Astros Wear High Socks for Longtime Coach Gordy MacKenzie
By arykoff
Earlier this week, the Astros announced that longtime Astros minor league coach and scout Gordy MacKenzie passed away on Tuesday. MacKenzie was 77 years old and had served as a coach for the Astros Gulf Coast League team since 2008. He first joined the Astros as a minor league instructor (1999–2001) and later returned to the organization as a scout from 2004–08 before joining the Gulf Coast League club’s coaching staff.
Astros Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken released the following statement regarding MacKenzie’s passing:
“This is truly a sad time for the Astros family. Gordy was an outstanding baseball man that was widely respected not only in our organization, but throughout all of baseball. He will be greatly missed. We send our heartfelt condolences to Gordy’s family and many friends.”
MacKenzie was known throughout the organization for his honesty and straightforward assessment of players, which helped to make everyone better as a result. MacKenzie was also known for another signature trait — he always wore his socks high.
On Sunday, the entire Astros team (including coaches) wore high socks for their afternoon game against the Red Sox at Fenway in MacKenzie’s memory.
On Friday night, Astros affiliates at every level honored MacKenzie by wearing high socks.
Oklahoma City Redhawks (AAA):
Corpus Christi Hooks (AA):
Lancaster JetHawks (Class A Advanced)
Quad Cities River Bandits (Class A)
Tri-City ValleyCats (Class A short season)
Greeneville Astros (Rookie)
GCL Astros (Gulf Coast League — Rookie)
Dominican Summer League (Rookie)
Even Team Rehab participated in the tribute. All Astros players — major and minor league — rehabbing at the team’s facilities in Kissimmee, Florida, wore high socks for MacKenzie:
MacKenzie’s distinguished career in baseball began in 1956 when he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Kansas City Athletics. MacKenzie, who was a catcher, would make his Major League debut on August 13, 1961 (53 years ago today). After eight minor league seasons as a player, he would serve as a minor league manager at the Class A, Double A and Triple A levels for a combined 16 seasons, which included stints in the Washington (1966–67), New York-NL (1970–73), Montreal (1975–76), Kansas City (1977–79), Detroit (1983–85), San Francisco (1989) and Cleveland (1995) minor league systems. MacKenzie won the Carolina League Championship while managing Kinston in 1995 and later was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Thank you to all our Astros affiliates and players for this wonderful and touching show of respect and admiration in MacKenzie’s memory.
- Amanda
@amandarykoff
