Former MLB player Ted Savage died, the Cardinals announced. He was 85 years old.
Savage was born in Venice, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. He attended school in East St. Louis, Illinois, where he was a three-sport star in baseball, football and basketball. Savage went on to play baseball at Lincoln University before joining the US Army. He would continue his baseball career at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
After three years, Savage was signed by the Phillies. He would make his debut with the club during the 1962 season, playing in 127 games and slashing .266/.345/.373. Amazingly, just one month after completing his rookie campaign, he was traded to the Pirates. In Pittsburgh, injuries and outstanding pitching limited Savage to just 85 games in the 1963 season, and he would not appear at the big league level during the 1964 season.
Savage returned to the majors in 1965 with the Cardinals and would play minor roles with the club in the 1965 and 1966 seasons before being traded to the Cubs midway through the 1967 season. He would spend the end of the 1967 season and part of the 1968 season with Chicago before joining the Dodgers. After another platoon role with the Reds in 1969, Savage signed with the Brewers heading into his age-33 campaign and arguably put up his best numbers, hitting a strong .279/.402/.482 in 114 games with more walks. : 57) than hits (44). It was only the second time in his career that he had more than 300 plate appearances in a season, the first being his rookie year. However, Savage was unable to recapture his strong 1970 season the following year, and after suffering a hand injury in July 1971, he would never return to the big leagues. After two years in the Mexican league, Savage retired after the 1973 season.
After his playing career, Savage will receive his Ph.D. in urban studies from Saint Louis University, going on to spend nine years as the athletic director at Harris-Stowe State University. He returned to the Cardinals organization in 1987 as assistant director of community affairs and minor league training, remaining with the franchise for 25 years before retiring as director of target marketing for Cardinals Care and Community Affairs.
MLBTR extends our condolences to Savage’s family, friends, loved ones, former teammates and people he crossed paths with during his career.
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