The Pirates announced today that former major league catcher Ed Ott passed away today at the age of 72. “We are saddened by the loss of such a beloved member of the Pirates family,” said Pirates President Travis Williams in a statement. “Ed spent seven of his eight years in the Major Leagues with the Pirates and was a valued member of our World Series Championship team in 1979. It was great to see him last summer when he was in Pittsburgh to support former teammate Kent Tekulve at our Hall of Fame induction ceremony.”
Born in Muncy, Pennsylvania in 1951, Ott was part of both the football and wrestling teams at his local high school although he did not play baseball there on account of the school not having a baseball team. Instead, Ott participated in American Legion Baseball during the summers as a third baseman before being drafted in the 23rd round of the 1970 draft by the Pirates, at which point the club converted him from the infield to the outfield. Ott spent three seasons as an outfielder in the Pirates’ minor league system before the club once again asked him to change positions, this time moving him behind the plate.
While Ott had previously made his major league debut in 1974 as a bench bat with a brief two-game cameo in right field, he’d spend the next six seasons of his career as a catcher for the Pirates. After making just 10 trips to the plate across his first two big league seasons combined, Ott impressed in a 27 game stint as an emergency catcher behind injured backstops Manny Sanguillén and Duffy Dyer. While his playing time remained limited, Ott made the most of the opportunity by slashing .308/.349/.359, an above average slash for the era. That winter, the Pirates shipped Sanguillén to the A’s as compensation for hiring away manager Chuck Tanner, a deal that opened the door for Ott to take on primary catcing duties in the 1977 season.
In his first season as a major league regular, Ott performed well with a respectable .264/.334/.395 slash line in 347 trips to the plate across 104 games while spending 712 2/3 innings behind the plate. That combination of reliability behind the plate and roughly league average offense continued for the rest of Ott’s time with the Pirates, as he slashed .268/.316/.383 across the next three seasons while appearing in at least 112 games during each season. Ott is most famous for his role as a key piece on Pittsburgh’s 1979 team, which won 98 games before sweeping the Reds in the NLCS and being crowned World Series champions after beating the Orioles in a seven-game set. It’s the fifth and most recent championship in franchise history. Ott went 7-for-25 during that postseason, knocking in three runs during the World Series and scoring the game-winning run against Baltimore in Game 2.
Ott’s time in Pittsburgh came to an end following the 1980 season when he was traded to the then-California Angels alongside southpaw Mickey Mahler in exchange for All Star first baseman Jason Thompson. Ott appeared in 75 games for the Angels in 1981, though he batted just .217 with .545 OPS before undergoing surgery on his rotator cuff that winter, causing him to miss the 1982 campaign. Ott spent the next two seasons in the Angels’ minor league system before retiring in 1984. Following his playing career, Ott went on to serve as a minor league manager in the Pirates organization and a big league coach with the Astros and Tigers.
We at MLBTR join the rest of the baseball world in sending our condolences to Ott’s family, friends, loved ones, and former teammates and colleagues around the league.
I’ll never forget every member of that ’79 Pirates team, it’s what got me hooked on baseball.
RIP Mr. Ott, and thoughts & prayers to his loved ones.
RIP to him and also UL Washington, two former Pirates gone today
Did not know that UL passed as well. Remember him being in Pgh at the end of his career. RIP UL …..
Roberto – I didn’t know either, hadn’t heard that name in decades.
And yet I still remember the toothpick!
Rest in peace UL …. thoughts and prayers to family and friends.
Larry Demery a former Pirate also passed away. I was hoping MLB Trade Rumors would report Demery’s death to honor him.
I missed about Larry too. I don’t think local Pittsburgh media mentioned it at all.
The Pirates had a press release. I sent to MLB Trade Rumors also.
And another Pittsburgh icon , football , Andy Russel
I heard about Andy.
I read about Larry’s passing on the team’s website yesterday
Players from my younger years are passing at a high rate lately so to everyone who posts here, my advice, don’t take life for granted as you never know when it might come to an end
RIP, Larry, Ed and U.L
Condolences to your respective families
Wasn’t Demery the guy with the funky short-arm delivery? I have occasionally wondered why his career ended so young.
RIP to him as well.
Jose DeLeon is another recent Pirate loss; he did get a MLBTR article.
Not much on Demery and his arm injuries. He was not a bad pitcher.
Larry and his brother, who also made the majors, are from my hometown and are a source of local pride.
My dad went to school with them and played baseball with them.
Wikipedia has two different dates for Demery’s death. And Baseball-Reference still lists him as alive.
RIP Ed…..
RIP Eddie. You were fun to watch ad a key piece in the We are Family Bucs of 1979. Prayers for peace and strength for your family and friends.
Sad. I had the chance to meet Ed at a Pirates fantasy camp 20 years ago. He sure had some interesting stories about the 1979 run. RIP.
A great Yankee. Rip
“I’ll never forget”..It’s hard to believe I have such vivid memories of Barry Bonds, Dave Parker, Kent Tekulve and Willie Stargell on that ’79 team, yet can barely remember Ed Ott. I guess people remember what was most important to them. Anyways, R.I.P, Mr. Ott.
Had a great Strato card in 79. Rip Ed.
UL gone to the sky with a toothpick no doubt.
Mlbfan, vivid memories of Barry Bonds on the ’79 Pirates?? Nope, faulty memories perhaps. 1986 maybe, but not ’79. I’m less surprised you don’t recall Ed Ott now.
“Vivid memories of Barry”..Did that make you feel superior, you blowhard? Some of us didn’t start watching last week like you, so we do forget and conflate from time to time.
RIP Mr. Ott. You wore a halo as a Angel
His wrestling background made him great at blocking the plate back when that was allowed.
I remember him being the lefty half of a platoon with Steve Nicosia on that 79 team. And how happy I was as a HS kid when they won the Series.
Thanks for the great memories and RIP.
Yup my strato team was heavily platooned in 89 , Os had a guy named Roenicke with crazy spilts too. Weaver loved platooning
79
Son of Mel Ott, no?
No. Mel died 2 years prior to Ed being born. Not related as far as is known.
A solid player that I liked quite a bit. My condolences to his family
RIP
RIP. Another one from my childhood moving on to the Field of Dreams.
You said it, sascoach.
I remember Ed Ott well. Really sad to hear this.
RIP Ed.
Remember seeing his Topps baseball card and the back of the card said Ed had the shortest name in MLB history.
So sorry to hear about this I grew up in Hughesville, Pa not far from Muncy where Ed is from. As a child my little brother was a huge Pirates fan and my grandparents lived in Pittsburgh so we drove there and went to the Phillies – Pirates game and Ed Ott was coming up to bat and my little brother said come on Ed Ott hit a home run and he did! One of my families favorite baseball stories RIP Ed Ott!
A low point in Ott’s career was August 12, 1977.
In a game against the Mets at Three Rivers Stadium, he slid into second base trying to break up a double play. He slammed into second baseman Felix Millan like a NFL linebacker, knocking Millan to the ground with his face in the dirt.
Millan got up and punched Ott in the face. Ott responded by picking up the much smaller Millan and body-slamming him to the ground.
The benches cleared, Ott was ejected, and Millan was carried off on a stretcher with a broken clavicle and dislocated shoulder, injuries that ended his season and MLB career. He then played three seasons in Japan before retiring.
Obviously an unfortunate incident that didn’t mean Ott was a bad guy.
He was a bad guy he ended a good guys career by sliding with intent to injure. Bush leaguer!!!
That was an ugly incident. Millan actually punched Ott in the jaw with baseball in hand, then Ott slammed him down, ending Millan’s career. Being a Mets fan, I always despised Ott after that.
I also thought it ended Milan’s career, but he went to have three good years playing in Japan before retiring.
Red Hot Ed Ott.
RIP Ed. No bs
RIP, had the privilege to meet him as a child at a tigers game with my church youth group. We went on the field and did some drills and played catch with the Christian players and coaches. He told us he had the record for shortest full name in MLB history haha, will never forget it!
Seunghwan Oh
RIP.
We’re losing a lot of that generation now. The “We Are Family” Pirates looked like a fun team. Bring a part of it had to have been special, even by MLB standards.
Every time I hear that song it reminds me of the’79 Buc-O’s. Great team. RIP
1977 Rookie All Star Team:
C PIT Ed Ott
1B BAL Eddie Murray
2B TEX Bump Wills
3B OAK Wayne Gross
SS SDP Bill Almond
UT TOR Bob Bailor
LF MON Warren Cromartie
LF DET Steve Kemp
CF SEA Ruppert Jones
CF MON Andre Dawson
OF SDP Gene Richards
DH OAK Mitchell Paige
SP NYY Ron Guidry*
SP DET Dave Rozema
SP SFG Bob Knepper*
SP HOU Mark Lemongello
SP SDP Bob Shirley*
RP STL Buddy Schultz*
RP MIL Bob McClure*
RP PHI Warren Brusstar
RP SEA Enrique Romo
RP CHC Willie Hernandez*
Lot of interesting names on that list and a few specific to the Pirates. Romo was a productive closer for awhile. Paige had been a Pirates farmhand. Ott, of course
And perhaps the worst Pirates contract of the late 90’s, Steve Kemp
The franchise that once had past their primes like George Hendrick and Derek “Houseboat” Bell, also had this guy
You left out the disaster that was Amos Otis in a Bucs’ uniform. Spot on with Hendrick and Bell, though. Those two are on the Mt. Rushmore of terrible Pirates who were good elsewhere. A strong case could be made for any of Kemp, Overbay or Jeromy Burnitz to be there as well.
It’s absolutely silly how many entries Bob McClure has in the Career Brewers record books. (Not saying anything bad about McClure, he had his uses, it just makes me giggle.)
That 77 OF is super fun.
79 Series was a very early World Series for me, I remember Ed Ott. I’m sorry to hear that he passed.
As a Mets fan, I of course always remembered the Millan fight. But I also remember thinking as a kid, “Hey, this guy only has five letters in his name!”
Two of my favorite 2B of the 70s careers’ effectively ended in 1977. Ed Ott, after Felix Millan took exception to an Ed Ott late hard slide and took a swing at Ott with the ball in his hand, pile drove Felix Millan into the turf shattering his shoulder and ending his career. Later that season Rennie Stennett, who never learned to slide, was having his best season. He shattered his right leg leaping into the bag on an extra base hit. He was lost the remainder of the season and possibly cost the Pirates the NL East. Stennett was never the same.
I always hated Jason Thompson as a kid, compounded by the fact that they traded Ott for him. I get that Pena was the future at that point, but man, Thompson always had an inopportune strikeout or ready-made double play grounder up his sleeve at the worst time. I’ll go to my grave holding onto the belief that the Pirates could have won the division in 1983 if Thompson would have been half what he was the prior season.
Yes, he was a frustrating player. Always expected him to become a 30+ homer guy but it never came. That was a strange season. No longer anything resembling The Lumber Company, they were scrappy. Always liked Mike “Hit Man” Easler. Had to look it up but Madlock and Parker were still Pirates
Was tough as nails old school C. RIP
He could get his entire name on a vanity license plate in any state.