| Lloyd McClendon | |
|---|---|
 McClendon with theSeattle Mariners | |
| Piratas de Campeche | |
| Outfielder /Manager /Coach | |
| Born: (1959-01-11)January 11, 1959 (age 67) Gary, Indiana, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 6, 1987, for the Cincinnati Reds | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| August 11, 1994, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .244 |
| Home runs | 35 |
| Runs batted in | 154 |
| Managerial record | 501–613 |
| Winning % | .450 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Managerial record at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| |
Lloyd Glenn McClendon (born January 11, 1959) is an American former professionalbaseballoutfielder,coach andmanager who currently serves as the manager for thePiratas de Campeche of theMexican League. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as anoutfielder from 1987 to 1994 for theCincinnati Reds,Chicago Cubs, andPittsburgh Pirates.
After his playing career McClendon served as the manager of thePittsburgh Pirates from2001 to2005 and theSeattle Mariners from2014 to2015. He most recently served as the interim manager for theDetroit Tigers in2020.
In 1971, McClendon played in theLittle League World Series for his hometownGary, Indiana, team, and earned the nickname "Legendary Lloyd" byhomering in five consecutiveat bats.[1] In fact, they were his only official at-bats; in all his other plate appearances, the opposing coaches had him intentionally walked.[2][3] McClendon's 1971 team was the first all-African American team to reach the final stage of the LLWS.[4] He attendedRoosevelt High School in Gary and graduated in 1977.[5]
McClendon played collegiate baseball atValparaiso University, not far from Gary. While at Valparaiso, he compiled a career batting average of .330, and produced 18 home runs and 73 runs batted in. Twice he received all-conference honors (1979 and 1980).[6]
McClendon was drafted by theNew York Mets in the 8th round of the1980 Major League Baseball draft as acatcher. He began his professional baseball career with theKingsport Mets of theAppalachian League.
While playing at the A ball level for theLynchburg Mets, McClendon was roomed with teammateDarryl Strawberry by their manager, Gary Dusan, as Strawberry was struggling with adversity and McClendon a positive influence. 43 years later, shortly before Strawberry had his uniform number 18 retired by theNew York Mets, Strawberry recalled in an interview how helpful both Dusan and McClendon had been helping him survive a particularly challenging season and enabling him to go on to a successful major league career.[7][8]
After the 1982 season, he was traded along with two other players to theCincinnati Reds in a deal to bring Mets legendTom Seaver back to New York.
1983 was the first season in which McClendon began to get significant time at positions other than catcher, playing boththird andfirst base while with theWaterbury Reds. He continued to be used as autility player over the next several seasons, before finally breaking into the majors with the Reds in 1987.
McClendon made his major league debut onOpening Day in 1987 as apinch hitter,[9] He spent most of the season with the Reds, aside from a brief return to the minors with theNashville Sounds in August. He played in 45 games, mostly as a pinch hitter, but also appeared at five different positions in the field (catcher, first base, third base, andleft andright field).
1988 saw McClendon playing a similar role, although his playing time increased. He again played five positions on defense while batting .219 in 72 games overall. After the season, he was traded to theChicago Cubs foroutfielderRolando Roomes.
McClendon saw the most playing time of his major league career with the Cubs in 1989. Playing mostly left field and first base, he batted .286 with career highs inhome runs with 12 andruns batted in with 40. He also scored a career-best 47 runs and evenstole 6 bases.
McClendon struggled at the plate in 1990, however, playing in 49 games for the Cubs and batting an anemic .159. Late in the season, he was traded to the Pirates for aplayer to be named later.
McClendon played in 4 games for the Pirates at the end of 1990, going 1-for-3 at the plate. He played for the Pirates through the end of the 1994 season, spending most of his time in the outfield. In the 1992 postseason, he batted .727 while playing in five games of the1992 National League Championship Series, collecting eight hits in eleven at-bats. It is the highest batting average posted in one postseason.[10] He bounced back to hit .286 in 1991, but slumped to .253 in 1992 and .221 in 1993. He was hitting .239 in 1994 when the season was interrupted - and ultimately ended - bya players' strike. After the season he became a free agent.
McClendon signed a minor league contract with theCleveland Indians in 1995. After failing to make the team out ofspring training, he was assigned to theBuffalo Bisons. He played 37 games, including his first games at third base since 1990. However, he never received a promotion to the majors, and retired after the season.
After retiring from playing, McClendon served as a hitting coach for the Pirates until he was appointed manager after the 2000 season. At the time of his hiring, he became the firstAfrican American manager or head coach of any of Pittsburgh'sthree major sports teams, preceding theSteelers hiring ofMike Tomlin by six years.[11] McClendon held the Pirates managerial position until he was fired September 6, 2005.[12] In his five seasons as manager of the Pirates, McClendon compiled a 336–446 record.[13]
When Jim Leyland was hired as manager of the Detroit Tigers, he brought former player McClendon on board asbullpen coach. For the 2007 season, he was promoted tohitting coach, replacing former Pirates teammateDon Slaught. On May 28, 2010, he changed his jersey number from 12 to 19 due toGerald Laird changing his jersey number from 8 to 12.
The Tigers did not have an officialbench coach untilGene Lamont was named to that position for the 2013 season, but McClendon served a part of that role as acting manager in the absence of Jim Leyland.[14][15]
A Detroit player won theAmerican League batting title in four of McClendon's seven seasons as the team's hitting coach.
On November 5, 2013, thePuget Sound Business Journal reported that McClendon would be the newSeattle Mariners manager. On November 7, general managerJack Zduriencik officially announced McClendon as the team's manager.[16]
In McClendon's first season as the manager of the Mariners, the team finished with an 87–75 record.[17] The team's record represented an improvement from 71–91 in 2013.[18] However, in 2015, the Mariners struggled and finished 76–86; McClendon was fired on October 9, 2015.[19] He finished with a record of 163 wins and 161 losses.[13]
On November 23, 2015, McClendon was hired as the manager of theTriple-A affiliate of theDetroit Tigers, theToledo Mud Hens.[20] In the 2016 season, the Mud Hens struggled, finishing 68–76. Following that season, McClendon was named the Tigers' new hitting coach.
On October 21, 2016, McClendon was named the Tigers' hitting coach, a position he previously held with the team from 2007 to 2013.[21] On September 30, 2019, McClendon succeededSteve Liddle as the Tigers' bench coach.[22] On September 19, 2020, McClendon was named interim manager of the Tigers following the retirement ofRon Gardenhire.[23][24] After the 2020 season, the Tigers namedA. J. Hinch as the team's new manager, and McClendon was not retained on the coaching staff.[25][26]
On January 27, 2022, McClendon was hired to manage theTriple-A affiliate of theDetroit Tigers, theToledo Mud Hens for a second time, following the promotion of Mud Hens managerGary Jones to first base coach for the major league team.[27]
On December 18, 2025, McClendon was hired to serve as the manager for thePiratas de Campeche of theMexican League.[28]
McClendon has a history of challenging close calls on the diamond, and stated his belief that the Pirates didn't always get fair calls from the umpires. As he put it during the 2002 season, "I'm sure it's nothing intentional on their part. I certainly would never question their integrity. But it's human nature to relax a little and take something for granted. We've lost for so long that I think it's easy for umpires to lose respect for us and take us for granted. I've got to change that. If I get thrown out of 100 games, then I get thrown out of 100 games. I'm going to keep demanding a playing field that's equal for my players. I don't think it's wrong to demand the umpires' best effort every day."[29]
On June 26, 2001, in a game against theMilwaukee Brewers, McClendon saw two questionable calls made against his Pirates by the first base umpire,Rick Reed. AfterJason Kendall was called out at first base, McClendon went onto the field to argue the call. After being ejected from the game, McClendon removed first base and walked off the field with it, later throwing it into the dugout, where abatboy placed a Pirates cap on top of it. Rather than risk McClendon's wrath by retrieving the base, the field crew replaced the base with a new one. The Pirates rallied to win the game in the 12th inning, 7–6.[30] The next day, the players mounted the base in their clubhouse. McClendon's act of anger made the No. 4 place on ESPN.com Page 2's "Coaches Gone Wild" list, which jokingly called it an incident of "stealing" first.[31]
In the 2005 season, McClendon exhibited signs of a desire to end this tendency. During a series against theWashington Nationals at the end of June, when replays of the first base theft were being shown on the scoreboard, he said, "I don't like that being shown, I don't want people to identify (that) with me. To me, that's ridiculous. That's not who I am. That's something that happened and it should be over with."[32]
However, on June 2, 2015,[33] McClendon once again made national news after challenging the entire umpire crew after a couple of questionable check-swing calls byBrett Gardner andAlex Rodriguez during the Mariners game against the New York Yankees.[34]Mariners catcherMike Zunino expressed displeasure with first base umpireWill Little's safe call on a check swing, leading to Zunino's ejection. McClendon initially argued with home plate umpireMike DiMuro before throwing his hat and proceeding to argue with Little, eventually kicking his hat and running around the diamond to argue with each member of the umpiring crew.
Following their 2010 season, theSeattle Mariners interviewed McClendon, as well as several others, for their managerial position,[35] with Seattle eventually deciding to hireEric Wedge.[36] On October 30, 2012, McClendon was interviewed by theMiami Marlins as a candidate to succeedOzzie Guillén, who was fired after a single season.[37] However, the Marlins hiredMike Redmond instead.[38] On October 24, 2013, McClendon interviewed for the Tigers' managerial job,[39] but that job went toBrad Ausmus. On November 3, 2013, McClendon was inSeattle for a second interview for the managerial job for the Mariners.[40] He ultimately was hired by the Mariners as their new manager beginning in the 2014 season.
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| PIT | 2001 | 162 | 62 | 100 | .383 | 6th in NL Central | – | – | – | – |
| PIT | 2002 | 161 | 72 | 89 | .447 | 4th in NL Central | – | – | – | – |
| PIT | 2003 | 162 | 75 | 87 | .463 | 4th in NL Central | – | – | – | – |
| PIT | 2004 | 161 | 72 | 89 | .447 | 5th in NL Central | – | – | – | – |
| PIT | 2005 | 162 | 55 | 81 | .404 | (fired) | – | – | – | – |
| PIT total | 782 | 336 | 446 | .430 | ||||||
| SEA | 2014 | 162 | 87 | 75 | .537 | 3rd in AL West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA | 2015 | 162 | 76 | 86 | .469 | 4th in AL West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA total | 324 | 163 | 161 | .503 | ||||||
| DET | 2020 | 8 | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5th in AL Central | – | – | – | – |
| Total[41] | 1,114 | 501 | 613 | .450 | ||||||
McClendon is one of twelve[42] or thirteen[43] children. Sources differ.
McClendon met Ingrid Scott while the two were students at Valparaiso University; They went on to marry in 1981. The couple has two children, daughter Schenell (born c. 1983) and son Bo (born c. 1987).[43] Schenell graduated Valparaiso, followed by law school, then married in 2014. Bo also attended Valparaiso, and was a 39th round draft choice the Detroit Tigers in 2010. He played in the minor leagues for two years.[44][45][46][47]
Granddaughter Bryn was born to Schenell and her husband in 2019.[48]
McClendon and his wife continue to live in Indiana.[49][45]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Detroit Tigers bullpen coach 2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Detroit Tigers hitting coach 2007–2013 2017–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Detroit Tigers bench coach 2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Toledo Mud Hens manager 2016 | Succeeded by |
