Mike Sadek, a colorful backup catcher for the Giants through much of the 1970s who was well-liked by teammates and fans, died Wednesday in San Andreas (Calaveras County) of heart- and lung-related illnesses. He was 74.
Sadek, who played his entire eight-year career for the Giants, was a master of keeping his teammates and the clubhouse loose. He hit .226 with five homers in his career but was known more for his defense and leadership.
“He was the best catcher I ever threw to,” former Giants pitcher John Montefusco said. “He gave you a good target, way down low, and called a great game. Managers knew we liked throwing to him, and when umpires missed a call, he let them know about it.
“It’s a sad day. A really good Giant died today.”
The death of Sadek’s daughter, Nicole, in a parachute accident two decades ago heavily wore on him, and his son, Michael, said nightly calls with grandsons Jackson, Nicholas and Maxwell “added a decade to his life.”
Sadek was known as the “Sheik.” As the story goes, an Egyptian government official during Sadek’s playing days was named Mohammad Ahmed Sadek, and infielder Craig Robinson said, “Hey, you’re a sheik.” The name stuck.
Sadek never played more than 64 games in a season and wasn’t regularly in the headlines, so when he hit his first home run to help beat the Pirates in the second game of a double-header on June 19, 1977 — in his fourth season — a table was set up in the clubhouse with this message scribbled in chalk on the floor:
“PRESS! ONE AT A TIME. Thank you”
“I think it was a slider,” Sadek was quoted in The Chronicle the next day, greeting reporters while drinking from a case of beer.
“I don’t know enough about hitting homers to really savor this one. I didn’t go into a home run trot. Besides that, when I rounded third base, I reached out for (Jim) Davenport’s hand and missed it.”
The 5-foot-9 Sadek kept baseball cards at his locker of the pitchers who served up his homers. The first was Grant Jackson.
“We knew all the reporters would be at his locker, so we set up a red carpet for him,” said Montefusco, referring to a row of white bath towels leading to Sadek’s locker. “It was great. Mike was really funny, a jokester, but he was a great catcher, I mean a real gamer.”
Sadek’s final season was 1981, and he immediately transitioned to the front office in community relations and later baseball operations, employed by the Giants through 1999.
“He was one of the great guys,” former Giants marketing director Pat Gallagher said. “He did a lot of great things for the Giants. If ever I needed someone to do an appearance, he was one of the guys who pretty much would do anything.
“He wasn’t making that much money and had a paper route. He said he depended on it, an additional check. He had a personality that was just engaging.”
Dave Craig, former community relations manager, remembered initiating the department with Sadek and said, “We started from nothing. Mike had the network with the old ballplayers, and we started putting together different things with alumni. He was an unbelievable source of energy.”
Sadek had designs on managing, but Craig said Sadek’s children meant so much to him that he declined offers from then-Giants general manager Tom Haller to work as a minor-league instructor.
“Mike sacrificed a career in a uniform, which he really wanted, and instead of chasing his dream to manage, which would have required him to uproot the kids and take them out of school, he refused to do that,” Craig said. “He stuck with me, and I’ll never forget that.”
One of Sadek’s proud possessions was a baseball signed by Pope John Paul II, who said Mass at Candlestick Park on Sept. 18, 1987, for more than 70,000 people. Sadek contacted a priest/Giants fan from Monterey who accompanied the pope during his visit, and the priest got the signature.
“J.P. II,” it read.
“As far as I know, it’s the only ball he’s signed,” Sadek said.
In 1996, Robert De Niro appeared in the movie “The Fan,” a dark thriller about baseball, and needed a body double for when he was supposed to appear athletic, including when throwing a ball.
The body double was Sadek, who advised others in the movie and was fond of telling people that De Niro told him, “Call me Bob.”
“He was quirky,” Craig said, “but I never met a more principled person.”
The Giants drafted Sadek in 1966, but he returned to the University of Minnesota and was drafted the next year by the Twins. The Giants selected him again in the 1969 Rule 5 draft, and he debuted in 1973.
Giants president Larry Baer said Sadek had a “genuine love for the game and was known for getting a laugh out of his teammates when they needed it the most. Our condolences go out to the Sadek family for their loss, and we extend our thoughts to his teammates and friends.”
Sadek is survived by his son, Mike Jr., daughter-in-law, Melanie, and grandchildren Jackson, Nicholas and Maxwell. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Valley Humane Society (valleyhumane.org) in Pleasanton.
John Shea covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
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Popular Giants catcher Mike Sadek, known as the ‘Sheik,’ dies at 74 - San Francisco Chronicle
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