Former major league outfielder Brant Alyea passed away on February 4, according to an obituary from a Philadelphia funeral home. He was 83.
Alyea, a native of New Jersey, played collegiately at Hofstra. He entered the professional ranks as a signee of the Reds in 1962. Alyea played one year in the Cincinnati farm system before he was drafted by the Washington Senators. In the first few years of the draft, teams could select a player who had spent one year in the farm system of another MLB organization. The right-handed hitter spent the ’64 season in the minors before debuting with Washington on September 12, 1965.
Called to pinch hit for Don Blasingame with two runners on in the sixth inning, Alyea popped a three-run homer off Rudy May in his first career at-bat. He hit two homers in eight games as a rookie and spent the next two years in the minors. Alyea returned to the big leagues in 1968. He posted above-average power numbers in limited playing time over the next few seasons.
Alyea played for the Senators through 1969. Washington traded him to the Twins for reliever Joe Grzenda over the 1969-70 offseason. The 6’3″ Alyea connected on 16 homers with an excellent .291/.366/.531 line over a career-high 290 plate appearances for Minnesota in 1970. He slumped to a .177/.282/.241 slash the next season, though.
The A’s selected Alyea in the Rule 5 draft going into the 1972 campaign. Oakland traded him to the Cardinals that May but reacquired him two months later. That was a fortunate development for Alyea, as the A’s went on to win the World Series. He didn’t play in the majors after that, retiring following a ’73 season in Triple-A with the Red Sox. He finished his MLB career with a .247/.326/.421 slash line over parts of six seasons. Alyea hit 38 homers and drove in 148 runs in a little less than 1000 trips to the plate.
MLBTR sends our condolences to Alyea’s family, friends and loved ones.
Dang, two old school baseball fellas died in the same day, that sucks. May y’all rest in peace.
That played on the same team at the same time. ’68 and ’69
I get what you’re saying. looks like a lot of players from my era are dying off now. I remember Alyea mainly from his years with the Twins and Jim Hannan was a pretty decent pitcher in the late 60’s.
RIP sir. Living in Pittsburgh when I was a kid meant never seeing most of the AL teams playing back in the 60s except for a game of the week on a Saturday.
Missed out on seeing a lot of guys like Mr. Alyea play. Glad you got to play some Major League ball and had some great stories to tell your grandkids.
I never knew there was another player named Brant. Rest in Paradise sir.
I’d be curious if former MLB player Brant Brown was named after Brant Alyea
Except we seemed to be inundated by NBC with Giants-Dodgers and Cubs-Cardinals games almost every Saturday. When they’d show an Angels-Yankees or Tigers-Orioles game, I’d make sure I was home that Saturday!
Growing up in the 60’s for me that meant Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubeck and the game of the week on Saturdays – never missed it!
“From Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, it’s Major League Baseball’s Game of the Week. Hello, I’m Curt Gowdy along with Tony Kubek…” Magical to this kid of the 60’s.
What a first at bat! RIP. Condolences to family.
RIP Brant…..
RIP.
Alyea also has the distinction of being mentioned in Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, that is pretty spiffy too and played for Ted Williams
May Brent Alyea Rest in Peace
Lefty do you remember what Bouton said about him?
It wasn’t much, but Jim talked to him about Ted Williams
And Brent also told Jim he was interested in maybe for trading for him for a playoff push
I think they knew each other, but as to how well, I don’t know
I re-read the parts in his book this morning
Loved his 1970 season. Still have a sharp 1971 Topps card that showed his stats that year.
RIP slugger.
Me too! Seems like I remember he was a sensation that year for hitting a slew of homers early-on.
I recall listening to the Labor Day double-header between Twins and Brewers in 1970 when I lived in Iowa. He hit a grand slam and a 3-run homer in the first game for 7 RBI, then drove in 2 in the second game. Double checked this on Baseball Reference, knowing it was Memorial Day or Labor Day. That’s what baseball gives us, memories of our never- ending childhood. Maybe the same with other sports, but it seems more special with baseball. Rest in peace Brant, many will remember you, you were one of the few to ever play MLB compared with the hundreds of millions that ever lived.
Remember him hitting a ninth inning homer to break up Wilbur Wood’s no hitter. Tied the game but the White Sox later won in the 10th on a Ed Spezio homer. Harry Carey was announcing for the Sox and was an all time great call.
RIP
Co-holder of the Opening Day single game RBI record, with seven.
Brant was one of the first to teach me as a kid to NOT believe the press. He spoke to a spoke to a sportswriter. The reporter wrote “Brant Alyea says he knows more about hitting than Ted Williams.”
What he actually said was “I know how I hit better than Ted Williams.”
Can you stop posting obituaries please. I don’t come to read baseball news to get all upset about peoples’ passing
Thanks