San Francisco Giants to the 1989 World Series, died Sunday. He was 93.

Craig, whose catchphrase “Humm Baby” embodied his positive behavior as he encouraged his pitching batons over the years, died after a short illness, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Craig, a right-handed pitcher who won a World Series game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in his 1955 rookie season, led the 1962 National League with 24 losses at the original New York Mets. As manager, he popularized the Giants in the 1980s, winning two division titles and earning a place in the World Series. The 1989 roster secured San Francisco’s first World Series berth since 1962.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, in addition to helping the Dodgers win the World Series in 1955, Craig was on the team’s championship roster in Los Angeles in 1959 and played for the St. Louis Cardinals when they won the 1964 World Series .

Craig started the Mets opening day of the inaugural season with a 15-46 record in two years. He lost 18 straight decisions en route to a record 5:22 in 1963, leading coach Casey Stengel to say, “You have to be good to lose that many.”

According to Baseball-Reference.com, he ended his 12-year major league career with a record of 74-98.

“We have lost a legendary member of our Giants family,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. “Roger was popular with players, coaches, front office staff and fans. He was a father figure to many, and his optimism and wisdom led to some of the most memorable seasons in our history.”

Craig’s 586 victories as San Francisco manager is the sixth-most in Giants history and the third-most since the team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season, KRON-TV reported. Only Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker have more wins.

According to MLB.com, Craig became synonymous with the split-fingered fastball he taught as a pitching coach. One of his top students was Jack Morris, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.

Craig was the first pitching coach when the San Diego Padres entered the National League and was the team’s manager in 1978. He led the team to a record of 152-171 in 1978 and 1979.

Craig moved to Detroit, became the Tigers’ pitching coach, and helped Detroit win the World Series under Hall of Famer Manager Sparky Anderson, according to MLB.com.

In 1989, the Giants lost the World Series in four games to the Oakland Athletics, a postseason series best known for a massive earthquake that shook the Bay Area and delayed the postseason series by ten days, according to the Chronicle.

“The best manager I’ve ever had. One of the best men I’ve ever met,” Giants broadcaster and former pitcher Mike Krukow, whose last season as a player was with the Giants in 1989, told the newspaper. “He made us all better. He taught us how to win. What more precious gift can you give an athlete? It’s funny, he was the man at the top in September 1985, but he was an incredibly positive influence on me and made me a better person, a better man, an incredible influence on all of our lives, which he taught us over and over again has field. He was our GOAT.”