Phil Garner

Early life

Garner was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and grew up in Rutledge. He was Bearden's starting quarterback in 1965–66. Garner attended the University of Tennessee on a baseball scholarship, playing second and third base from 1968 to 1970. In 1969, he led the NCAA in home runs with 12 and twice led his team in RBIs. He was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and an All-American in 1970. Garner graduated with a business administration degree in 1973. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, and the University of Tennessee retired his number 18 in 2009.

Baseball career

Garner was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the eighth round of the 1970 MLB draft but did not sign. He was selected second overall by the Oakland Athletics in the secondary January 1971 draft. He played in the A's minor league system from 1971 to 1974, mostly as a third baseman. In 1973, he batted .289 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs for the Triple-A Tucson Toros, and appeared in nine games for Oakland.

The following year, he hit .330 at Tucson but again saw limited major league time. The A's won the World Series in 1973 and 1974, but Garner was not on either roster. During spring training in 1975, the A's converted him to second base, and he started 159 games there that season. On June 27, 1975, he doubled for the A's 10,000th hit.

In 1976, he was named an All-Star for the first time, hitting eight home runs with 74 RBIs and stealing a career-high 35 bases. Before the 1977 season, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. His best season came in 1978, when he hit 17 home runs, 35 doubles, and 77 RBIs, stole 32 bases, and scored 99 runs. On September 15, 1978, he hit a grand slam in consecutive games.

In 1979, he batted .417 in the National League Championship Series and .500 in the World Series, the highest World Series batting average for players with at least 25 plate appearances.

Managerial career

Garner was named manager of the Milwaukee Brewers on October 30, 1991, replacing Tom Trebelhorn. He was hired by general manager Sal Bando, his former A's teammate. Garner installed a running-focused style, and every starter in 1992 stole at least 10 bases. The team improved by nine games and finished second in the American League East, four games behind the Toronto Blue Jays.

He finished second in voting for AL Manager of the Year. The Brewers did not finish above .500 again until 2007, and Garner led them to more than 80 losses in four of his six full seasons. He was fired during the 1999 season with a 52–60 record. In 1993, Garner called Chicago White Sox broadcasters Ken Harrelson and Tom Paciorek 'idiots' for suggesting he ordered a pitcher to hit Frank Thomas, and challenged them to a fight.

On July 22, 1995, he exchanged blows with White Sox manager Terry Bevington in a bench-clearing brawl; both were suspended four games. Garner finished with a 563–617 record as Brewers manager, holding the team record for most wins and losses until Craig Counsell surpassed him in wins in 2022.

Later career

In 2008, Garner served as interim head coach for the UHV Jaguars baseball team of the University of Houston–Victoria, replacing Terry Puhl while Puhl managed the Canadian national team. In 2010, Garner admitted to using a corked bat against pitcher Gaylord Perry and hitting a home run with it. On August 11, 2011, he agreed to rejoin the Athletics as a special adviser, returning for the 2012 season in the same role. In 2012, he testified as a witness at the perjury trial of Roger Clemens, detailing Clemens's intense work ethic without performance-enhancing drugs.