Robert Lee Howsam was an American professional sports executive and entrepreneur.
24 Facts About Bob Howsam
Bob Howsam then became a prominent MLB executive as the highly successful general manager and club president of the Cincinnati Reds during the Big Red Machine dynasty between 1967 and 1977, when his team won four National League pennants and two World Series titles.
Bob Howsam served as GM of the St Louis Cardinals from August 17,1964, until January 1967, where he inherited a team that would win the 1964 World Series, but made material contributions to the Redbirds' 1967 world champions and 1968 pennant-winners.
Bob Howsam was the son-in-law of Edwin C Johnson, a three-term United States Senator and two-term governor of Colorado.
Bob Howsam first made a name for himself as a highly successful baseball executive.
Bob Howsam led the family-owned Denver Bears of the Western League and Triple-A American Association from 1947 to 1962.
Bob Howsam built one of the most successful minor league franchises of the 1950s and was twice named Minor League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News.
Bob Howsam was slated to become owner of the Denver franchise, one of the league's eight charter members.
Bob Howsam even went as far as to expand Bears Stadium to over 34,000.
Bob Howsam had taken on a large amount of debt in hopes of bringing the majors to Denver.
Bob Howsam concluded the only way to get additional revenue was to extend his stadium's season by bringing in a football team.
In 1966, Bob Howsam acquired future Hall of Fame first baseman Orlando Cepeda from the San Francisco Giants in midseason and right fielder Roger Maris from the Yankees during the winter interleague trading period.
Bob Howsam resisted making a big trade to replace Boyer, instead staying in house and moving long-time outfielder Mike Shannon to third base to replace Boyer.
In 1970, he replaced a popular incumbent manager, Dave Bristol, with a then-unproven but a future Hall-of-Fame skipper in Anderson, whom Bob Howsam had earlier hired as a manager in the Cardinals' and Reds' farm systems.
Bob Howsam ensured that the fruitful Cincinnati system continued to churn out young position players, such as Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey, Ray Knight and Bernie Carbo.
Bob Howsam acquired record-setting reliever Wayne Granger and two talented young outfielders, Bobby Tolan and Alex Johnson, from the Cardinals.
Bob Howsam reportedly had considerably more authority than most general managers of the time.
However, Bob Howsam was especially known for his conservatism regarding labor relations; under him, the Reds were among the hardliners during the 1972 strike.
Many players, along with Anderson and Bob Howsam himself, believed that the loss of Perez in the clubhouse played a key factor in the decline of the team in the following years.
Bob Howsam returned to the club presidency in 1983 replacing a fired Wagner.
Bob Howsam traded for an aging Pete Rose in 1984 and installed him as a player-manager.
Bob Howsam was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2004.
Bob Howsam had been elected to his home state's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971.
Bob Howsam died from complications of heart disease on February 19,2008, nine days short of his 90th birthday, at his Sun City, Arizona, home.