He threw and batted left-handed,stood 5feet 9inches (1.75m) tall and weighed 160 pounds (73kg).[1]
Early life
Day was born on August 31,1947,in Ilion,New York.[1] He attended Ilion High School,where he was well known for his basketball and baseball prowess. As a pitcher on the baseball team he won all of his games but one (a 1–0 loss);and he was a phenomenal hitter.[2] Day's elementary school principal,Bart Shelley,was a regional scout for the St. Louis Cardinals,who signed Day in 1965.[3][2] Even though he played in the Cardinals system in 1965,it has also been stated he signed with them on January 1,1966.[4][2][5]
Day is a member of the inaugural class of the Ilion High School Alumni Hall of Fame (2017).[6] He also attended Mohawk Valley Community College. In 2012,he was inducted into the Mohawk Valley Baseball Hall of Fame.[7] In 1993,he was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame.[6]
Day received a major league trial with the Cardinals in 1969,playing in 11 games and going hitless in six at bats.[1] At the close of the season,in December 1969,he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for left-handed pitcherRich Nye.[5] He made the Cubs' opening day 1970 roster,but only played in 11 games[1] before being traded,in May,to Montreal for veteran catcherJack Hiatt.[5] After further seasoning in Triple-A,at Buffalo and Winnipeg,he was recalled by the Expos in 1970,hitting .269 in 41 games;and played the next three-plus seasons as Montreal's platooncenter fielder.[1]
In 1971,his best major league season,he reached career highs in hits (105),home runs (4),RBI (33),and batting average (.283) in 122 games played.[1] He was tied for second in the league in sacrifice hits (16).[11] Although he only played in 118 games in center field,he tied for the league lead in assists by a center fielder (9),with Cito Gaston[12] who played 125 games in center field that year. [13] Day was also second in fielding percentage (.983).[12]
After slumping in 1972 where he hit .233 in 128 games (though he was second in the league in double plays by a center fielder[14]),he returned to form the following season,batting .275 in 1973,with 13 pinch hits,but in only 207 at bats and 101 games.[1][2]
The Expos were in the division championship race until the last week of the 1973 season.[2] Before the 1974 season,the Expos acquired veteran center fielder Willie Davis in an offseason blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for star relief pitcher Mike Marshall (who would win the Cy Young award for the Dodgers in 1974).[15][16] Day lost his semi-regular job. After only 52 games and 72 at-bats in 1974,he returned to the minor leagues for the remainder of his playing career.[1][8]
Day appeared in 471 MLB games (449 of them with Montreal),and batted .256 with 295 hits,28 doubles,eight home runs and 98 runs batted in,in 1,151 at-bats.[1]
Return to minor leagues
Day finished the 1974 season playing for the Memphis Blues of the Triple-A International League.[20] He played four years for the Detroit Tiger affiliate Triple-A Evansville Triplets (1975-78),never hitting above .266 or having more than 314 at bats. Other than one at bat at age 74 for the Evansville Otters in 2021,he finished his professional career at age 32,in 1980,playing sparingly for the Triplets and the Single-A Lakeland Tigers.[8] He began the 1980 season as Lakeland's hitting coach,before finishing his playing career in Evansville.[3]
Coaching career
After finishing his playing career,the Tigers kept him in their organization. From 1981-83,he was an assistant coach and then manager of the Bristol Tigers. From 1984-89,he worked as an advance scout for the Tigers;the Tigers winning the World Series in 1984.[3][21] He worked in the New York Yankees system (1990-91),and scouted for the Kansas City Royals (1992-94).[3]
From 1998-2003,Day coached in the Cardinals organization,serving as a hitting coach for the Single-A Prince Williams Cannons and the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds,and assistant coach for the Cardinals.[3][4] One of the players he coached was Albert Pujols,a member of the 2000 Redbirds championship team.[2][22][4] He spent 2002-03 as an assistant coach under Hall of fame manager Tony La Russa[23] with the Cardinals before returning to the minor leagues as a hitting coach from 2004-14 with various teams.[3][4]
In 2010,he was the hitting coach of the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League and in 2011 he held the same position with the Normal CornBelters of the Frontier League. In 2012,Day returned to the Otters as a hitting coach,and he won the Frontier League’s Darren Bush Coach of the Year Award for excellence in player development. Day later becoming the Otters bench coach in 2015,and remained with the club through the 2021 season.[3][4]
Day retired from coaching on September 13,2021,age 74,after a winning game with the Evansville Otters against the Lake Erie Crushers with a final score of 3–1. Day was lead off batter for the game. At retirement,he had been in professional baseball for 55 years.[24]
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