Mel Didier

Biography

Born in Marksville, Louisiana, Didier was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His career covered a wide array of involvement in athletics for over 70 years from starting his career as a football and baseball coach at his alma mater, Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, to a football assistants' job at Louisiana State University (LSU). Didier moved to professional baseball as both a scout and later as a front office executive in several of the expansion clubs before taking the position of special assignment scout for the Blue Jays.

Didier pitched in 1948 for the Stroudsburg Poconos and in 1949 for the Thomasville Tigers, ending his career with an 11–15 win–loss record and a 6.33 earned run average (ERA) in his two-year career. A shoulder injury ended his playing days with the Detroit Tigers organization but not his association with the game.

When the expansion Montreal Expos began in 1969, Didier was hired as director of scouting and player development, a position that he held until 1975. During his time at Montreal, he was responsible for the signings of future Baseball of Famers Gary Carter (1972) and Andre Dawson (1975).

Didier was the running backs/freshman coach at his alma mater, LSU, when the expansion Expos hired him to oversee their player development. He was the director of player development for the Seattle Mariners from 1977 to 1978 and later was the baseball coach at the University of Southwestern Louisiana from 1981 to 1982, also serving as its athletic director in 1982.

In between, Didier served as assistant general manager for the Baltimore Orioles and also scouted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he convinced them to acquire free agent Kirk Gibson in 1988. As a result, he gained notoriety for his scouting report on Oakland Athletics ace relief pitcher Dennis Eckersley, which Gibson credited for his dramatic 1988 World Series Game One-winning pinch-hit home run againt Eckersley.

Afterwards, Didier served as the director of player development with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998 and from 1999 to 2002, and later served them as a special assistant to the general manager. Before joining the Blue Jays, he worked for the Texas Rangers in their Senior Advisor, AZ Operations and Pro Scouting departments.

In 2003, Didier gained induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Then in 2014, Aquila Productions made the documentary, Scout's Honor: The Mel Didier Story," which baseball greats, including Gibson, talk about Didier's influence on the game.

His son Bob was a catcher in the Major Leagues from 1969 through 1974, and later had a long post-playing career as a coach, scout and minor league manager.

Didier died on September 10, 2017, in his home in Pheonix, Arizona, at the age of 90.