Roger Craig, who started the first game in Mets franchise history, has died.
He was 93-years-old.
The news was announced Sunday afternoon by the San Francisco Giants.
Craig took the mound for the Mets on April 11, 1962 in an eventual 11-4 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis.
Craig went 10-24 for the team, which finished 40-120, a modern record for futility that hasn’t been matched since. He went 5-22 for the Mets in 1963 before a trade to the Cardinals.
Craig had a long career in baseball, the 6-foot-4 righty debuted with the World-Series-winning Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. He won another championship with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959. He won his third World Series with the Cardinals in 1964.
Craig retired after the 1966 campaign with career marks of a 74-98 record and 3.83 ERA in 368 games, including 186 starts.
Craig later became a manager, leading both the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. In parts of eight seasons in the Bay Area, his teams went 566-509 and beat the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS to win the pennant in 1989, before being swept by the Oakland A’s in the World Series. He was also the pitching coach for the 1984 Detroit Tigers, who won the World Series under Craig’s friend Sparky Anderson.
He also received a World Series ring in 2002 for his role as an advisor to Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly, a former Giants catcher.
Craig is survived by his wife, Carolyn, four children, seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Source: Berkshire mont
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