Longtime GM Fred Claire -- who coined Dodger Blue -- passes away

Fred Claire, a respected former MLB executive who served as general manager of the 1988 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, passed away Monday. He was 91 years old.

In a long tenure across multiple roles with the Dodgers, Claire was not only instrumental in building the 1988 championship team but also in branding the phrase “Dodger Blue” that has become synonymous with the iconic franchise.

“The Dodgers are grieving the passing of Fred Claire, a longtime key fixture of our organization,” said Stan Kasten, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Fred brought many victories and Dodger legends to our franchise, as well as a 1988 World Series title, and we are forever grateful for his leadership during such a memorable era. Our hearts go out to his wife Sheryl and his family.”

Claire is survived by his wife and his children, Jeff, Jennifer and Kim.

Born in 1935 in Jamestown, Ohio, Claire grew up following the Reds and living above his father’s drug store. The family moved to suburban Los Angeles in 1950, and Claire pursued his bachelor’s degree in journalism at San Jose State University. He was still in junior college when he had an article published in Baseball Magazine making the case for turning the Pacific Coast League into a Major League.

For more than a decade, Claire worked as a sportswriter and editor for several California publications. He was assigned to cover the Dodgers for the Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram in 1969. When one of the assistants in the club’s public relations department was fired, Claire expressed interest in the job. Thus began his long association with the team. In hiring Ross Porter, who served as a play-by-play broadcaster for the club from 1977 to 2004, Claire was also credited with coining the “Dodger Blue” phrase and launching the “Think Blue” campaign.

“What I really had in mind in marketing was to create something that would really give a strong, almost collegiate feel about a professional baseball team, the Dodgers,” he told Rob Neyer on the SABRcast in 2020. “And Michigan [had] ‘Big Blue.’ So I came up with using ‘Dodger Blue’ as a theme. We would play an exhibition game with USC, and I remember establishing an advertising campaign, ‘Wear Blue.’ So that was the start of it.”

In April 1987, Dodgers GM Al Campanis made damaging remarks on ABC’s “Nightline” regarding the perceived capabilities of Black individuals in executive roles. Campanis was removed from his duties within 48 hours, and Claire took over.

The Dodgers were a fourth-place team in 1987, and little was expected of them the following year. But Claire helped engineer a dramatic turnaround.

Claire improved the club’s defense by acquiring shortstop Alfredo Griffin from the A's. He traded for relievers Jay Howell and Jesse Orosco to address the bullpen. And his biggest acquisition was the signing of free-agent outfielder Kirk Gibson, who wound up winning the National League MVP honor before hitting one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history in Game 1 of the World Series.

The Dodgers beat the heavily favored A’s in the Series.

"People say it wasn't that talented of a team," Claire told MLB.com many years later. "Oh, yes. Show me a pitching staff that year that had an Orel Hershiser, who was the best in the game, the best in decades? We had Tim Belcher, who we had brought in from Oakland. We had Tim Leary. We had the success of Jay Howell in the bullpen. We had a good defense, as it showed. Bringing in [center fielder] John Shelby in 1987 [from the Orioles] -- he did a tremendous job for us."

Claire continued in the GM role through the 1997 season. When Robert Murdoch’s News Corporation purchased the team from the O’Malley family in early 1998, Claire was initially kept on board. But in May of that year, Dodgers officials orchestrated the trade sending Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich and Bobby Bonilla without Claire’s knowledge. When Claire publicly voiced his displeasure with the deal, he was replaced by Tommy Lasorda.

In his later years, Claire served as a columnist and analyst for MLB.com. He co-authored two books -- “Fred Claire: My 30 Years in Dodger Blue” in 2004 and “Extra Innings: Fred Claire’s Journey to City of Hope and Finding a World Championship Team” in 2020. The latter covered not only his career but his successful battle with an aggressive skin cancer that spread to his jaw. Claire used his experience to raise money for cancer research.

“I think the highlight of my life and Sheryl’s life is we raised a half million dollars through two golf tournaments,” he said on the SABRcast. “All the former Dodgers and baseball people, everyone showed up. … We did something that can help make a difference.”