SAN DIEGO -- Phil Collier, whose coverage of southern California baseball began in 1958 when the Dodgers arrived in Los Angeles and earned him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, died Saturday of cancer at the age of 75.
Collier's paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, called "Phantom Phil" one of the keys to bringing the big leagues to San Diego in 1969.
"Phil set the table," former Padres president Buzzie Bavasi told the U-T Sunday. "His coverage of the Dodgers and the Angels raised interest in baseball among San Diegans and helped make major league officials interested in San Diego."
Collier and the San Diego Union's sports editor, Jack Murphy, were in the forefront of a concerted campaign to land the expansion Padres. They also persuaded the city to build the stadium that serves as the Padres' home, and was eventually named after Murphy.
He was the first Padres beat writer for the Union, which merged with the San Diego Tribune in 1992, and wrote a weekly baseball column for the U-T through 1999. He was voted into the writers wing of the Hall of Fame in 1990.
The soft-spoken Texas native was known for his cordial relationships with players and fellow sportswriters -- regardless of whether they were rookies or superstars. Collier's friendship with Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax resulted in him breaking the news in 1965 that Koufax would play one more season and then retire due to arthritis in his elbow.
"Phil was an icon," said Padres star outfielder Tony Gwynn. "When I first came up, he made things easy for me by being nice."
