John Christopher Vukovich (July 31, 1947 – March 8, 2007), nicknamed "Vuk" or "Johnny Vuk", was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

utility infielder In baseball, a utility player or utility man is a player who has the ability to play more than one position in the field and is primarily used as a substitute. The term super utility player may be used to refer to a player who can play all or mos ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, and coach in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

,John Vukovich
URL accessed December 16, 2009
Archived
12/16/09 best known for his years with the

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

.John Vukovich
at baseballbiography.com, URL accessed December 16, 2009
Archived
12/16/09 He played in parts of ten seasons between and for the Phillies,

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

, and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

. Vukovich is also known for recording the lowest career MLB

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(BA) (.161) of any non-pitcher with 500 or more

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s (AB).

Personal life

Vukovich was of Serbian descent and was born in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, and grew up in Sutter Creek, California. His father was the baseball coach for the local

Amador High School Amador High School, located in Sutter Creek, California, United States is one of two public high schools in Amador County. Originally known as "Amador County High School" at its inception in 1911, the school's name changed to "Sutter Creek Uni ...

where Vukovich attended.

Baseball career

Player

Vukovich was traded along with Don Money and Bill Champion by the Phillies to the Brewers for

Jim Lonborg James Reynold Lonborg (born April 16, 1942) is an American former professional baseball right-handed starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies. Though nicknam ...

Ken Brett Kenneth Alven Brett (September 18, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yank ...

, Ken Sanders and

Earl Stephenson Chester Earl Stephenson (born July 31, 1947) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. The left-hander was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 3rd round of the 1967 amateur draft and played for the Cubs (1971), Milwaukee Brewers (1972 ...

on October 31, 1972. He was a backup for the 1975 Reds World Series-winning team, although he was traded back to the Phillies before the playoffs began, and also for the 1980 Phillies World Series-winning team. He actually began the 1975 season as the Reds' starting third baseman, but was benched in early April after hitting only .250 with three extra base hits and only one RBI. The Reds moved

Pete Rose Peter Edward Rose Sr. (April 14, 1941 – September 30, 2024), nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a member of ...

to third base and platooned Dan Driessen and George Foster in left at first, but Foster eventually won the left-field job full time. Vukovich spent the remainder of his time with the Reds as a late-inning defensive replacement before being released in May 1975. He batted above .200 only twice in his ten-year career, appearing in 277

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

hitting 6

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, with 44

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

, and a career .956

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

. His career batting average was .161, the lowest in Major League Baseball history for any batter (non-pitcher) with over 550 plate appearances. During his second period of playing with the Phillies, he became beloved to the fans even though he seldom appeared in games; he was seen as a blue-collar player and the ordinary fan respected his effort.

Coaching

After his playing career ended, he joined the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

as a coach, and in he was

for a day after Jim Frey was fired (he split that day's doubleheader). In , he rejoined the Phillies, and after Lee Elia was fired with nine games to go, he took over as skipper, going 5-4 the rest of the season. Vukovich stayed with the Phillies as a coach from 1988 to 2004, and was considered for the managing job when

Terry Francona Terrence Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959), nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/G ...

was fired in . The job eventually went to Vukovich's childhood friend, Larry Bowa. Vukovich was diagnosed with a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

early in the season and subsequently had surgery. He would return later that season, and remained on the coaching staff until being named special assistant to the

General manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

following the season. Along with Bowa and Milt Thompson, Vukovich is one of just three Phillies to go to the World Series as both a player and coach for the club.

Death

In late 2006, he again exhibited symptoms similar to his previous tumor; he died at

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University. With 937 licensed b ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

at age 59. The 2007 Phillies honored him by wearing a uniform patch on their right sleeve with his nickname, "Vuk".Vukovich dies at 59; won Series rings with Phils, Reds
at espn.com, URL accessed December 16, 2009
Archived
12/16/09 At the time of his death Vukovich was a resident of

Voorhees Township, New Jersey Voorhees Township is a township in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is a suburb in the Delaware Valley / Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3 ...

.Mandel, Ken
"Phils pay respect to Vukovich"

, March 9, 2007. Accessed March 17, 2011. "A private funeral will be held Tuesday near Vukovich's Voorhees, N.J., home, and many members of the Phillies organization are planning to attend by traveling to Philadelphia on a chartered flight."

References

External links

* * *
John Vukovich
at Baseball Almanac

at The Deadball Era *
Curt Schilling's Tribute to John Vukovich
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vukovich, John 1947 births 2007 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in Pennsylvania Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball bench coaches Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Philadelphia Phillies players Eugene Emeralds players Reading Phillies players Huron Phillies players Oklahoma City 89ers players Toledo Mud Hens players Indianapolis Indians players Tidewater Tides players Spartanburg Phillies players Milwaukee Brewers players Cincinnati Reds players Baseball players from Sacramento, California Chicago Cubs managers Philadelphia Phillies coaches Philadelphia Phillies managers Sportspeople from Voorhees Township, New Jersey Baseball players from Camden County, New Jersey American people of Serbian descent American River Beavers baseball players Chicago Cubs coaches Sportspeople from the Delaware Valley 20th-century American sportsmen