DETROIT, MICHIGAN – JUNE 25: The Philadelphia Phillies logo is pictured on a hat during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on June 25, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
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John Morris, a former big-league pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants has died at age 84.
Morris was a native of Lewes, Delaware and was drafted by the nearby Philadelphia Phillies for his age-18 season in 1960, though he did not debut for the Phillies until six years later. Morris’s death was reported with an obituary in Lewes’ Cape Gazette.
After appearing in just 13 games with the Phillies as a rookie, Morris returned to the team’s minor league system for the next season before joining the Baltimore Orioles. He then pitched for the short-lived Seattle Pilots franchise and was part of their transition into the Milwaukee Brewers. He ended his career in the San Francisco Giants’ organization.
“The highlight of Morris’s career came on May 13 and May 19, 1970 as he threw complete games in back-to-back starts,” according to MLB Trade Rumors’ Nick Deeds. “Morris’s May 19 start against the Oakland A’s saw him out-duel All-Star and future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter on the mound as Milwaukee won 6-3. Morris’s solid season as a swing man earned him a full-time look in the Milwaukee bullpen for the 1971 campaign, and he posted a 3.72 ERA in 67 2/3 innings of work across 43 appearances for the team.”
Though his big-league career was relatively short lived, it marked the realization of a lifelong dream for Morris and he spent more than a decade playing professional baseball after being drafted by the Phillies as a teenager. In total, he appeared in 132 games across eight major-league seasons and logged a career 3.92 ERA.
Morris died in Scottsdale, Arizona and is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren, according to the Cape Gazette.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterchawaga/2025/10/26/former-phillies-teenage-draft-pick-pitcher-john-morris-dies/
