Former major league player and popular coach dies in car accident at age 61

Mike Brumley’s career as a major league player was not the most glamorous. A second-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in the 1983 draft, Brumley posted a batting average of .206 for six different teams from 1987 to 1995.

Brumley’s second role was as baseball coach, a job he held from 1997 until his death and which impacted the lives of past and present players.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley hit a home run to tie the game in an 8-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. After the game, he told reporters that his thoughts were with Brumley, who has been the Braves’ minor league hitting coordinator since 2021.

“(Brumley) has been in the back of my mind all day. It’s just tough,” Riley said, via MLB.com. “There are very few people who have been role models in my baseball career,” Riley said. “My dad is number one and Mike Brumley was number two. I feel for his family and his kids and everyone that was close to him.”

In his early years as a professional baseball player, Brumley was involved in trades involving two future Hall of Fame closers. The Red Sox traded Brumley and Dennis Eckersley to the Cubs in May 1984 for Bill Buckner, which led to Brumley making his MLB debut with Chicago in 1987. The Cubs traded Brumley and Keith Moreland to the Padres in February 1988 in exchange for Goose Gossage and Ray Hayward.

Brumley played 295 games for the Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and Oakland A’s over parts of eight seasons. He played another 1,135 games in the minor leagues before retiring after the 1996 season.

In 1997, Brumley was hired as manager of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings minor league team.

In 2002, in his first of three seasons as manager of the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, he led the Las Vegas Stingers to the Pacific Coast League finals. Although he was never called up to the major leagues as a manager, Brumley served as first and third base coach for the Mariners from 2010 to 2013.

Brumley’s minor league coaching career included stints as a minor league manager with the Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also served as a traveling coach for the Dodgers and as a field coordinator in the Texas Rangers organization.

Brumley’s father, Mike, played for the Washington Senators in parts of three seasons from 1964 to 1966.

According to WLBT-TV in Mississippi, Brumley died from injuries sustained in a pile-up involving two semi-trailers and several cars on Interstate 20 near Edwards, Mississippi.