Stephen Francis Phillips was born on May 18,1963 and is an American baseball analyst and former baseball executive.
23 Facts About Steve Phillips
1.
2.
Steve Phillips served as the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997 through 2003.
3.
Steve Phillips worked as a baseball analyst for ESPN from 2005 until his dismissal in October 2009.
4.
Steve Phillips currently serves as an MLB analyst on TSN and TSN 1050 radio as well as the host of The Leadoff Spot on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio.
5.
Steve Phillips was offered a football scholarship to Northwestern University after high school.
6.
Steve Phillips signed a letter of intent, but opted instead to sign a professional baseball contract after being drafted by the New York Mets.
7.
Steve Phillips attended De La Salle Collegiate High School in Detroit, Michigan, and later earned a psychology degree from the University of Michigan during baseball's off-seasons.
8.
Steve Phillips was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1981 amateur draft.
9.
Steve Phillips was named director of minor league operations on October 2,1991, and was promoted first to assistant general manager on December 4,1995, then general manager on July 16,1997.
10.
Steve Phillips is credited with drafting David Wright, Scott Kazmir, and Lastings Milledge, and signing Jose Reyes.
11.
Additionally, Steve Phillips is criticized for acquiring aging and ineffective players with large contracts such as Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Pedro Astacio, Mike Bordick, Bobby Bonilla, Rickey Henderson, Kenny Rogers, and Jeromy Burnitz.
12.
Steve Phillips had an uneasy, if not volatile, relationship with manager Bobby Valentine, and when Phillips decided to fire Valentine before the 2003 season, many expected the GM to be next.
13.
Steve Phillips traded future star, Jason Bay, and attempted to trade star shortstop Jose Reyes to the Cleveland Indians.
14.
Steve Phillips is often erroneously blamed for trading Kazmir to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano on the July 31,2004 trade deadline.
15.
Steve Phillips was away from the team for a total of eight days.
16.
Steve Phillips was hired as a baseball color analyst for ESPN prior to the 2005 baseball season, and was a regular on the nightly programs Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter.
17.
Steve Phillips primarily served as an in-game analyst during Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts through 2008, moving to the Sunday Night Baseball booth the following season.
18.
Steve Phillips served as an analyst on Monday Night Baseball.
19.
On October 21,2009 Steve Phillips revealed that he had been involved in an extramarital affair with a 22-year-old ESPN production assistant.
20.
Around the MLB trade deadline, Steve Phillips co-hosted a few three-hour radio shows on the station as well.
21.
Later, Steve Phillips co-hosted Evan and Steve Phillips with Evan Cohen in the same morning time slot.
22.
In 2012, Steve Phillips was tabbed to serve as a radio analyst for a limited schedule of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games distributed nationally by Compass Media Networks.
23.
Steve Phillips was a color commentator alongside Gary Thorne and John Kruk in Major League Baseball 2K9, Major League Baseball 2K10, Major League Baseball 2K11, Major League Baseball 2K12, and MLB 2K13.