BOSTON (AP) — Joe Morgan, the popular Boston Red Sox manager who guided his hometown team to a pair of AL East titles, has died. He was 95.
In a statement Sunday, the Red Sox announced that Morgan died Saturday night. The club was informed by his daughter, Catherine, team spokesperson Abby Murphy said. No further information was provided.
“Joe Morgan holds a special place in Red Sox history,” Principal Owner John Henry said in the statement. “When he took over in 1988, he changed the course of a season and created one of the most memorable chapters in the history of this club. The two division titles that followed only strengthened a bond with Red Sox fans that endured for the rest of his life. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and all who loved him.”
Morgan played 88 major league games as an infielder with five teams from 1959-64 and then spent 18 years in the Red Sox organization as a manager, coach and scout from 1974-91.
Along the way, he managed Boston stars such as Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens and Rich Gedman in both the minors and majors. Morgan was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 2006.
“He was a big part of my life and will be missed," said Boggs, a Hall of Fame third baseman. "I don’t think he got enough credit for how baseball-smart he was. He played baseball hunches instead of statistics. He will always be one of my favorites.”
Morgan, who was born in Walpole, Massachusetts, and attended Boston College, became the first base coach for the Red Sox in 1985 and took over as manager on July 14, 1988.
The team won its next 12 games and 19 of 20 on the way to a division title before getting swept in four games by the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series.
“‘Morgan Magic’ is forever part of Red Sox lore,” team chairman Tom Werner said. “Joe took over in 1988 and gave New England a summer it would never forget."
Morgan managed the Red Sox to another AL East crown in 1990 before they were again swept by Oakland in the ALCS. His tenure ended after the 1991 season with a 301-262 record.
“Joe was a fun manager to play for — always extremely positive. When you didn’t perform well, he’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it. You’ll be great next time — I guarantee it!’" said Clemens, who won the first three of his seven Cy Young Awards with Boston.
"And yes, when he got the job to manage, he brought the magic! ... Thanks for everything, Joe!”
Before his promotion to Boston's big league staff in 1983 as a scout, Morgan managed the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox from 1974-82, becoming the longest-tenured skipper in club history.
During his playing days, Morgan was signed by the Boston Braves in June 1952. He batted .193 in the majors with two home runs and 10 RBIs for the Milwaukee Braves (1959), Kansas City Athletics (1959), Philadelphia Phillies (1960), Cleveland Indians (1960-61) and St. Louis Cardinals (1964).
He began managing in the minors in 1966.
“Joe Morgan managed the Red Sox during some of my most formative years as a fan,” said Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy. “Joe made us believe, and when you experience that as a kid, it stays with you. I was fortunate enough to get to know him later in life and found an even better person than the baseball man I had admired. I will miss him deeply.”
In addition to daughter Catherine, Morgan is survived by his children Joseph Jr., William and Barbara, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren, the Red Sox said.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
FILE - Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan shouts instructions from the dugout, Oct. 10, 1990 as he watches his team lose a third straight game in Game 3 of the American League playoffs to the Oakland A's. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
FILE - Former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan waves to fans as he is honored prior to a baseball game between the Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners in Boston on July 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
FILE- Former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan throws a ceremonial first pitch prior to a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park in Boston, on July 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
MIAMI (AP) — An Amazon cargo plane barreled off a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring five others as it struck vehicles and was engulfed in flames, authorities said.
The aircraft overran the runway around 2 p.m. after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and plowed across a road used by warehouse workers and other businesses that surround the airport. Five people were killed, three critically injured and two others hospitalized with less severe injuries, Miami-Dade County officials told a news conference.
It wasn't immediately clear if the pilots survived or those killed were all in vehicles when the plane struck.
The crash, which sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky, trapped the pilot and copilot in the cockpit and some occupants in cars, said Miami-Dade Rescue Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. The agency said crews also had to extricate a person who was trapped under a vehicle.
The crash halted flights at the busy travel hub for much of the afternoon. Some 200 emergency personnel responded, finding the plane with heavy flames and smoke from a complex engine compartment fire, the department said. Firefighters used foam from specialized airport firefighting units to extinguish the fire, and crews were still dealing with a fuel leak on the plane hours later.
The Prime Air plane came to rest beside a roadway near two semitrucks, images showed. The aircraft appeared to be resting on its belly and was largely intact despite the fire.
The cause had yet to be determined, and it was not clear if weather had played a role. Thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 30 mph (48 kph) were recorded in the area at the time, according to the National Weather Service.
The flight had been operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina. The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.
More than 160 flights were canceled and nearly 325 delayed by late Sunday, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. Officials from Orlando International Airport, more than 200 miles (320 km) north of Miami, said some flights were diverted there.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to Miami led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to investigate.
Amazon said in a statement that it would cooperate with any investigation.
“We’re heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport," the company said. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss.”
Last year, a UPS plane crashed after losing its engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport. The crash killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground. Twenty-three more were injured.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said that a 767 cargo aircraft would typically be staffed only by a pilot and copilot on domestic flights. A third pilot would be added for an international flight, and a long-haul international flight would require a fourth pilot.
Arroyo, a retired longtime United Airlines pilot, said he wants to know whether the Amazon plane landed in the touchdown zone of the runway, and if it was beyond that area why it didn’t simply abort that landing and go around to line up for another attempt. Typically, the landing zone is within the first 3,000 feet (914 meters) of a runway.
“Did the aircraft land within the required touchdown zone?" he asked. “If it did, what happened?”
Mary Schiavo, who is a pilot and former inspector general of the Transportation Department, said that video posted online of the landing shows the Amazon plane floating above the runway for an extended period without flaring the nose upward to force the main landing gear onto the ground.
“It didn’t touch down right away, and so it lost a lot of critical real estate by just continuing to float over the runway. It was literally still flying,” Schiavo said.
She noted the Miami airport is not equipped with arresting systems that the FAA says have been installed at more than 120 airports nationwide to safely stop planes that do go past the end of a runway. Those beds of lightweight, crushable material at the end of a runway have been credited by the FAA with helping save at least 497 lives aboard planes that overran runways.
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Tim Reynolds in Miami, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas and Wufei Yu in Phoenix contributed.
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David Fischer)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David Fischer)
An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
