Bobby Bragan
Bobby Bragan | |
---|---|
Shortstop / Catcher / Manager | |
Born: Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. | October 30, 1917|
Died: January 21, 2010 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | (aged 92)|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 16, 1940, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
Last MLB appearance | |
June 27, 1948, for the Brooklyn Dodgers | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .240 |
Home runs | 15 |
Runs batted in | 172 |
Managerial record | 443–478 |
Winning % | .481 |
Teams | |
As player
As manager
As coach
|
Robert Randall Bragan (October 30, 1917 – January 21, 2010) was an American shortstop, catcher, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball and an influential minor league executive. His professional baseball career encompassed 73 years, from his first season as a player in the Class D Alabama–Florida League in 1937, to 2009, the last full year of his life, when he was still listed as a consultant to the Texas Rangers' organization.
On August 16, 2005, Bragan donned a uniform to manage the independent Central League Fort Worth Cats for one game, making him—at 87 years, nine months, and 16 days old—the oldest manager in professional baseball annals, besting by one week Connie Mack, the manager and part-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 through 1950. Always known as an innovator with a sense of humor—and an umpire-baiter—Bragan was ejected in the third inning of his "comeback", thus also becoming the oldest person in any capacity to be ejected from a professional baseball game.
Bragan died on January 21, 2010, of a
Career as player and field manager
During his Major League managerial career, Bragan never skippered a game past his 49th birthday. He managed the
Despite his lack of success in the majors, Bragan was highly respected as a minor league manager, winning championships in 1948 and 1949 with
Bragan was born in
Influenced by Branch Rickey
Bragan was a protégé of
Bragan had clashed with Rickey in 1947 over the Dodgers' breaking of the baseball color line after the big-league debut of Jackie Robinson. Bragan—the Dodgers' second-string catcher at the time—was one of a group of white players, largely from the American South, who signed a petition against Robinson's presence. He even asked Rickey to trade him. But Bragan quickly relented. "After just one road trip, I saw the quality of Jackie the man and the player", Bragan told MLB.com in 2005. "I told Mr. Rickey I had changed my mind and I was honored to be a teammate of Jackie Robinson." When Bragan attended Rickey's funeral in 1965, he stated he decided to attend because, "Branch Rickey made me a better man."[11]
As a manager, Bragan earned a reputation for "color-blindedness." When he was the skipper of the Dodgers'
In his 1976 memoir The Lords of Baseball, longtime Dodger executive Harold Parrott would claim that Bragan's hiring by the Braves in 1963 was orchestrated by Rickey to thwart a plan by Dodger owner Walter O'Malley to replace his manager, eventual Hall of Famer Walter Alston, with Leo Durocher. Alston had come under withering criticism for failing to win the 1962 National League pennant but O'Malley decided he would make the move on hiring Durocher only if he could find a suitable "soft landing spot" for Alston, who had managed his club for nine seasons and, to that point, had won three NL flags and two World Series titles. The owner chose Milwaukee, fading as contenders and with a managerial vacancy to fill, as Alston's ideal destination. According to Parrott's memoir, Rickey—then in semi-retirement but still O'Malley's bitter enemy—discovered the scheme and brokered the marriage between Bragan and the Braves' ownership before O'Malley's plan could materialize. Alston kept his job in Los Angeles and led the 1963 Dodgers to the world championship for his third Series triumph; he would remain at the Dodger helm through 1976, win three additional pennants and, in 1965, his fourth and final world title.[13]
Managerial Record
Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
PIT | 1956 | 154 | 66 | 88 | .429 | 7th in NL | – | – | – | |
PIT | 1957 | 103 | 36 | 67 | .350 | Fired | – | – | – | |
PIT total | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | |||
CLE | 1958 | 67 | 31 | 36 | .463 | Fired | – | – | – | |
CLE total | 67 | 31 | 36 | .463 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
MIL | 1963 | 162 | 84 | 78 | .519 | 6th in NL | – | – | – | |
MIL | 1964 | 162 | 88 | 74 | .543 | 5th in NL | – | – | – | |
MIL | 1965 | 162 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 5th in NL | – | – | – | |
ATL | 1966 | 111 | 52 | 59 | .468 | Fired | – | – | – | |
MIL/ ATL total | 597 | 310 | 287 | .519 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
Total[14] | 921 | 443 | 478 | .481 | 0 | 0 | – |
President of Texas League and National Association
Bragan scouted for the newborn
His appointment came during a period of contraction and low attendance for minor league baseball; in 1971, the Texas circuit—down to only seven members when the
Bragan's achievements were recognized during the 1975–76 offseason when he was elected president of the minor leagues' governing body, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, headquartered in
After Gwenn Bragan's death in 1983, Bobby married Roberta Beckman. It was Roberta who suggested to Bobby that he establish a scholarship foundation to encourage youth to do well in school and go on to college. With the financial seed money provided by Roberta, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation (BBYF) was established in 1991.
Roberta Beckman Bragan died in 1993. Bobby married Betty Bloxam in 1995 and the two stayed together until his death.
As he passed his 90th birthday, Bragan continued an active schedule, as the Chairman of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation and making numerous appearances for civic organizations and businesses, including his beloved Fort Worth Cats as well as in schools, where he enjoyed entertaining and motivating students.
Each year, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation honors outstanding athletes and executives for the achievements on and off of the playing field at the annual Bobby Bragan Gala to raise funds for the scholarships. Honorees have included Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Larry King, Tommy Lasorda, Bobby Valentine, Bud Selig, Willie Mays, Lou Brock and Brooks Robinson.
Bragan came from a baseball family. Five of the six Bragan boys played baseball professionally. His brother
Honors
- 1950 – Selected as Outstanding Young Man of Fort Worth
- 1976 – Elected Outstanding Man of Florida by St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce
- 1980 – Elected into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
- 1989 – Received the Wall of Fame from P.O.N.Y. Baseball, Washington, Pennsylvania
- 1998 – Inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame
- 2004 – Number retired (# 10) by Fort Worth Cats
- 2005 – Elected into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame [1]
- 2006 – Inducted into the Legends of LaGrave
References
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (January 22, 2010). "A Poignant Farewell to Bobby Bragan". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ Reeves, Jim (January 22, 2010). "Bragan was friend to all who knew him. Fort Worth icon, who died Thursday, will be missed by baseball world and beyond". ESPNDallas.com.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (January 26, 2010). "Bobby Bragan, Ex-Baseball Manager and Executive, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
- ^ Creamer, Robert (May 12, 1958). "The World Turned Upside Down". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ "Atlanta Braves". Sports Illustrated. April 18, 1966.
- ISBN 978-1-4165-8928-0
- ^ Sports Illustrated, February 1, 2010, p.18
- The Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
- ^ Baseball in Wartime.com
- ^ Retrosheet box score (5 October 1947): "Brooklyn Dodgers 8, New York Yankees 6"
- ^ Baseball (TV series), by Ken Burns
- ^ Bavasi, Buzzie; Jack Olsen (May 29, 1967). "They May Have Been A Headache But They Never Were A Bore". Sports Illustrated.
- ISBN 0275225704.
- ^ "Bobby Bragan Managerial Record". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- The Associated Press (October 8, 1968). "Montreal Hires Bragan as Coach". The New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ "Scorecard: Bragan the Couturier". Sports Illustrated. May 12, 1969.
Further reading
- Bragan, Bobby. "Here's My All-Time, All-Star Batting Line-Up". Family Weekly. July 7, 1974.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Bobby Bragan managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
- LosAngelesDodgersonline.com
- Bobby Bragan at Find a Grave
- Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation