Manager in the Spotlight: Bruce Bochy

by Daniel Paulling
April 5, 2005

Name: Bruce Bochy;
Team: San Diego Padres
Career Record: 781-821

His first Spring Training came in 1995. Bruce Bochy was the manager of the Padres and in his first season, he had to win with a fireman and assorted players. This was of course the spring training in which only the replacement players showed up. Soon the labor agreement was hammered out and Bochy received more notable baseball players to write in his lineup card.

In his first season, Bochy managed seventy wins. In his second year at the helm, the manager won 91 games, a number only eclipsed by 98 two seasons later. While he has been in charge, the Padres have won two National League West titles and one National League Pennant. The Padres have begun their rebuilding process, coinciding with a move into a new ballpark, but they did not change managers as most teams would.

Bochy knows the game through and through. He spent his career as a catcher and learned the intricacies of managing from Dick Williams and Bill Virdon. For a young team like the Padres, this experience will serve them greatly. It would be very hard to bring in a manager that could do a better job or cares more about the game than Bruce Bochy.

So what does Bochy think of his job at the helm of the Padres?

"There's nothing else I would want to do," Bochy said. "When I was named manager in San Diego, it was really the finest moment of my career, the most memorable for me personally, I should say. And I still feel that way. I can't think of any other job I'd want to have."

And there’s no other place the Padres brass would want him to be.

"He's always had our players' respect, and he's very well thought of throughout the industry, too," Padres GM Kevin Towers said of Bochy. "I'd imagine if you asked his peers, his name would probably come up among the top five guys in the game.

"I've never had to search for another manager, and it'd be tough to even think of anybody who could take over."

And I would be hard pressed to think of anyone else who could take over. Bruce Bochy is a great manager, both for his players and his team. Good luck to Mr. Bochy and the San Diego Padres for this upcoming season.

Share your thoughts or comments in our forums

Buy tickets
showmetickets.com
Red Sox
Oakland A's Tickets
Giants Tickets
MLB Tickets

Buy tickets from CoastToCoasttickets.com
Boston Red Sox Tickets
Chicago Cubs Tickets
Marlins Tickets
Yankees Tickets

Everyticket.com
Red Sox Tickets
Cubs Tickets
Orioles Tickets
Yankees Tickets MLB Tickets