George Frazier, a righthanded reliever who pitched out of the bullpen for the Twins during their World Series championship season of 1987, died at age 68.
The Colorado Rockies, where Frazier was a longtime broadcaster, announced the news. The Denver Post reported he died Monday in Tulsa, Okla.
Frazier made 69 relief appearances with the Twins in 1986 and ’87, recording eight saves while posting a 4.83 ERA over 108 innings. He pitched two scoreless innings in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series at St. Louis, which would turn out to be his final MLB appearance.
The Oklahoma native came to Minnesota in a trade with the Cubs after signing a lucrative contract that made him one of the highest-paid relievers in baseball — in ’87 he was in his 10th season in the majors and earning $733,000.
“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.”
Frazier pitched with five big-league teams from 1978 to ’87. He held the MLB record of having lost three games for the Yankees in the 1981 World Series, the only pitcher to do that in a best-of-seven series. That same season, he gave up the first of 293 career home runs to future teammate Kent Hrbek.
Frazier admitted he could be blunt dealing with reporters. He said that after recording a save in his first appearance with the Twins, a journalist started the interview with a negative question.
“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 the media’s loss. Frazier was an excellent quote and would become a color commentator for the Twins in 1993 and then join the Rockies broadcast from 1998 to 2015.
He was asked by the Star Tribune in ’87 if he thought he had a future in broadcasting and said, “I don’t know if the networks could handle me. I don’t hide nothing.”
That proved true when he was asked again in the Star Tribune about how he viewed his sizable salary during the final year of his pro career.
“I had more fun when I made $216.84 every two week in Class A ball and I didn’t have to pay Uncle Sam $285,000 a year in taxes. … The money’s great, but all of it goes to my ex-wife [slight laugh], to be honest. She’s driving a Mercedes and I’m driving a van, if that tells you anything.”
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.