Mike Cubbage, a journeyman infielder who played eight years in the majors and was a manager, coach and a scout for a few teams, died over the weekend after a battle with cancer. He was 74.
Jerry Ratcliffe, a Virginia Cavaliers reporter, confirmed Cubbage’s death through the former player’s wife, Jan. Cubbage had been battling cancer for nearly a year.
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"He’s done everything in the game," Jeff Zona, a former scout who worked with Cubbage, told The Daily Progress. "He was a really good hitter in the big leagues. He was a great coach, great manager. He was a great major-league scout.
"There’s nothing he didn’t do," he added.
Cubbage was a sixth-round pick out of high school in Virginia in 1968 by the Washington Senators. However, he decided to play at the University of Virginia instead before turning pro. Three years later, the Senators took him again – only this time it was in the second round.
The Senators eventually became the Texas Rangers, and in 1974, Cubbage made his debut for the team at 22 years old. He was with the Rangers for about two years before he was included in a trade with the Minnesota Twins that centered around Bert Blyleven.
He played more than four years with the Twins before he hit free agency and signed with the New York Mets in 1981. He retired from playing professionally after that 1981 season.
He hit .258 with 34 home runs and 251 RBI in his time in the big leagues.
Cubbage was a minor league manager for several years before he got the call to serve as the Mets' interim manager for the final seven games of the 1991 season. He was 3-4 in that span.
He was a coach for the Mets, Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox and was a scout for the Washington Nationals when the team won the World Series in 2019.
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