22 Facts About Larry Bowa

1.

Larry Bowa went on to manage the San Diego Padres and Phillies, and is currently a senior advisor to the general manager of the Phillies.

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2.

Larry Bowa was born in Sacramento, California, the son of Paul Larry Bowa, a former minor-league infielder and manager in the St Louis Cardinals farm system.

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3.

McClatchy High School, Larry Bowa tried out but never made the school's baseball team.

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4.

Larry Bowa played well and signed with the Phillies for a $2,000 bonus.

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5.

Larry Bowa won two Gold Glove Awards and led the National League in fielding percentage six times, then a league record.

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6.

Larry Bowa retired with the NL record for career games at shortstop and was among the career leaders in assists and double plays ; Bowa's records have since been broken, though he retains the NL mark for career fielding percentage.

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7.

Apart from his fielding achievements, Larry Bowa was a switch-hitter, batting.

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8.

From his 1970 rookie season through 1981, Larry 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.

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9.

Larry Bowa tied Ozzie Smith for the most post-1930 seasons with at least 400 at-bats and no home runs, with six.

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10.

However, Green, who had managed the 1980 world champions, knew that Larry Bowa didn't have many years left and demanded a young rookie third baseman named Ryne Sandberg as a part of the trade.

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11.

At the beginning of the 1985 season, Larry 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 Larry Bowa discontented with the Cubs' organization.

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12.

Larry Bowa was hired to manage the Padres on October 28,1986, a little over a year after playing in his final MLB game.

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13.

Larry Bowa returned to the Phillies as the team's third base coach on August 11,1988 and remained there through the 1996 season.

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14.

When Jim Fregosi was fired as Phillies manager following the 1996 season, Larry Bowa was one of the candidates to interview for the vacant position, which ultimately went to Terry Francona.

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15.

Larry 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.

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16.

Larry Bowa was honored as National League Manager of the Year and received the Sporting News NL Manager of the Year Award that year.

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17.

On November 5,2007, the Los Angeles Dodgers hired Larry Bowa to be the team's third base coach, following the hire of new manager Joe Torre, under whom Larry Bowa had served with the Yankees.

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18.

Larry Bowa reunited with Joe Torre and served as his bench coach for the USA team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

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19.

Larry Bowa returned to Major League Baseball and the Phillies by joining Ryne Sandberg's staff as bench coach for the 2014 season.

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20.

Larry Bowa remained with the Phillies as bench coach under Pete Mackanin, who took over after Sandberg resigned during the 2015 season.

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21.

Larry 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.

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22.

Larry Bowa spent the 2005 season as an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight and co-hosted a baseball talk show on XM Radio.

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