Melvin Joffrion Didier Sr. (June 25, 1926 – September 10, 2017) was an American
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in
Minor League Baseball for two years (1948-49). However, he spent more than 60 years in pro ball 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 ...
and executive.
Biography
Born in
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a small city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,702 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, an increase of 165 over the 2000 tabulation of 5, ...
, Didier was raised in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...
.
[ He attended ]Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
(LSU) where he played both football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
for the Tigers
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...
. His career covered a wide array of involvement in athletics for over 70 years from starting his career as a football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and baseball coach at his alma mater, Catholic High School
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
in Baton Rouge, to a football assistants' job at LSU. Didier moved to professional baseball as both a scout and later as a front office executive for three expansion clubs.
Didier pitched in 1948 for the Stroudsburg Poconos The Stroudsburg Poconos, located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, were a minor league baseball team that played in the Interstate League in 1932 and in the North Atlantic League from 1946 to 1950. They were affiliated with the New York Yankees in 19 ...
and in 1949 for the Thomasville Tigers Thomasville may refer to:
*Thomasville, Alabama
*Thomasville, Georgia
*Thomasville, Iowa
*Thomasville, Missouri
*Thomasville, North Carolina
*Thomasville, Pennsylvania
Other uses
*Thomasville Furniture Industries, a company named after Thomasville ...
, ending his career with an 11–15 win–loss record
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...
and a 6.33 earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(ERA) in his two-year career. A shoulder injury ended his playing days with the Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
organization but not his association with the game.
When the expansion Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
began in 1969, Didier was hired as director of scouting and player development, a position that he held until September 1975. During his time at Montreal, he was responsible for the signings of future Baseball Hall of Famers
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
Gary Carter
Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.
Nicknamed "the Kid" for his y ...
(1972) and Andre Dawson
Andre Nolan Dawson (born July 10, 1954), nicknamed "The Hawk" and "Awesome Dawson", is an American former professional baseball player and inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. During a 21-year baseball career, he played for four different tea ...
(1975).[At 90, Mel Didier isn't finished helping major league baseball teams win]
Article by George Morris. ''The Advocate'', October 15, 2016. Retrieved on September 12, 2017.
Didier was the running backs/freshman coach at his alma mater, LSU, when the expansion Expos hired him to oversee their player development. He was the director of player development for 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 1977 to 1978, after which he joined the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
. He was the baseball coach at the University of Southwestern Louisiana
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...
from 1981 to 1982, also serving as its athletic director
An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...
in 1982.[
Didier then became a scout for the ]Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
, whom he convinced to acquire free agent Kirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He is currently a color commentator for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sports Detroit and a special assistant for the Tigers. As a player, Gibson ...
in 1988. As a result, he gained fame for his scouting report on 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 ...
ace relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), nicknamed "Eck", is an American professional baseball pitcher and former color commentator. Between 1975 and 1998, he pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, ...
, which Gibson credited for his dramatic 1988 World Series Game One-winning pinch-hit home run against Eckersley; the Dodgers would go on to win the series in five games.[Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame official website]
Retrieved September 12, 2017.
Didier joined the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...
in December 1996 and served with them through October 2000. He then served a second stint in Cleveland, followed by a year with the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
. After that, he worked for the Texas Rangers as a special assignments scout. In October 2009, he joined 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 ...
, whom he served until his death.[
In 2003, Didier gained induction into the ]Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is located in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches in a new facility in the downtown historic district in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After years of planning and con ...
.[ Then in 2014, Aquila Productions made the documentary, ''Scout's Honor: The Mel Didier Story''," which baseball greats, including Gibson, talk about Didier's influence on the game.][
His son ]Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
*Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname) ...
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 Major Leagues from 1969 through 1974, and later had a long post-playing career as a 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 ...
, 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 ...
and minor league 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 ...
.
Didier died on September 10, 2017, in his home in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, at the age of 91.
References
External links
Mel Didier
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Didier, Mel
1926 births
2017 deaths
Arizona Diamondbacks executives
American expatriate baseball people in Canada
Atlanta Braves scouts
Baseball coaches from Louisiana
Baseball players from Louisiana
Catholic High School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) alumni
Cleveland Indians scouts
Detroit Tigers scouts
Los Angeles Dodgers scouts
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns athletic directors
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball coaches
LSU Tigers football coaches
Major League Baseball farm directors
Milwaukee Braves scouts
Montreal Expos executives
People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
People from Dunedin, Florida
Baseball players from Pinellas County, Florida
People from Marksville, Louisiana
Seattle Mariners executives
Stroudsburg Poconos players
Texas Rangers scouts
Thomasville Tigers players
Toronto Blue Jays scouts
LSU Tigers football players
LSU Tigers baseball players
High school baseball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Louisiana