| Maje McDonnell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coach | |
| Born:(1920-07-20)July 20, 1920 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| Died: July 8, 2010(2010-07-08) (aged 89) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Teams | |
As coach
|
Robert A. "Maje"McDonnell (July 20, 1920 – July 8, 2010)[1] was an Americancoach,scout and official with thePhiladelphia Phillies ofMajor League Baseball. Until he retired in2009, McDonnell served for four decades as the Phillies' "goodwill ambassador," and was an employee of the team for five of the eightNational League pennants it has won, and both of itsWorld Series championships. McDonnell was considered a face of the Phillies franchise.[2]
Born inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, he attended the city'sNortheast High School. McDonnell was a right-handedpitcher incollege baseball who stood 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) tall and weighed 135 pounds (61 kg; 9 st 9 lb). He attendedVillanova University, where he also playedbasketball despite his stature. He joined theUnited States Army duringWorld War II and rose to the rank ofmajor, saw combat in theEuropean Theater of Operations, and was awarded aBronze Star, aPurple Heart and five battle stars.[3]
McDonnell joined the Phillies as abatting practice pitcher in 1947, and was serving as a coach when the1950 "Whiz Kids" won the National League flag — at that time, only the second pennant in Phillies' history. He was a member of the Phils' coaching staff through1957, working undermanagersBen Chapman,Eddie Sawyer,Steve O'Neill,Terry Moore andMayo Smith. He was a Phillies' scout from 1958 to 1960.
After working for theBallantine Brewery and coaching at the high school and college level in the Philadelphia area, he returned to the Phillies in 1973, serving as a "ticket seller, tour guide, Phantasy Camp instructor, and the organization's face and voice in the community."[4] He was thus part of Phillie teams that won NL pennants in 1980, 1983, 1993 and 2008, and its1980 and2008 world champions.
