Affectionately called “my white daddy” by Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, Guy Conti redefined what a coach means in a player’s life. From helping a player learn English to giving him pitching lessons, Conti’s influence extended far beyond the dugout. On October 13, 2026, the longtime coach, scout, and mentor passed away after battling a prolonged illness. Conti, whose career spanned the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, breathed his last at the age of 84.
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Following the news of his passing, Jay Horwitz of the Mets remembered Conti on an X post.
“We lost a good one today. Guy Conti, our former bullpen coach and special adviser, passed away after a lengthy illness. Guy was a friend of Sandy Koufax and beloved by Pedro Martinez. No one had more stories than Guy. His knowledge reached people for decades. Miss you, my friend,” wrote Horwitz on X.
Born on March 9, 1942, in Tarentum, Guy Clyde Conti identified coaching as his real calling after a brief stint as a player. Conti played baseball for a single season at Clarion State College (now Clarion University). In his younger days, Conti was a catcher in the Houston Astros organization and played for the Salisbury Braves. He returned to Clarion in 1965 to finish his degree. Then, he turned his focus to coaching.
Conti’s passing marks the end of a journey that stats alone can’t define. He built strong relationships with his players who later went on to achieve greatness. Pedro Martinez is one of the most prominent pupils of Conti, whom he helped develop early in his career. Remarkably, Conti’s coaching career started with basketball.
Conti’s coaching journey started as the basketball coach of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He then coached football at Northwestern High School in Albion. His coaching journey in other sports extended from the 1960s into the early 1970s before Conti joined the Pittsburgh Pirates. He worked as a part-time coach and scout for the organization from 1983 to 1986 before joining the Dodgers.
Within the Dodgers’ organization, Conti held several minor-league coaching and pitching-development positions. He built a close friendship with Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax while working for the organization.
Following his tenure with the Dodgers, Conti eventually joined the Mets organization in 1999. He was one of the first hires under manager Willie Randolph and served as the team’s bullpen coach from 2005 to 2008. After that, Conti remained with the organization for years as a senior advisor to the team until his retirement.
Conti’s tenure at the Mets spanned the franchise’s memorable 2006 run. That season, the New York Mets clinched the NL East title and advanced to Game 7 of the NLCS.
For Conti, baseball was never simply about winning games. His career was built around identifying talent, developing pitchers, and helping young players find their footing in professional baseball. Conti helped shape the stars of baseball; his contributions left a lasting impression on the sport.
Conti’s journey with Pedro Martinez is one of the greatest examples of his impact.
How Conti helped shape Pedro Martinez’s career
During his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Conti encountered a young Pedro Martinez, then a promising pitcher from the Dominican Republic.
After the Dodgers signed Pedro’s brother Ramon Martinez, Conti was sent to evaluate the Hall of Famer. The youngster’s extraordinary potential did not escape the scout’s experienced eye.
“I got there, I was presented with 20 pitchers, and there was no 6-foot pitcher in there, never mind 6-foot-4 like Ramon was,” Conti told The New York Post in 2015. “All of a sudden, when Pedro got on the mound and started throwing the ball, it just exploded. He just jumped off the page after that and, ‘Oh my goodness, this must be him.’ And it was history from that point.”
He not only helped Martinez refine his changeup but also played a role in the Dominican’s adjustment to life in the United States. Conti’s wife, Jan, helped him learn English.
Martinez calling Conti his ‘white daddy’ only proves just how deep the bond they developed during his formative years in professional baseball was.
His connection with Martinez came full circle when the pitcher joined the Mets in 2005. The reunion brought together a veteran coach and a player whose development he had helped shape years earlier.
Conti’s friendship with Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers icon, helped bring Koufax to the Mets’ spring training as a guest instructor on several occasions.
For those who knew him, Conti’s legacy will live on through the pitchers he mentored, the colleagues he supported, and the generations of players who benefited from his experience. Though his role was inside the dugout and not in the limelight, his influence reached some of baseball’s biggest stages.
As the Dodgers and Mets communities remember the veteran coach, they also celebrate a baseball lifer whose impact was measured not merely in victories, but in the careers and relationships he helped build.