Dee Phillips

{{Short description|American baseball player (1919–2004)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Dee Phillips

|position=Infielder

|image=Dee Phillips.jpg

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1919|6|8|mf=y}}

|birth_place=Corsicana, Texas, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|2004|11|4|1919|6|8}}

|death_place=Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 19

|debutyear=1942

|debutteam=Cincinnati Reds

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 22

|finalyear=1946

|finalteam=Boston Braves

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.250

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=1

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=59

|teams=

• Cincinnati Reds (1942)
• Boston Braves (1944, 1946)

}}

Damon Roswell "Dee" Phillips (June 8, 1919 – November 4, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, manager and scout. A shortstop and third baseman born in Corsicana, Texas, Phillips threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 176 pounds (80 kg). He played in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds (1942) and Boston Braves (1944; 1946).[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/phillda02.shtml Dee Phillips page at Baseball-Reference]

Phillips' professional career began in 1938 when he was signed by the Detroit Tigers after a tryout with the Tigers' Texas League farm club, the Beaumont Exporters. However, he was declared a free agent by Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis after the {{baseball year|1939}} season and was barred from re-signing with Detroit.Kelley, Brent P., The Pastime in Turbulence: Interviews with Baseball Players of the 1940s; Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2001, page 110 He eventually joined the Reds' organization and was called to the majors in the middle of the 1942 season. He appeared in 28 games for Cincinnati and batted .202 in 84 at-bats.

On October 1, 1943, he was acquired by the Boston Braves and spent the entire 1944 campaign in Boston, playing in 140 games and hitting .258 in 489 at-bats. He then served in the United States Army and lost the 1945 season, and most of 1946, to military service. The Braves played Phillips in two games in September 1946, but the remainder of his playing career would be spent in minor league baseball and winter baseball. He played for ten years at the Triple-A level with the Milwaukee Brewers, Montreal Royals, Baltimore Orioles and Richmond Virginians.

Phillips managed in the farm systems of the New York Yankees and the MLB Baltimore Orioles, then scouted for Baltimore and the Tigers in his native Texas. Among those he signed for the Orioles was future MLB second baseman and manager Davey Johnson.Kelley, Brent P., The Pastime in Turbulence: Interviews with Baseball Players of the 1940s; Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2001, page 121 Dee Phillips died at age 85 in Fort Worth, Texas.