Davey Lopes, one of baseball’s premier base stealers and a former Houston Astro, died Wednesday at the age of 80 following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He passed away in Rhode Island.
Lopes spent the final two seasons of his playing career with the Astros, joining Houston in August 1986 after stops with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago Cubs, and retiring at the end of the 1987 season. Though his time in Houston was brief, it capped a remarkable 16-year playing career in which he stole 557 bases—26th in MLB history—while batting .263 with 155 home runs.
He was best known for his decade with the Dodgers, where he formed one quarter of what became the longest-running starting infield in major league history alongside Ron Cey, Bill Russell, and Steve Garvey. A four-time All-Star and 1978 Gold Glove winner, Lopes led the majors with 77 stolen bases in 1975 and the National League with 63 in 1976. He won a World Series with Los Angeles in 1981.
After retiring as a player, Lopes embarked on a 30-year coaching career that took him to the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, where he managed for three seasons from 2000-2002, and six other clubs. He won his second World Series ring as the Philadelphia Phillies’ first-base coach in 2008, where his expertise on the basepaths helped transform the team’s running game. He retired from baseball in 2017 after 45 years in the game.
He is survived by his brothers, Patrick and John, and his sisters, Jean, Judith, Mary, and Nina.