He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder with the Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants from 1973 to 1988.
Among other things, the A's lost future hall of fame pitcher Catfish Hunter to the New York Yankees in one of the earliest free agency signings in modern baseball.
[11][15] Before the 1977 season, the Athletics traded Garner, Chris Batton, and Tommy Helms to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tony Armas, Rick Langford, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Doc Medich, and Mitchell Page.
[11] On September 15, 1978, Garner became one of only seven Major League players to hit a grand slam in consecutive games (including Babe Ruth twice), though as of 2024 the number is near 30.
[11] On August 31, 1981, Garner was traded from the Pirates to the Astros for second baseman Johnny Ray and pitcher Randy Niemann.
After being traded to Houston, the team's announcer, Milo Hamilton, asked Pirates Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Stargell about Garner.
Stargell said the tough and competitive Garner was like an old piece of scrap metal that can be beaten and bent, but not broken.
He was traded in 1987 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who granted him free agency after the season, and then spent a year with San Francisco Giants in 1988.
[32] Garner would lead them to more than 80 losses in four of his six full seasons spent with the team,[1] which saw icons such as Paul Molitor and Robin Yount leave (the former in free agency and the latter due to retirement).
The Tigers were in contention for the American League Wild Card berth for much of the season but faded and finished 79-83.
Garner was the fastest manager fired to start a season since Cal Ripken Sr. of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles.
General manager Gerry Hunsicker was cited as saying the team believed that Garner would provide "decisive action" as a manager that could provide a spark to a team mired in hitting woes and an abundance of expectations with their free agent signings (Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte) that offseason.
[42] Undaunted, he led the Astros to a National League Wild Card berth, going 48-26 with Garner at the helm.
The Astros won a total of 92 games and clinched a Wild Card berth on the final day of the season.
[47][48][49] The team experienced another slow start in 2005, losing 30 of their first 45 games, but made a run once again late in the season and came back to win another National League Wild Card, bolstered by the pitching talents of Clemens and Pettitte, to go along with 20 game winner Roy Oswalt.
This was later surpassed in both time (seven hours and twenty minutes) and innings (eighteen) by Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, in which the Dodgers prevailed over the Red Sox 3–2.
[55] Garner named his former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner as one of the National League All Star team coaches.
[57] The Astros went into a tailspin in 2007, owing to the aging talent on their roster (Jeff Bagwell had retired in 2005 while Craig Biggio played his last season in 2007 to go with no Clemens or Pettitte, who each left for New York after 2006).
On August 27, 2007, Phil Garner was released by the Astros along with general manager Tim Purpura with the team having a record of 58-73.
"[61] In 2009, Garner was interviewed as a candidate for the managerial job of the Astros when Cooper was fired, but Brad Mills was hired.
[11] In 2008, Phil Garner served as interim head coach for the UHV Jaguars baseball team of the University of Houston–Victoria.
[65] Garner temporarily replaced former Astros teammate Terry Puhl while he fulfilled his obligation as manager of the Canada National baseball team.
[67] In 2010, Garner admitted to using a corked bat against pitcher Gaylord Perry and that he hit a home run with it.