Larry Bowa | |
---|---|
![]() Bowa with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 | |
Shortstop / Manager | |
Born: Sacramento, California, U.S. | December 6, 1945|
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 7, 1970, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
Last MLB appearance | |
October 6, 1985, for the New York Mets | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .260 |
Hits | 2,191 |
Home runs | 15 |
Runs batted in | 525 |
Managerial record | 418–435 |
Winning % | .490 |
Teams | |
| |
Career highlights and awards | |
|
Lawrence Robert Bowa (born December 6,1945) is an American former professional baseball shortstop,manager,and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB),who played for the Philadelphia Phillies,Chicago Cubs,and New York Mets. [1] Bowa went on to manage the San Diego Padres and Phillies,and is currently a senior advisor to the general manager of the Phillies. [2]
Bowa was born in Sacramento,California,the son of Paul Bowa,a former minor-league infielder and manager in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. While at C. K. McClatchy High School,Bowa tried out but never made the school's baseball team. [3] After graduation,Bowa went to Sacramento City College where he started,and was expected to go in the MLB Draft,but didn't. The Philadelphia Phillies were the only Major League team interested in Bowa. They sent a local scout,Eddie Bockman to watch Bowa play in a doubleheader,only for Bowa to be thrown out of the game for arguing. Bockman had a winter league team in the area and offered Bowa a chance to play. Bowa played well and signed with the Phillies for a $2,000 bonus. After 4 years in the minors,he made the Phillies' roster at the age of 24 in 1970. [4]
Bowa won two Gold Glove Awards and led the National League (NL) in fielding percentage six times,then a league record. He retired with the NL record for career games at shortstop (2222) and was also among the career leaders in assists (sixth,6857) and double plays (fourth,1265);Bowa's records have since been broken,though he retains the NL mark for career fielding percentage. Apart from his fielding achievements,Bowa was a switch-hitter,batting .280 or better four times (.305 in 1975);he also had nine seasons with 20 or more stolen bases. [1]
From his 1970 rookie season through 1981,Bowa provided solid reliability in the Phillies' infield,along with third baseman Mike Schmidt;from 1976 to 1981,the Phillies reached the postseason five times,ending a drought dating back a quarter of a century. In 1978,Bowa had one of his most productive seasons,hitting .294 and leading NL shortstops with a .986 fielding percentage while finishing third in NL MVP voting. He batted .333 in a losing cause in the 1978 NLCS,but played an even greater role in 1980,hitting .316 in the NLCS and .375 in the World Series, [1] as the Phillies captured the first title in franchise history. In 1979,Bowa set a Major League record for shortstops with a .991 fielding average;Tony Fernández broke the record with a .992 mark in 1989,and Rey Ordóñez broke the NL record with a .994 average in 1999. Bowa tied Ozzie Smith for the most post-1930 seasons with at least 400 at-bats and no home runs,with six.
By the end of the 1981 season,Bowa had worn out his welcome with the Phillies' front office,and let it be known he was available. The Chicago Cubs,who had just hired former Phillies manager Dallas Green as general manager,quickly expressed interest. However,Green,who had managed the 1980 world champions,knew that Bowa didn't have many years left and demanded a young rookie third baseman named Ryne Sandberg as a part of the trade. In return,the Phillies received shortstop Iván DeJesús. The trade paid off tremendously for the Cubs,as Bowa's veteran leadership and Sandberg's outstanding all-around play (en route to a Hall of Fame career) brought the Cubs to the postseason in 1984 for the first time in 39 years.
At the beginning of the 1985 season,Bowa lost the Cubs' starting shortstop job to veteran journeyman Chris Speier and eventually to their 1982 first-round draft pick,Shawon Dunston,mainly because he couldn't get the ball all the way from shortstop to first base,which left the 39-year-old Bowa discontented with the Cubs' organization. After becoming the San Diego Padres' manager in 1987,Bowa vented his frustrations with the Cubs in an autobiography,titled Bleep!
After being released by the Cubs in August 1985,he played the last month of the season with the New York Mets,before retiring.
Bowa was a .260 career hitter with 15 home runs,525 RBI,2,191 hits,987 runs,262 doubles,99 triples,and 318 stolen bases in 2,247 games. [1] His NL records for career games at shortstop and most years leading the league in fielding were later broken by Ozzie Smith;Bowa's Major League record for career fielding average has been broken by Omar Vizquel.
After retiring,Bowa was named manager of the Las Vegas Stars,the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres,for the 1986 season. In Bowa's only season at the helm,the Stars went 80–62 en route to the Pacific Coast League championship.
Bowa was hired to manage the Padres on October 28,1986,a little over a year after playing in his final MLB game. His aggressive and often angry style combined with an extremely young and inexperienced roster led to a down 1987 season in San Diego,and when higher expectations for the 1988 team (mainly engendered by those young players showing greatly improved performances in the 2nd half of the 1987 season and the 1988 spring training slate) were not met,he was fired on May 28,1988,with an overall record of 81–127 as the club's skipper.
Bowa returned to the Phillies as the team's third base coach on August 11,1988 and remained there through the 1996 season. In 1993,he and John Vukovich became the first two Phillies in franchise history to go to the World Series with the club as both a player and coach (Vukovich was Bowa's teammate on the 1980 World Champions and was the bench coach for the '93 National League champs. Milt Thompson,an outfielder for the 1993 club,would become the third member of this group when he served as hitting coach for the 2008 World Champions and 2009 National League Champions).
When Jim Fregosi was fired as Phillies manager following the 1996 season,Bowa was one of the candidates to interview for the vacant position,which ultimately went to Terry Francona.
Bowa then joined the Anaheim Angels as their third base coach,where he served from 1997 to 1999 before spending the 2000 season in the same capacity with the Seattle Mariners.
After being passed over for the job four years earlier,Bowa was named manager of the Phillies on November 1,2000. Taking over a team that had gone 65–97 in 2000,Bowa led the club to a surprising 86–76 mark in 2001,two games behind the National League East Champion Atlanta Braves. Bowa was honored as National League Manager of the Year and also received the Sporting News NL Manager of the Year Award that year. In addition,he was voted the Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball Awards NL Manager of the Year in 2001.
Despite a promising first season at the helm,Bowa's Phillies could never quite build off the 2001 club's surprising success. A disappointing 80–81 campaign in 2002 would be the franchise's last losing season until 2013. The 2003 and 2004 seasons saw the Phillies finish with similar records of 86–76,and the former season was marked by considerable turmoil with Bowa having clashes with such players as Tyler Houston and Pat Burrell. Though respectable,much more was expected from the club in those latter two campaigns and Bowa was fired with two games remaining in the 2004 season after failing to reach the postseason or finish within 10 games of first place in his last three years. Bowa's managerial record with the Phillies was 337–308.
After a one-year absence,Bowa returned to the field as third base coach for the New York Yankees in 2006,a position he held for two seasons.
On November 5,2007,the Los Angeles Dodgers hired Bowa to be the team's third base coach,following the hire of new manager Joe Torre,under whom Bowa had served with the Yankees. Torre became the seventh manager to have Bowa on his staff as third base coach,following Lee Elia,John Vukovich,Nick Leyva,Jim Fregosi,Terry Collins,and Lou Piniella. The Dodgers won consecutive National League West titles in 2008 and 2009,but in both seasons were eliminated in five games in the NLCS by the Phillies,managed by Bowa's permanent successor in Philadelphia,Charlie Manuel.
The conclusion of Bowa's tenure with the Dodgers coincided with Torre's retirement at the end of the 2010 season.
Bowa reunited with Joe Torre and served as his bench coach for the USA team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. [5]
Bowa returned to Major League Baseball and the Phillies by joining Ryne Sandberg's staff as bench coach for the 2014 season. [6] Bowa remained with the Phillies as bench coach under Pete Mackanin,who took over after Sandberg resigned during the 2015 season.
Bowa was relieved of his coaching duties on October 13,2017,and accepted the role as Matt Klentak's senior advisor to the general manager. [2]
Bowa spent the 2005 season as an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight and co-hosted a baseball talk show on XM Radio.
After leaving the Dodgers,Bowa was a studio analyst for the MLB Network from 2011 to 2013,regularly appearing on the network's daily studio show "MLB Tonight." He also hosted a weekly show during the baseball season with Chris Russo on Sirius XM while occasionally providing postgame analysis for Phillies games on WPHL.
Team | From | To | Regular season record | Post–season record | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | L | Win % | W | L | Win % | ||||
San Diego Padres | 1987 | 1988 | 81 | 127 | .389 | — | [7] | ||
Philadelphia Phillies | 2001 | 2004 | 337 | 308 | .522 | [7] | |||
Total | 418 | 435 | .490 | 0 | 0 | – | — |
Ryne Dee Sandberg, nicknamed "Ryno", is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies (1981) and the Chicago Cubs.
James Calvin Rollins, nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (2000–2014), Los Angeles Dodgers (2015), and Chicago White Sox (2016).
David Ray Roberts, nicknamed "Doc", is a Japanese-American professional baseball manager and former outfielder who is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for five MLB teams over a ten-year career and then coached for the San Diego Padres before being named Dodgers manager in 2016. Although he played for the Boston Red Sox for only part of one season, his most notable achievement as a player was a key stolen base in the 2004 American League Championship Series that extended the Red Sox's postseason, which culminated in a championship in the 2004 World Series. Roberts batted and threw left-handed.
Bruce Neal Froemming is an American Major League Baseball Special Assistant to the Vice President on Umpiring, after having served as an umpire in Major League Baseball. He first umpired in the National League in 1971, and from 2000 to 2007 worked throughout both major leagues. Early in the 2007 season, Froemming tied Bill Klem for the most seasons umpired. Previously, on August 16, 2006, Froemming umpired his 5,000th game between the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, making him the second umpire to reach that milestone; Klem retired after 5,374 games. Froemming now stands third on the all-time list of games umpired, having been passed when Joe West officiated his 5,164th Major League Baseball game on August 14, 2019. On April 20, 2007, he umpired at first base in the Cleveland Indians-Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, passing Klem to become – at age 67 years 204 days – the man then believed to be the oldest umpire in major league history; Hank O'Day holds the record, retiring at 68 years, 2 months. He worked his final regular-season game at age 68 years 2 days on September 30, 2007, when Froemming received a standing ovation before umpiring his last regular-season game, manning the third base position as the Milwaukee Brewers hosted the San Diego Padres at Miller Park in his native Milwaukee, with much of his family in attendance. Because Froemming was then over age 65, he became eligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 instead of having to wait the customary five years.
Burt Carlton Hooton, nicknamed "Happy", is an American former right-handed starting pitcher and former coach in Major League Baseball. He won 151 games over a 15-year career, mostly with the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 1984 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1984 season. The 81st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers and the National League (NL) champion San Diego Padres. The Tigers won the series, four games to one. This was the city of Detroit's first sports championship since the Tigers won the 1968 World Series.
Lee Constantine Elia is an American former professional baseball infielder, who played only sparingly in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox (1966) and Chicago Cubs (1968). Following his playing career, he managed the Cubs (1982–1983) and Philadelphia Phillies (1987–1988), and served as a coach for the Phillies, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Baltimore Orioles, and Seattle Mariners. Elia was hired by the Atlanta Braves as a special assistant to general manager Frank Wren in November, 2010.
David Earl Lopes is an American former second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He batted and threw right-handed. He played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros; he managed the Milwaukee Brewers.
George Dallas Green was an American professional baseball pitcher, manager, scout and executive in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played big league baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators and New York Mets, from 1960 through 1967. A man of towering stature, at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and 210 pounds (95 kg), Green achieved notoriety for his blunt manner. He possessed a booming voice and achieved many successes over a baseball career that lasted over 60 years.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1982 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1984 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1972 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1977 throughout the world.
Richard Joseph Hebner is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1968 through 1985, most prominently as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five National League Eastern Division titles in six years between 1970 and 1975 and won the World Series in 1971. After his playing career, Hebner spent several years as a hitting coach at the major league and minor league levels. He also managed minor league teams in the Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles organizations.
John Christopher Vukovich, nicknamed "Vuk" or "Johnny Vuk", was an American professional baseball utility infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball, best known for his years with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played in parts of ten seasons between 1970 and 1981 for the Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Milwaukee Brewers. Vukovich is also known for recording the lowest career MLB batting average (BA) (.161) of any non-pitcher with 500 or more at bats (AB).
Iván Alvarez DeJesús, is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball shortstop and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, and Detroit Tigers, for 15 seasons (1974–1988).
The 1984 Chicago Cubs season was the 113th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 109th in the National League and the 69th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished with a record of 96 wins and 65 losses in first place of the National League East. Chicago was managed by Jim Frey and the general manager was Dallas Green. The Cubs' postseason appearance in this season was their first since 1945. The Cubs pitching staff included 1984 Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe, and the lineup included 1984 Baseball Most Valuable Player Award winner second baseman Ryne Sandberg. Frey was awarded Manager of the Year for the National League for leading the Cubs to 96 victories. The Cubs were defeated in the 1984 National League Championship Series by the San Diego Padres three games to two.
The history of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball's National League began on November 1, 1882, with the organization of the Philadelphia Ball Club Limited. In 1883, this organization won the franchise rights to Philadelphia when the city was selected to replace the Massachusetts-based Worcesters, who had folded after the 1882 season.
The following is a franchise history of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. Prior to joining Major League Baseball as one of four expansion teams in 1969, the San Diego Padres were a Minor League franchise in the Pacific Coast League.
On June 23, 1984, the Chicago Cubs took on the St. Louis Cardinals in a Major League Baseball contest that saw Willie McGee hit for the cycle, but Ryne Sandberg hit two home runs—in the ninth and tenth innings—to propel the Cubs to a 12–11 victory. The Cubs overcame deficits of 7–1, 9–3, and 11–9 as Sandberg hit a pair of game-tying home runs in late-inning action, both off ex-Cubs ace Bruce Sutter. NBC play-by-play announcer Bob Costas, who called the game with Tony Kubek, is remembered for saying "Do you believe it?!" when Sandberg hit the second home run. The game is known as The Sandberg Game.