Fred Claire, who parlayed early jobs as a sports writer and editor into a 30-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in public relations and as a World Series-winning general manager, has died. He was 91.
Claire died Monday, on his 91st birthday, in Pasadena, the team announced Tuesday. Claire had entered hospice care recently.
In January 2015, at age 80, Claire was diagnosed with squamous cell skin cancer on his lip. He had the cells removed, but the cancer later returned in his jaw and again in his neck. He had surgery to remove a nerve on the left side of his face along with several lymph nodes. He underwent radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy as part of his 11-year journey with cancer.
He would jog regularly during his years on the road as the Dodgers general manager and said he was diligent about wearing sun screen except on his lips.
“Fred brought many victories and Dodger legends to our franchise, as well as the 1988 World Series title,” team president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement, “and we are forever grateful for his leadership during such a memorable era.”
From sports writing to public relations
Claire was covering the Dodgers during spring training in Florida for the Long Beach Press-Telegram in 1969 when one of the team’s public relations assistants was fired.
He expressed interest in the job and was hired that July. He was promoted to vice president of public relations and promotions in 1975.
During his tenure, Claire was instrumental in creating the Dodger Blue branding and Think Blue campaign. The club drew 3.3 million fans in 1978, the first MLB team to exceed 3 million. He also hired announcer Ross Porter, who worked for the team from 1977 until being let go in 2004.
In 1976, Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday ran over and saved an American flag from being burned on the Dodger Stadium field by two spectators. Claire directed the message board operator to type the words: “Rick Monday......You Made a Great Play” on the board.
Becoming Dodgers GM after a scandal
In April 1987, a public relations firestorm occurred over comments 70-year-old general manager Al Campanis made on ABC’s “Nightline.”
Campanis, who was white, was asked by host Ted Koppel about the lack of Black people in significant positions of authority in baseball.
“I truly believe they may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or perhaps, a general manager,” Campanis said. “Why are Black people not good swimmers? Because they don’t have buoyancy.”
Campanis had agreed to the interview without telling anyone in the Dodgers organization. Claire awoke the next day to a story about Campanis’ comments in the newspaper.
“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” he wrote in his 2004 memoir.
Campanis had been Jackie Robinson’s roommate when the two were in the minor leagues in 1946, and he tutored Robinson in transitioning from shortstop to second base. Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
“Those who knew Al expressed shock. There had never been a hint of bigotry in anything he had ever said or done,” Claire wrote. “In my view, what Al had attempted to do that night was to defend his beloved game of baseball in an area where there was no defense.”
Campanis was fired after two decades as GM. Team owner Peter O’Malley handed control of one of the most storied teams in baseball to Claire. He accepted on the condition that he would have total and complete responsibility for baseball operations.
Claire wasn’t intimidated, either, having been involved in discussions regarding free agents, arbitration and team payroll since becoming a team vice president in 1975.
In Claire’s first full season as GM, the Dodgers finished with a 73-89 record in 1987. O’Malley informed Claire he was considering bringing in a more experienced person for the job. He called the New York Mets and asked for permission to speak to Joe McIlvaine, but was denied. O’Malley decided to stick with Claire.
“Fred was a talented team player and everyone in the organization enjoyed working with him,” O’Malley said in a statement.
Winning 1988 World Series
In January 1988, Claire signed Kirk Gibson and the outfielder made a huge difference in the Dodgers winning the World Series in five games over the heavily favored Oakland Athletics that fall. An injured Gibson hobbled to the plate as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Dodgers trailing 4-3 in Game 1. He launched a two-strike, two-run homer — one of the most dramatic moments in baseball history — off closer Dennis Eckersley into the right field seats to win the game, 5-4.
Claire was named baseball’s executive of the year, an award previously won by such Dodger greats as Larry MacPhail, Branch Rickey, Walter O’Malley and Buzzie Bavasi.
The Dodgers returned to the playoffs just twice over the next decade, losing in the first round both times. It would be another 32 years before the Dodgers won the World Series again.
Good trades and bad ones, too
Among the trades that Claire was most proud of during his tenure as GM were those that brought John Shelby, Tim Belcher, Alfredo Griffin, Jay Howell, Jesse Orosco and John Tudor to Los Angeles — all of which had a connection with the 1988 World Series championship. He also traded for future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray in 1988 and again in 1997.
Two trades that Claire regretted were sending pitcher Pedro Martinez to the Montreal Expos and acquiring Eric Davis from Cincinnati. Martinez went on to win three Cy Young Awards with the Boston Red Sox, while Davis played two injury-plagued seasons in Los Angeles.
Dodgers sold, Piazza traded behind Claire’s back
The O’Malley family sold the team to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Entertainment Group in March 1998.
Two months later, future Hall of Fame catcher and fan favorite Mike Piazza was traded to the Florida Marlins in a stunning seven-player deal struck without Claire’s knowledge. It was pulled off by Fox television executive Chase Carey, who Claire said, was pursuing a regional TV sports channel in Florida and wanted the Marlins to be part of it.
“The seven-player trade was, first and foremost, a television deal. The new team owner simply did not understand the structure of a baseball team and the importance of a franchise player,” Claire wrote. “My reaction to the trade cost me my position with the Dodgers.”
Claire, along with manager Bill Russell, was fired by Fox on June 21, 1998, the same day Campanis died. Former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda took over as interim GM.
Claire never took another full-time job in baseball but stayed connected with the sport through a column and radio show for MLB.com, as a consultant for sports-related companies and by co-founding a baseball analytics company. He taught sports business courses at Caltech, the University of Southern California and Long Beach State.
Love of baseball began as a kid in Ohio
Born Fredic Marston Claire on Oct. 5, 1935, in Jamestown, Ohio, he cultivated his love of baseball while attending Cincinnati Reds games with his family at Crosley Field. He moved to Torrance, California, at age 15. He graduated from Torrance High, where he played junior varsity baseball and basketball. He graduated from San Jose State University with a journalism degree.
His first job out of college was as a sports writer for the Whittier Daily News at $65 a week. During his time with the Progress-Bulletin in Pomona, he wrote the game story on the Dodgers winning Game 3 of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox, the team’s first World Series win after moving to Los Angeles.
He later covered the then-California Angels for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and became the paper’s beat writer for the Dodgers in 1969.
He is survived by wife Sheryl and children Jeff, Jennifer and Kim.
