Mike Ryan, catcher on Boston Red Sox’s ‘Impossible Dream’ team, dies
![Boston Red Sox great Mike Ryan](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9d7565d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3252x2166+0+0/resize/1200x799!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb9%2Fde%2Fa690ad6744d0b219a25070839b4f%2Fcardinals-red-sox-baseball-00669.jpg)
Mike Ryan, the backup catcher on the Boston Red Sox’s 1967 “Impossible Dream” team during a 35-year career in professional baseball, has died. He was 78.
The Red Sox said Ryan died in his sleep Tuesday in Wolfeboro, N.H.
A native of Haverhill, Mass., Ryan appeared in 636 games with the Red Sox, Phillies and Pirates from 1964-74. He was Boston’s backup catcher for the AL championship team in ’67, going hitless in his only two World Series at-bats when the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
In his career, he had a .991 fielding percentage and threw out 43.6% of runners attempting to steal a base.
Ryan went on to manage the Pirates’ Single-A affiliate and work for the Phillies as a minor league catching instructor and Triple-A manager. He also was the bullpen coach in Philadelphia for 16 years, including the 1980 World Series championship team.
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