Phil Regan, then the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, talks to the media during a press conference at Camden Yards in July 1995. P-J file photo

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column by late sports editor Jim Riggs appeared in The Post-Journal on July 22, 1995. The subject of the piece is Phil Regan, who was then the manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Regan made his pro debut with the Jamestown Falcons of the PONY League in 1956. Now 82, Regan was named the New York Mets’ interim pitching coach earlier this week.

Recently, Phil Regan was on the field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards preparing to manage his Baltimore Orioles against the Minnesota Twins. Thirty-nine years ago his base of operations was Municipal Stadium, now College Stadium, in Jamestown when he was a pitcher for the Jamestown Falcons. It was a long time ago, but Regan hasn’t forgotten his first year in professional baseball.

“At that time I was 18 years old,” Regan recalled. “I was really just happy to be in professional baseball and making $250 a month.”

Regan, a right-handed pitcher, had quite a season. He was 17-9 with a 3.66 ERA for the PONY League team.

“I guess the thing I remember the most is every time we played Wellsville, I seemed to pitch against them,” he said. “I probably pitched against them seven times.

“I guess the other thing I remember was our bus driver, named Jerry Klein. I still remember the song he sang, the cigar he smoked and selling paddle pops. He used to yell, ‘Give your tongue a sleigh ride.'”

Coming to Jamestown was a big step for Regan, a native of Otsego, Michigan.

“I had no idea where I was going,” he recalled. “I’m from a small town in Michigan of maybe 50 to 100 people and anything was going to be bigger than that.”

That Jamestown team had a 52-62 record and finished fifth in the league that finished with six teams in 1956.

“Even though at that time we didn’t have a very good team in the standings, there were four or five guys off that team that played in the major leagues,” Regan said.

In addition to himself, other members of the 1956 Jamestown team to play in the majors were Bob Rodgers, Frank Kostro and Bubba Morton.

Four years later, after going 9-3 by the all-star break with Detroit’s Class AAA Denver team, Regan was called up to the Tigers and was in the majors for the next 13 years. Being in the major leagues was a thrill, but more so with Detroit. He lived 150 miles away and grew up listening to the heroics of Detroit players on the radio and suddenly they were his teammates.

Regan’s best year with Detroit was 1963 when he was 15-9, but in 1965 he had dropped to 1-5 and was sent to Triple A where he was 9-1 for Syracuse. In December of that year, Regan’s career changed for the best when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I was happy to go there,” he recalled. “I was just kind of languishing in Detroit; I wasn’t pitching a whole lot. Then I got to the Dodgers, who were the World Champions. To me, it was a step up.”

He added: “It changed my life because I went there and I had been a starting pitcher and over there I became a relief pitcher.”

And an excellent one. Regan appeared in 65 games, all in relief, for the Dodgers in 1966 and had a 14-1 record, 21 saves and a 1.62 ERA to be named the National League Fireman and Comeback Player of the Year. With that type of talent lurking in the bullpen to finish up wins for the Dodgers’ talented starters, Regan became known as “The Vulture.”

Regan’s relief success slipped over the next two seasons and he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1968 where he went 10-5 with 25 saves. The following season he was 12-6 with 17 saves during the Cubs’ great year that faltered at the end when the Miracle Mets won the Eastern Division title.

While at Chicago, Regan crossed paths with a pitcher having a future Jamestown connection. Former Jamestown Expos pitching coach and manager Q.V. Lowe was a Cubs player and then was the pitching coach for one season.

“I remember him, but he was a player,” Regan said.

Regan’s playing career came to an end in 1972 when he appeared in five games for the Cubs and then was sold to the cross-town White Sox and he pitched in 10 games.

The next year Regan was out of professional baseball and coached the baseball team at Grand Valley State College in Allendale, Michigan, through 1982.

“I didn’t really think about managing until I got out of (professional) baseball and went into college coaching in Grand Valley State,” Regan said. “I thought I might like to get back into pro ball and maybe have a chance to manage some day.”

He was Seattle’s minor league pitching instructor form 1983 to 1984 and then the Mariners’ pitching coach from 1984 to 1986. For the next six years he was the Dodgers’ advance scout and last year was Cleveland’s pitching coach. And all the while Regan knew he wanted to manage.

“After getting into it (pro ball again) and having a chance, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Regan said.

And Baltimore offered Regan the chance last fall.

“It’s thrilling to fulfill your dream,” he said. “Anytime you do that and you work at it for 10 years and you hope you’ll eventually get a chance somewhere along the line and then you do, it’s a big thrill.”

Regan played under some great managers and he learned a lot. But he’s not a copycat.

“I got a letter from (former Dodger executive) Buzzi Bavasi and he said, ‘Don’t try to be Leo Durocher; don’t try to be Walt Alston; just be Phil Regan,'” Regan said. “I think when you try to be somebody else, the players know that, too.”

After talking with Regan, the Orioles suffered a disappointing second straight home loss to the lowly Minnesota Twins. But then the Orioles went on the road and won four straight in Chicago before the All-Star break. And perhaps that was the start of things to come.

“I’m a little disappointed we haven’t done better, but I think we will in the second half,” Regan said.

For sure, the team will finish with a better winning percentage than the 1956 Jamestown Falcons.