Former Twins manager Ray Miller dies at age 76

Ray Miller, who managed the Twins from midway through 1985 until he was fired in the final weeks of the 1986 season, died this week. He was 76.

Miller was best known for being the pitching coach of the Baltimore Orioles under Earl Weaver. He took that job in 1978 and held it until the Twins hired him to replace Billy Gardner in 1985. A year later, the Twins replaced him with Tom Kelly, who was the team's third-base coach at the time.

On the September night he was let go, Miller said: "I knew the handwriting was on the wall in June when I heard the statement two or three times from [team president] Howard Fox that, 'I don't know why we aren't winning because we have a much better club that this.' If that's not throwing it back at the manager, I don't know what is."

Kelly, his replacement, guided the Twins to a World Series title in 1987, his first year of managing.

Under Miller, the Twins had a 109-130 record, and he was 157-167 in his two seasons managing Baltimore.

"The Minnesota Twins are deeply saddened by the loss of Ray Miller," a team release read. "We send our condolences to the entire Miller family, as well as the other major league organizations that were impacted by his long career as a respected coach and mentor."

Miller was the Orioles' pitching coach when Mike Flanagan and Steve Stone won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 1979 and 1980.

He became pitching coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates the year after his Twins firing and returned to Baltimore to mange the Orioles in 1998 and 1999. He was again the Orioles pitching coach in 2004 and 2005.

Miller was named to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2010.