A's name Garner special advisor

Oakland, CA – The Oakland Athletics named former manager Phil Garner as a special advisor to the team on Friday.

He began his major league career in Oakland as a player in 1973 and was a first-round draft pick of the A's in 1971. After spending four seasons with Oakland, he went on to play 12 more years in the majors with Pittsburgh, Houston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco prior to retiring in 1988.

Over that time, he batted .260 with 109 home runs, 738 RBI and 225 stolen bases and won a World Series with the Pirates in 1979, batting 12-for-24 in a seven-game series against the Orioles.

In 1992 he started his career as manager with Milwaukee and stayed there through the 1999 season. He then went on to coach the Tigers from 2000-02, and later joined the Astros during the 2004 season. In 2005, he led Houston to its first-ever World Series appearance as the team lost to the Chicago White Sox.

Over his 15 seasons as a manager, he accrued a 985-1054 record.