Gallagher: R.I.P. Pat Daugherty, longtime Expos and Rockies development man

Longtime Montreal Expos scout and former minor league manager Pat Daugherty passed away on Thursday at the age of 89.

July 20, 2024

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Pat Daugherty was an integral part of the Expos’ organization, a solid company man for years.

From 1970 to 1973, Daugherty was the manager of the franchise's Class A team in Jamestown, N.Y. after he served a year as a coach under Walt Hriniak.

"I was a coach with a community college (Indian Hills) in Iowa and the Expos hired me,'' Daugherty told me in an interview for my latest book Explosion. "Jim Fanning hired me. I met Jim through the Major League Scouting Bureau. He was the first director of the scouting bureau and I took a part-time job with the scouting bureau.''

When he finished his first stint as Jamestown manager, Daugherty spent the most of his remaining time with the Expos as scouting supervisor for the state of Florida.

Daugherty is being remembered following his death this week at the age of 89.

When I asked him what player he remembers the most, he mentioned Charles Johnson, who was very high on the Expos’ list of draftees.

The Expos looked at him as a catching prospect along the lines of Gary Carter, who had been traded to the Mets in December of 1984. The Expos selected Johnson in the first round in 1989.

"That wasn't a good time for me,'' Daugherty said of the Johnson saga. "I did a fair amount of work on it in the background. The kid told me he was interested in signing. Whether he got cold feet? He flipped and decided to go to the University of Miami.''

In 1990, Daugherty was back as Jamestown manager. His experience in the game saw him get a new job in 1991.

Daugherty was hired as the Colorado Rockies' scouting director by friend and new GM Bob Gebhard. He held that role from 1991 to 1998 and then served as a special assistant until 2014.

One area scout for the Rockies was Brian McRobie (Brockville, Ont.) a Brockville Braves grad, who was signed twice by the Philadelphia Phillies, once before and once after a motorcycle accident. When Jack Giffin (Brockville, Ont.) died the successful Connie Mack program was in danger of folding. So McRobie took over.

As usual his contract arrived from the Rockies McRobie wrote back saying he could not devout enough time to scouting and would have to resign. He explained why. Daughtery wrote back “Run the program, keep scouting Ontario and when your team plays in New York State. Your progam is much too important to let if fall by the wayside.”

As in the case of Johnson, I asked Daugherty who his favorite Rockies player was as a scout.

"Todd Helton,'' he said. "He was playing at the University of Tennessee. You know what, I saw him as a pitcher. He was a great pitcher for them. He also played third base. He was not hard to like. He was a two-player player.

“I don't know how far he could have gone in pitching. He could hit. I didn't know he would have the power he had. I thought he would hit 15 homers a season and hit for average but he ended up doing a lot better than that.''

Helton is being inducted into Cooperstown Sunday and when he steps to the dais for his speech, I’m sure he will mention Daugherty.