Philadelphia Phillies.

Date of birth: December 6, 1945 Sacramento, CA

High School:  McClatchy HS (Sacramento, CA)

College: Sacramento City College

Nickname: Per baseball reference, Gnat, Bo or Pee Wee. Ok the Pee Wee, he is a SHORTstop I get it, Bo, obvious off his name and gnat because he was a pest. Sounds like Dukes of Hazzard characters.

First Impression; I really focused that he was not in uniform and that the pregame warmup jersey he had on was so cool. What I didn’t like was the mustache, because Bowa came over to the Cubs and would from that point on be clean shaven and I didnt like my Bowa stached up. That hat is just riding that hair.

Career stats player: Solid and dependable, that is what Larry Bowa was. During his prime years he had years where he hit .305 and .294, was a 5 time All-Star who won two gold gloves, being the only SS to win that award other than Dave Concepcion and Ozzie Smith in that era. His career average was .260 and he belted out 15 homers. He had 2191 hits, 27th all time for MLB SS. For solely NL shortstops; he’s 8th. Won a ring with the ’80 Phils.

All Time Stat: I went split searching. He hit 5 homers vs R and 10 vs L. The 5 righties were; Buzz Capra (Braves) in his 772nd game, Steve Renko (Cubs) game 1041, Manny Sarmiento (Reds) game 1283, Tom Seaver HOF (Reds) game 1512 and his last one was Rick Wise (Padres) game 1595. This means he never hit one as a Cub vs a righty. He did have 2 homers as a Cub, both in 1983 in what must have seemed like a power surge as he hit a homer against San Diego 5/8 and then one against his old mates the Phillies on 5/12. That would be the last HR of Bo’s career, game 1910 of 2247.

Career stats manager: 418-435. Bowa retired and managed the AAA team for the Padres, after a very good season, they hired Bowa to manage the big club. They lost 97 games. And then they started 16-30 in 1988 and they let Larry go. He had a young team that he basically ground to dust.

Jim Fregosi was axed in Philly in 1996 and Bowa was a candidate but did not get the job, then. He replaced the guy that did get that job, Terry Francona. Bowa turned the Phillies around and they were 5 games over his first season. Bowa won manager of the year. Lets test my beef, that turning around a team that should have won the same amount of games the year prior is not worthy of an award.

That year Bowa beat Jim Tracy Dodgers (another did better but finished in 3rd place), Bob Brenly 92 wins and division title, Tony LaRussa 93 wins, Larry Dierker 93 wins division title and Bobby Cox 88 wins division title. The first place votes were scattered other than Bowa. Given that nobody won 100 games, this one can slide for me, but I would have voted for Brenly.

The Phillies continued to have a winning record under Bowa but no real success. The let him go with two games left in the 2004 season.

Fun Fact: I mean he was part of the greatest trade in Cubs history. The Cubs sent DeJesus, who was 28 at the time and kind of the same mold as Bowa offensively to the Phillies for Bowa who admittedly was 35 and his better days were gone and prospect named Ryne Sandberg. I know that Dallas Green basically poached the Phillies for the early 80s Cubs and though no rings came of it, he really hooked the Cubs up getting them Sandberg.

Ever a Future Star?  1970 Topps #539 Phillies 1970 Rookie Stars with Dennis Doyle.

Rookie or final card? No, he would have manager cards in 1988 and 2002-2005.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame

Links to stories including Larry Bowa.