Monty Basgall


Romanus "Monty" Basgall was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout. A former second baseman who appeared in 200 Major League Baseball games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Basgall became a longtime member of the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization who served as the bench and infield coach for Hall of Fame managers Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda for 14 seasons. During that time, he worked with four National League pennant winners, as well as the 1981 World Series-champion Dodgers. During his playing career, Basgall stood tall, weighed and threw and batted right-handed.

Playing career

Basgall was born in Pfeifer, Kansas, graduated from high school there, and attended Sterling College. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942, the first year of the United States' involvement in World War II. After one season in the minors, he served in the U. S. Army for three years before resuming his baseball career in 1946 with the Double-A Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League. In December 1947, the Dodgers traded Basgall to the Pirates, where he played one full season and parts of two others. In 1949, he was the Pirates' starting second baseman for 98 of the club's 154 games. But Basgall's MLB playing career was hampered by poor offensive production; he batted only.216,.218 and.209 in his three years in the majors, with 110 total hits. Pittsburgh sent him to the top-level Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1952, and he spent four years in the PCL before starting his managing and coaching career.

Manager, coach and scout

After managing farm teams in the Pirates' organization from 1956–58, he returned to the Dodgers as a scout and minor league infield instructor in 1959, serving a dozen years in that role before becoming the Dodgers' Double-A manager in 1971. During that time, he helped convert former catcher Ted Sizemore and former outfielders Bill Russell and Davey Lopes to middle infielders. The three would spend a combined 46 years in Major League Baseball; Russell and Lopes were multiple members of the National League All-Star team, and Sizemore was the National League Rookie of the Year.
At the close of the 1972 season, Basgall and Lasorda were promoted to manager Alston's big-league coaching staff, with Lasorda working as third-base coach and Basgall as infield and bench coach. Basgall remained on the Los Angeles staff for another decade after Lasorda's promotion to manager late in 1976. He retired in 1987, and lived in Sierra Vista, Arizona, until his death in 2005 at the age of 83.