Steve Phillips

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For other people named Steve Phillips, see Steve Phillips (disambiguation).
Steve Phillips
Born (1963-05-18) May 18, 1963 (age 60)
SIRIUS XM Radio (current)
Fanhouse.com (current)
ESPN (prior)
New York Mets (prior)
Known forGeneral manager of the New York Mets, baseball analyst
SpouseKathleen Phillips

Stephen Francis Phillips (born May 18, 1963) is an American

SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio.[1]

Early life

Phillips was offered a football scholarship to Northwestern University after high school. He signed a letter of intent, but opted instead to sign a professional baseball contract after being drafted by the New York Mets. Phillips attended De La Salle Collegiate High School in Detroit, Michigan, and later earned a psychology degree from the University of Michigan during baseball's off-seasons.

Playing career

Phillips was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1981 amateur draft. From 1981 to 1987, he played for six different minor league teams in the Mets and Detroit Tigers organizations. Playing mainly as a second baseman and shortstop, Phillips batted .250 with 22 home runs and 215 RBI in 618 games.[2]

New York Mets executive

Phillips joined the Mets' front office in 1990. He was named director of minor league operations on October 2, 1991, and was promoted first to assistant general manager on December 4, 1995,[3] then general manager on July 16, 1997. He was fired by chief executive officer Fred Wilpon on June 12, 2003 after a 29–35 start to the season. The Mets replaced him with assistant GM Jim Duquette on an interim basis.[4][5]

In the late 1990s, Phillips assembled a Mets team made up of stars, such as

Cleveland Indians.[6]

Phillips is often erroneously blamed for trading Kazmir to the

Victor Zambrano on the July 31, 2004 trade deadline. Kazmir went on to become an All-Star, while Zambrano never really made an impact with the Mets and was out of MLB a few years later. It was, however, his successor Jim Duquette and Jeff Wilpon who made the deal.[7]

Harassment allegations

For a brief stint in 1998, Phillips took a leave of absence as general manager because of allegations of sexual harassment. He admitted to consensual sex with the woman, Rosa Rodriguez,[8] who filed the suit, as well as multiple other affairs, but denied harassment and the civil suit was settled out of court. Phillips was away from the team for a total of eight days. The Mets defended Phillips privately and publicly, and the alleged victim's attorney was even quoted as believing in his sincerity.[9]

Broadcasting career

ESPN analyst

Phillips was hired as a baseball

color analyst for ESPN prior to the 2005 baseball season, and was a regular on the nightly programs Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He primarily served as an in-game analyst during Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts through 2008, moving to the Sunday Night Baseball booth the following season. He also served as an analyst on Monday Night Baseball
.

As an analyst he was critical of the

Rule 5 Draft acquisition, Josh Hamilton, stating that Hamilton, who had walked away from the game because of substance abuse issues, was being given the chance to make the major league team (through the Rule 5 draft) without spending the time in the minor leagues which the other players had, thus sending the wrong message to those players.[10]

Dismissal from ESPN

On September 2, 2009, Phillips' wife of 19 years, Marni, filed for divorce.[11] On October 21, 2009 Phillips revealed that he had been involved in an extramarital affair with a 22-year-old ESPN production assistant.[12] After an initial suspension by ESPN, Phillips was fired by the company on October 25, 2009.[13]

Career after ESPN

In April 2010, Phillips began contributing a weekly baseball segment on WFAN New York City, with afternoon host Mike Francesa, scheduled to continue through baseball season. Around the MLB trade deadline, Phillips co-hosted a few three-hour radio shows on the station as well.[14]

On October 4, 2010, Phillips joined the cast of the

SIRIUS XM Radio as the co-host of the Gary & Phillips In the Morning Show with Gary Williams.[15] After Williams' departure to NBC to host the Golf Channel
's morning show, Dan Graca served as Phillips' co-host on an interim basis. Later, Phillips co-hosted Evan and Phillips with Evan Cohen in the same morning time slot.

In 2012, Phillips was tabbed to serve as a radio analyst for a limited schedule of

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games distributed nationally by Compass Media Networks.[16]

Phillips currently works as a host on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio on The Leadoff Spot with

Eduardo Perez
.

Phillips also currently works as a baseball analyst on TSN 1050 radio in Toronto, as well as appearing nationally on television as an insider on TSN in Canada.[17]

Video games

Phillips was a color commentator alongside Gary Thorne and John Kruk in Major League Baseball 2K9, Major League Baseball 2K10, Major League Baseball 2K11, Major League Baseball 2K12, and MLB 2K13.

References

  1. ^ https://www.tsn.ca/talent/steve-phillips-1.29497 Talent - Steve Phillips
  2. ^ "Steve Phillips Minor League Statistics & History". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  3. ^ "Detroit votes for stadium," St. Petersburg (FL) Times, Tuesday, December 5, 1995. Retrieved October 9, 2020
  4. ^ Stark, Jayson (June 13, 2003). "Phillips fired with Mets mired in last place". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  5. Baltimore Sun
    . October 2, 1991. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  6. ^ "The Indians Missed the Boat On Jose Reyes". mlb.fanhouse.com. March 12, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  7. ^ "Revisiting the 2004 Scott Kazmir Trade".
  8. ^ Mokha, Kavita; Siemaszko, Corky (October 23, 2009). "A love mistress of Steve Phillips Rosa Rodriguez who slept with then-Mets GM in 1998, resurfaces". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009.
  9. ^ Williams, Lena (November 26, 1998). "BASEBALL; Mets Settle Claim of Harassment". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  10. ^ Phillips, Steve (March 9, 2007). "There's another side to Hamilton story". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  11. ^ Phillips Divorce Complaint. October 21, 2009
  12. NYDailyNews.com. Archived from the original
    on October 23, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  13. ^ "Steve Phillips Fired By ESPN". Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  14. ^ "Phillips to do weekly segment on WFAN - ESPN, Baseball". Retrieved 2010-07-11.[dead link]
  15. ^ "Steve Phillips Joins SIRIUS XM's All-Sports Mad Dog Radio Channel" PR Newswire, 30 September 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  16. ^ "Carrino, Quis to call Angels baseball". staatalent.com. 2012-05-15. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
  17. ^ "Steve Phillips - Detail - TSN". Retrieved August 19, 2015.

External links

Preceded by
New York Mets General Manager

1997–2003 		Succeeded by
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