Richard John Down (December 14, 1950 â January 5, 2019) was an American professional baseball hitting coach. He was a hitting coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and the Baltimore Orioles.
Down was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1950. He was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 74th round of the 1969 MLB draft out of high school. Down never made the major leagues as a player, peaking in AAA ball with a variety of teams between 1971 and 1975. He also played some minor league games in 1978 while coaching with the Mariners' minor league teams. Throughout his minor league career, he primarily played first base and the outfield.
After his playing career, Down turned to coaching. He started as an assistant coach for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas baseball team from 1979 to 1984, serving under Fred Dallimore. The team had six consecutive winning seasons and reach the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament three times during his tenure.
After his time at UNLV, he served as a roving hitting instructor for the California Angels. Over the next two decades, he worked for a variety of minor and major league teams, mostly as a hitting coach. In that time, he worked for the Yankees, Orioles, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Mets.
He successfully managed the Columbus Clippers of the AAA International League to multiple championships, but like his playing career, his managerial career peaked in AAA and he never managed a major league team. However, he did serve as a hitting coach in the majors, for multiple teams. He was the hitting coach for the New York Yankees under Buck Showalter from 1993 to 1996; Showalter praised his teaching abilities and his dedication to improving his players' hitting abilities. In 1996, he moved to the Baltimore Orioles, who set the then-MLB record of 257 home runs in a season.