Bill Plummer, former Spokane Indian and Seattle Mariner, dies at 76
Bill Plummer, whose half-century in professional baseball included seasons with Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, a year with the Spokane Indians and another at the helm of the Seattle Mariners, has died at the age of 76.
Plummer suffered a heart attack Tuesday at his home in Redding, California. A lifelong resident of Northern California, he played six full seasons with the Reds, mainly as the backup to Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench. He also had a lengthy career as a minor-league manager.
Signed out of high school by the St. Louis Cardinals, Plummer saw his first major-league action with the Chicago Cubs in 1968. He joined the Cincinnati organization the next year and, after three solid seasons at Triple-A Indianapolis, he made the big-league roster in 1972. While he was there, the Reds won the World Series in 1975 and 1976.
In 1978, he joined the Mariners as a free agent. He split that season with the M’s and their Triple-A club in San Jose, California, then came to Spokane the following spring, when the M’s teamed up with Spokane. He did most of the catching and batted .255 in 116 games. The next year, he managed Seattle’s California League club in San Jose. In 1981, his Wausau, Wisconsin, team won the Midwest League championship with an 84-48 record.
After several seasons managing in the Southern Association and Pacific Coast League, he took over the Mariners in 1992, replacing another former Spokane player, Jim LeFebvre, When the M’s stumbled through a 64-98 season, the Mariners turned to Lou Piniella, already well-established as a winner. Piniella spent a decade and made the most of the team’s developing talents: Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Omar Vizquel and Jay Buhner.
Plummer returned to the minors and managed another 12 years, two of them at Yakima (2003-04). He retired following the 2013 season. After 53 years in the game, he had played 15 seasons, all or part of 10 in the big leagues, and managed 21 with 1,372 wins and 1,371 defeats.