Michael Lee Cubbage, was born July 21, 1950, in Charlottesville, Virginia and passed away on August 10, 2024 after a near year-long battle with cancer, his wife, Jan, confirmed Sunday night, August 11. Cubbage was 74 years old.
Affectionately called “Cubby” by friends, family, players and coaches, Cubbage was a former Major League Baseball player and a pro baseball manager. He retired a couple of years ago after serving as one of the top scouts for the Washington Nationals.
He was a three-sport star at Charlottesville’s Lane High School, standing out in football, basketball and baseball before moving on to become a two-sport star at the University of Virginia, playing quarterback on the football team and becoming an All-ACC selection in baseball. Cubbage came from a baseball family that included cousins Larry Haney and Chris Haney, both major leaguer’s.
Cubbage was drafted by the Washington Senators in the 6th round of the 1968 MLB June Amateur Draft from Lane HS (Charlottesville, VA) and the Washington Senators in the 2nd round of the 1971 MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase from University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA) and advanced through the minor leagues before he made it to the parent team, which by then had moved and became the Texas Rangers. Cubbage debuted on April 7, 1974 at Arlington Stadium against the Oakland A’s as a pinch-hitter against future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers. Cubbage appeared in eight more games in 1974, almost always for just 1 or 2 at bats and played in just one complete game in 1974 and went 0 for 15. Cubbage was called up in June of 1975 and went 0 for 3 over a three game period before finally getting to start a game against the California Angels in Anaheim Stadium and the career 0 for 18 Cubbage finally broke his hitless streak going 3 for 5 with a home run and 4 RBI. Can you imagine what that must have felt like?
Cubbage’s career in Texas lasted just 81 games when he was traded by the Rangers to the Minnesota Twins on June 1, 1976 with Jim Gideon, Bill Singer, Roy Smalley and $250,000 for Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson. Cubbage played primarily third base for Minnesota between 1976-1980 but was moved to first base in 1980. Cubbage became the seventh Twins player to hit for the cycle when he accomplished that rare feat at Met Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays in 1978 in a 6-3 win. Cubbage wasn’t an All-Star but he was a steady player for Minnesota that appeared in 555 games in five seasons hitting .266 with 29 home runs and 226 RBI. Cubbage became a free agent after the 1980 season and signed with the New York Mets where in played in 67 games. Cubbage spend his final season in pro ball with the Mets AAA Tidewater team in 1982 and then called it a career as a player
Following his playing career, Cubby managed for seven seasons in the minor leagues in the Mets organization and proudly never had a losing season, beginning in 1983. He managed Little Falls, Lynchburg, Jackson and then finally at the AAA level for the Tidewater Tides in the International League from 1987-89, helping develop several players that went on to star for the New York Mets.
Moving on to the position as third base coach for New York in the early 1990s, he was interim manager for the last seven games of the 1991 season. Eventually, Cubbage switched to the Boston Red Sox, also as third base coach and was interim manager of that club during spring training in 2002, after the Sox fired manager Joe Kerrigan.
Cubby also coached for the Houston Astros in between New York and Boston. He later moved on to work as a scout in the Tampa Bay organization before accepting a position with the Nationals, where he finished his career. After 49 years of professional baseball, Michael retired and he and Janice moved from Charlottesville to Lake Keowee, Sunset SC.
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Cubbage was inducted into the state of Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. He was also a member of the UVA Baseball Hall of Fame, the Valley League Hall of Fame and the Peninsula (Va.) Sports Hall of Fame.
I did an interview with Mike Cubbage back in February 2010 that is about an hour in length and you can listen to it here. We at Twinstrivia.com would like to pass on our condolences to the Cubbage family, friends and fans. Thank you for the memories Mike Cubbage, you will be missed.