PawSox Manager Billy McMillon Inducted Into IL Hall of Fame For Impressive Playing Career
Pawtucket Red Sox Manager Billy McMillon had a 12-year playing career before entering the coaching realm of baseball.
McMillon, now 46-years-old, spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues as an outfielder with the Florida Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers, and the Oakland Athletics.
On Saturday, June 22nd, the PawSox skipper was honored for his achievements at the minor league level with an induction into the International League Hall of Fame.
“When Randy Mobley (IL President) called me, it was right after I knew I was going to be the Manager here. I thought he was going to tell me I had an old fine or something that I needed to settle up,” said McMillon jokingly.
“I was stunned, you play the game you want to do good on the field, represent your family and all that stuff. No one is really in it looking for these types of accolades. So the fact that some people remembered that I played a long time ago. That I did enough to be considered for this, true blessing, true honor.”
In attendance was McMillon’s family taking in the cool moment at McCoy.
Alongside McMillon pre-game was a former PawSox General Manager Lou Schwchheimer also apart of the 2019 IL Hall of Fame Class.
#PawSox manager Billy McMillon inducted into IL Hall of Fame pic.twitter.com/hI5UmwfUKA— Tanner Rebelo (@TannerRebelo) June 22, 2019
McMillon Won Two Batting IL Batting Titles In His Playing Career
McMillon played for four different teams in the International League from 1996-2002 and finished with an impressive .310 batting average with 79 home runs in 609 IL games.
Billy McMillon And Mike Miller, Photo Credit Tanner Rebelo
In 1996 when playing for Charlotte McMillon put together an impressive campaign. He hit .352 en route to wining the IL Rookie of the Year honors, the league’s batting title, and was named an All-Star.
After leaving the Marlins organization he played parts of three seasons with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre who at the time were affiliated with the Phillies organization. His third IL team, Toledo, is where McMillon once again took the IL by storm.
He earned his second IL batting title in 2000 for the Tigers affiliate hitting .345 and earning his second IL all-star nod. Two years later he finished his IL career with Columbus, the Triple-A affiliate of the Indians and hit .301 getting named to his third IL All-Star team.
Roger Clemens and Billy McMillon, Photo Credit Tanner Rebelo
Memorable Moments At The Big League Level Including A Grand Slam Off Roger Clemens
McMillon did breach the big leagues on a number of occasions and hit a respectable .248 in 269 games, 601 at-bats. In the show he belted 16 home runs and drove in 93 runs while stealing 4 bases.
His favorite moment from his playing career?
Hitting a grand slam off of PawSox Hall of Famer Roger Clemens.
On September 24, 2000 when he was playing with the Detroit Tigers and Clemens was with the New York Yankees. McMillon belted a ball into the upper deck of the Old Yankee Stadium in front of 40,000 Yankee fans to take the lead.
McMillon remembered the moment fondly and still has a copy of the video on his computer.
His second favorite all-time moment?
In the 2003 ALDS when he was with the Oakland Athletics he ran Pedro Martinez from the game with an RBI single to make it a 1-run game.
“That’s my second (favorite),” said McMillon when asked about the ALDS game.
His team ended up losing the game on a Derek Lowe strikeout but “Individually, got a hit off a Hall of Famer,” said McMillon. “Kept us in the game there, that was pretty cool.”
Working His Way Up The Red Sox Coaching Ladder
The Columbia, South Carolina resident has been working in the Red Sox organization in some capacity since 2008 when he was brought on as the Greenville Drive’s Hitting coach and has spent the last 11 years working his way up the organizations coaching ranks.
In 2010 he made his managerial debut at the helm of the Drive. McMillon spent six years in some sort of managerial capacity in the system with stops in Salem and Portland before serving as the Minor League Outfield and Base-running Coordinator for the past three seasons.
Back on December 7, 2018 the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Boston Red Sox announced that McMillon would be the new skipper of the McCoy Stadium based PawSox.
Coming into the 2019 season McMillon owned a 440-400 (.524) record as a manager across 6 seasons. Thus far in 2019 his Triple-A Pawtucket ballclub currently owns a 30-42 record, 12 games below .500.
