Comments on: Larry Bowa is a moron

By: Balls, Sticks,

Balls, Sticks, — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 17:30:29 +0000

Through the Sunny Morning’s Fog…
Observations on Bowa, sabermetrics, and upcoming B.S.

By: Baseball Analysts

Baseball Analysts — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:09:25 +0000

My Little Blue Book
When I was nine years old, my parents gave me a little book with a blue cover for Christmas. It was small enough to fit into a stocking–5 by 4 inches, with the kind of cheap-grade paper that made its…

By: Baseball Analysts

Baseball Analysts — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 08:03:24 +0000

By: Baseball Analysts

Baseball Analysts — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 05:28:01 +0000

My Little Blue Book
When I was nine years old, my parents gave me a little book with a blue cover for Christmas. It was small enough to fit into a stocking – 5 by 4 inches, with the kind of cheap-grade paper that…

By: Vincent

Vincent — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 00:24:24 +0000

When I lived near Philadelphia, I went to the Phillies’ annual Holiday Festival for season-ticket holders (thanks to a friend of mine) after Bowa had been hired to manage for 2001. He took questions from fans, and I asked him what he had learned as a coach in Seattle to prevent “Bleep II!” (referring to his previous, disastrous managing stint in San Diego). Fortunately he took my comment in good humor and said he had learned a lot from Lou Piniella. And yep, we sure saw it over the next three years (I’m being facetious now).

Thankfully, I now live near Washington, where I get far less tension from watching Bowa’s nephew, Nick Johnson.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 18:20:29 +0000

Glen, all I can say is: I hope XM is paying him well. We know that even ahead of stupidity, willingness to work cheap is the hallmark of a Reds employee.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 18:10:35 +0000

Chris, If he’s recognized everywhere he’s managed as being an idiot, (and I know you’re right about that) he’s probably going to manage the Reds at some point in the future. I’m certain that someone in the front office will think he’s misunderstood and needs another chance. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the head.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 17:45:07 +0000

That idiot says stuff like this all the time. If it means anything, everywhere he’s managed, he’s recognized as a moron. It’s still talked about here in San Diego.

By: Brian Erts

Brian Erts — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 17:13:43 +0000

BTW that’s 1970-185 SS with 3000 PA’s

By: Brian Erts

Brian Erts — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 17:12:55 +0000

Bowa vs the league (BTW Bowa had NO range, nice hands and was duarble at best) \

OPS DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE
1 Garry Templeton .070 .705 .635
2 Dave Concepcion .057 .681 .625
3 Chris Speier .051 .671 .620
4 Don Kessinger .041 .650 .609
5 Bill Russell .025 .650 .626
6 Ivan DeJesus .020 .653 .632
7 Rafael Ramirez .018 .649 .631
8 Bud Harrelson .009 .618 .609
9 Larry Bowa -.002 .620 .622
10 Ozzie Smith -.013 .623 .636

RUNS CREATED/GAME DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE
1 Garry Templeton 0.76 4.16 3.40
2 Dave Concepcion 0.61 3.92 3.31
3 Chris Speier 0.54 3.79 3.25
4 Don Kessinger 0.50 3.66 3.15
5 Bud Harrelson 0.42 3.58 3.16
6 Ivan DeJesus 0.39 3.77 3.39
7 Bill Russell 0.20 3.51 3.31
8 Larry Bowa 0.11 3.39 3.28
9 Ozzie Smith 0.11 3.51 3.41
10 Rafael Ramirez 0.11 3.46 3.35

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 16:40:19 +0000

I still stand by my original statement regarding Bowa’s playing career. He had a “fine” career. 15 years in the bigs, .260 avg., .300 OBP, in his day one of the best with a glove. There’s no stat for being a jerk. If there was one Bowa would be in the Hall of Fame.

By: Voldi

Voldi — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 16:09:21 +0000

Career OPS+ of 71. Go Larry!

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 15:10:32 +0000

I guess “some people” forgot to tell Bowa that not every baseball book is an instructional book about running, hitting, and fielding.

By: Brian Erts

Brian Erts — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 15:01:39 +0000

Sreve Goldman covered this (somewhat) in this article.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 14:18:39 +0000

Bowa had a pretty lousy major league career, mostly because teams at the time thought a shortstop with a good fielding percentage and a decent batting average was doing all right. Well, Bowa had limited range and no power, and didn’t draw many walks, so he wasn’t much help. On the bright side, most other shortstops of his era weren’t much better, except Davey of course.