John Lowell McLaren (born September 29, 1951) is an American former professional baseball

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He is best known for his brief tenure as

of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

, from July 1, to June 19, . A native of the

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

area, McLaren was a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

system from 1970 to 1976, and later managed in the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

minor league system. He became a major league coach with the Blue Jays in 1986 and has since held major league coaching positions with the Mariners,

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

, and

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. He also served as a coach for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

during the

2006 World Baseball Classic The 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. It was held from March 3 to 20 in stadiums that are in and around Tokyo, Japan; San Juan, Puerto ...

, spent two nonconsecutive seasons as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

in the Devil Rays/Rays organization, and was interim manager of the Nationals for three games in 2011. He was employed as a professional scout for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

organization from 2012 to 2015. He was the catching coach for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

under manager Pete Mackanin for the 2016 season.

Early life

McLaren graduated from Westbury High School in Houston in 1970, and attended

Blinn College Blinn College is a public junior college in Brenham, Texas, with additional campuses in Bryan, Schulenburg, and Sealy. Brenham is Blinn's main campus, with dormitories and apartments. History Blinn was established as Mission Institute in 1 ...

, the

University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

and

Houston Baptist University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University, is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Southern Baptist Convention). Its Cultural Arts Center hou ...

Playing career

McLaren, a

, was selected by the Houston Astros in the seventh round of the 1970 June MLB draft and was assigned to the rookie-level

Covington Astros The Covington Astros were a minor league baseball team that played from 1967 to 1976 in the Appalachian League. Affiliated with the Houston Astros, they were located in Covington, Virginia. They played their home games at Casey Field. In 1966, th ...

of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

. He hit a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in his first professional game on June 30. He led

Western Carolinas League Portion of plaque displaying likeness of John Henry Moss at Municipal Stadium, Hagerstown, Maryland The Western Carolinas League was a Class D (1948–52; 1960–62) and a low Class A (1963–79) full-season league in American minor league base ...

s in

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by ''PO'' or ''fly out'' when appropriate) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner wit ...

s and assists in 1971, and in 1973 at

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

led Southern League catchers in fielding. His best offensive season came in 1975, when he batted .270 with 13 home runs and 57

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

for the Iowa Oaks and

Dubuque Packers Minor league baseball teams have operated in the city of Dubuque, Iowa under a variety of names in various leagues, playing in 52 seasons between 1879 and 1976. Dubuque teams were an affiliate of the Houston Astros (1975–1976), Kansas City Royal ...

. His playing career lasted through the 1976 season, having peaked at the triple-A level.

Coaching and managing career

In the 1979 season McLaren became manager of the Utica Blue Jays, a

short-season single-A affiliate. He managed two other Blue Jays affiliates: the single-A Kinston Blue Jays from 1981–1982, and the double-A

Knoxville Blue Jays The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off In ...

from 1983–1985. McLaren entered MLB as the Blue Jays' third-base coach in . He coached for the Blue Jays through , then spent as bullpen coach for the

before joining

Lou Piniella Louis Victor Piniella ( usually ; born August 28, 1943) is a former professional baseball player and manager. An outfielder, he played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals and ...

's coaching staff with the

in . He held various positions on Piniella's coaching staffs with the

and

from 1993 through 2005. McLaren served as the third-base coach for

the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

during the

, but worked as a scout for the Devil Rays during the 2006 season. After the season, McLaren was named bench coach of the Mariners for the third time, this time under manager

Mike Hargrove Dudley Michael Hargrove (born October 26, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. He is currently employed as an advisor with the Cleveland Guardians. Hargrove batted and threw left-handed. He played for the Texas Rang ...

. Hargrove abruptly resigned on July 1, 2007, and McLaren was named as his replacement. The Mariners finished the season in second place in the

American League West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...

standings, the first time they finished above last place since . McLaren was fired as manager on June 19, 2008, largely because the Mariners had a payroll in excess of $100 million, yet possessed the worst record in baseball (25–47) at the time. His firing followed the firing of general manager

Bill Bavasi William Joseph Bavasi (born December 27, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball general manager. He currently works as director of the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, appointed in November 2014. Bavasi previously served as an assistant to ...

by three days.

Jim Riggleman James David Riggleman (born November 9, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager and bench coach who coached with several teams between 1989 and 2019. He is currently the manager for the Billings Mustangs of the independent ...

, the bench coach, replaced McLaren on an interim basis. John McLaren 2011

McLaren spent the season as a scout in the Rays organization and in November 2009 was hired as the

' bench coach under manager Riggleman. He became interim manager of the Nationals on June 24, 2011, a day following Riggleman's resignation; he was replaced with

Davey Johnson David Allen Johnson (born January 30, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played as a second baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League ...

for the remainder of the 2011 season after McLaren managed three games. McLaren subsequently resigned his coaching position and took a position as a scout for the Nationals organization.

Honors

In 1991, McLaren was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

Managerial record

References

External links

McLaren bio on SeattleMariners.com
* McLaren's profanity laced news conference (clean)

:
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, John 1951 births Living people American Association of Professional Baseball managers American expatriate baseball people in Canada Baseball catchers Baseball coaches from Texas Baseball in China Baseball players from Texas Boston Red Sox coaches Cincinnati Reds coaches Cocoa Astros players Columbus Astros players Covington Astros players Dubuque Packers players Iowa Oaks players Major League Baseball bench coaches Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Memphis Blues players Minor league baseball managers National baseball team managers Oakland Athletics scouts Philadelphia Phillies coaches Seattle Mariners coaches Seattle Mariners managers Sumter Astros players Tampa Bay Devil Rays coaches Tampa Bay Rays scouts Toronto Blue Jays coaches Toronto Blue Jays scouts United States national baseball team people Washington Nationals coaches Washington Nationals managers World Baseball Classic managers