Bobby Bragan
Encyclopedia
Robert Randall Bragan was a shortstop
, catcher
, manager
, and coach
in American
Major League Baseball
. He also was an influential executive in minor league baseball
. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama
.
On August 16, 2005, Bragan came out of retirement to manage the independent Central League
Fort Worth Cats
for one game, making him — at 87 years, nine months, and 16 days old — the oldest manager in professional baseball annals (besting by one week Connie Mack
, the manager and part-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics
). Always known as an innovator with a sense of humor — and an umpire-baiter — Bragan was ejected in the third inning of his "comeback", thus also becoming the oldest person in any capacity to be ejected from a professional baseball game.
Bragan died on January 21, 2010 of a heart attack
at his home in Fort Worth
.
(1956–57), Cleveland Indians
(1958), and Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
(1963–66), each time getting fired in the mid-season of his final campaign. In Cleveland, he lasted a total of only 67 games of his maiden season before his dismissal — at the time of his dismissal, his was the shortest stint for a Cleveland Indians manager. His career record in the major leagues was below .500: 443-478 (.481) and he was the first manager of the Braves when they relocated to Atlanta.
But Bragan was highly respected as a minor league pilot, winning championships in 1948-49 at Fort Worth of the AA Texas League
during a successful five-year run, and with the 1953 Hollywood Stars
of the Open-Classification Pacific Coast League
. A photograph of Bragan lying at the feet of an umpire who had ejected him, still arguing, was published in LIFE
Magazine at the time. Bragan also was a major league coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers
and Houston Colt .45s
.
Bragan began his seven-year (1940–44; 1947–48) major league playing career as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies
, but by , his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers
, he had learned how to catch
and was for the most part a backup receiver for the Dodgers for the remainder of his MLB playing days. A right-handed batter, Bragan hit
.240 in 597 games, with 15 career home run
s.
Bragan was a protégé of Branch Rickey
, the Hall of Fame front office executive, who hired him as an unproven young manager at Fort Worth when both were with Brooklyn and then brought Bragan to Hollywood and the Pittsburgh organization, where Rickey was general manager
from 1951-55. Bragan started the 1948 season with Brooklyn, but Rickey wanted to bring up Roy Campanella
from the minors. Rickey offered Bragan the managerial job with the Fort Worth Cats and he took over in July of ’48, remaining with the Cats for five years.
Ironically, Bragan had clashed with Rickey in over the Dodgers' breaking of the baseball color line
after the major-league debut of Jackie Robinson
. Bragan — the Dodgers' second-string catcher at the time — was one of a group of white players, largely from the American South
, who signed a petition against Robinson's presence. He even asked Rickey to trade him. But Bragan quickly relented. "After just one road trip, I saw the quality of Jackie the man and the player," Bragan told mlb.com in 2005. "I told Mr. Rickey I had changed my mind and I was honored to be a teammate of Jackie Robinson." When Bragan attended Rickey's funeral in 1965, he stated that he decided to attend because, "Branch Rickey made me a better man."
Furthermore, as a manager, Bragan earned a reputation for fairness and "color-blindedness." When he was the skipper of the Dodgers' Spokane Indians
PCL farm club in , Bragan played an influential role in helping Maury Wills
, a speedy shortstop whose baseball career had stalled until he learned to switch hit
under Bragan. Said former Dodger general manager Buzzie Bavasi
, "Bobby would call six times a day and tell me over again how Wills had learned to switch-hit and how he was a great team leader, off and on the field, and how I was absolutely nuts if I didn't bring him up right away." Wills would fashion a 14-year MLB career, play on three world championship Dodger teams, and in set a new record for stolen bases in a season, with 104 thefts, breaking Ty Cobb
's 47-year-old mark of 96.
resident, began a new career chapter when he became president of the Texas League. He was so successful, in 1975 he was elected president of the minor leagues' governing body, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.
Upon completion of his three year term as president of the minor leagues, Bobby and his wife, Gwenn, returned home to Fort Worth, where they had lived since Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers assigned him to manage the Fort Worth Cats in 1948. Bragan joined the Texas Rangers' front office in 1979 and continued to make appearances and speaking engagements on behalf of the ballclub well into his 80s.
After Gwenn Bragan’s death in 1983, Bobby married Roberta Beckman. It was Roberta who suggested to Bobby that he establish a scholarship foundation to encourage youth to do well in school and go on to college. With the financial seed money provided by Roberta, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation http://www.BobbyBragan.org (BBYF) was established in 1991.
Roberta Beckman Bragan died in 1993. Bobby married Betty Bloxam in 1995 and the two stayed together until his death.
As he passed his 90th birthday, Bobby continued an active schedule, as the Chairman of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation and making numerous appearances for civic organizations and businesses, including his beloved Fort Worth Cats as well as in schools, where he enjoyed entertaining and motivating students.
Each year, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation
honors outstanding athletes and executives for the achievements on and off of the playing field at the annual Bobby Bragan Gala to raise funds for the scholarships. Honorees have included Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Larry King, Tommy LaSorda, Bobby Valentine, Bud Selig, Willie Mays
, Lou Brock
and Brooks Robinson
.
Bragan came from a baseball family. Five of the six Bragan boys played baseball professionally. His late brother Jimmy
was a minor league player and longtime coach and scout in major league baseball who himself was president of the AA Southern League
during the 1980s. His brother Peter has owned and operated the Jacksonville Suns in the class AA Southern League for over 25 years and his late son, Bobby Bragan, Jr. operated the Elmira, NY ballclub in the New York-Penn League.
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
, catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
, manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
, and coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. He also was an influential executive in minor league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
.
On August 16, 2005, Bragan came out of retirement to manage the independent Central League
Central Baseball League
The Central Baseball League, formerly the Texas-Louisiana League, was a minor league whose member teams were independent of any Major League Baseball affiliations.In 1991, potential owners, Dallas businessman Byron Pierce and U. S...
Fort Worth Cats
Fort Worth Cats
The Fort Worth Cats are a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats are a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 2002 season the Cats...
for one game, making him — at 87 years, nine months, and 16 days old — the oldest manager in professional baseball annals (besting by one week Connie Mack
Connie Mack (baseball)
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...
, the manager and part-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
). Always known as an innovator with a sense of humor — and an umpire-baiter — Bragan was ejected in the third inning of his "comeback", thus also becoming the oldest person in any capacity to be ejected from a professional baseball game.
Bragan died on January 21, 2010 of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his home in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
.
Career as player and field manager
During his major league career, Bragan never skippered a game past his 49th birthday. He managed the Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
(1956–57), Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
(1958), and Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
(1963–66), each time getting fired in the mid-season of his final campaign. In Cleveland, he lasted a total of only 67 games of his maiden season before his dismissal — at the time of his dismissal, his was the shortest stint for a Cleveland Indians manager. His career record in the major leagues was below .500: 443-478 (.481) and he was the first manager of the Braves when they relocated to Atlanta.
But Bragan was highly respected as a minor league pilot, winning championships in 1948-49 at Fort Worth of the AA Texas League
Texas League
The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
during a successful five-year run, and with the 1953 Hollywood Stars
Hollywood Stars
The Hollywood Stars were a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early and mid 20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels.-Hollywood Stars :...
of the Open-Classification Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
. A photograph of Bragan lying at the feet of an umpire who had ejected him, still arguing, was published in LIFE
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
Magazine at the time. Bragan also was a major league coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
and Houston Colt .45s
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
.
Bragan began his seven-year (1940–44; 1947–48) major league playing career as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, but by , his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
, he had learned how to catch
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
and was for the most part a backup receiver for the Dodgers for the remainder of his MLB playing days. A right-handed batter, Bragan hit
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.240 in 597 games, with 15 career home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s.
Bragan was a protégé of Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
, the Hall of Fame front office executive, who hired him as an unproven young manager at Fort Worth when both were with Brooklyn and then brought Bragan to Hollywood and the Pittsburgh organization, where Rickey was general manager
General manager (baseball)
In Major League Baseball, the general manager of a team typically controls player transactions and bears the primary responsibility on behalf of the ballclub during contract discussions with players....
from 1951-55. Bragan started the 1948 season with Brooklyn, but Rickey wanted to bring up Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
from the minors. Rickey offered Bragan the managerial job with the Fort Worth Cats and he took over in July of ’48, remaining with the Cats for five years.
Ironically, Bragan had clashed with Rickey in over the Dodgers' breaking of the baseball color line
Baseball color line
The color line in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Organized Baseball, or the major leagues and affiliated minor leagues, until Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season...
after the major-league debut of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
. Bragan — the Dodgers' second-string catcher at the time — was one of a group of white players, largely from the American South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, who signed a petition against Robinson's presence. He even asked Rickey to trade him. But Bragan quickly relented. "After just one road trip, I saw the quality of Jackie the man and the player," Bragan told mlb.com in 2005. "I told Mr. Rickey I had changed my mind and I was honored to be a teammate of Jackie Robinson." When Bragan attended Rickey's funeral in 1965, he stated that he decided to attend because, "Branch Rickey made me a better man."
Furthermore, as a manager, Bragan earned a reputation for fairness and "color-blindedness." When he was the skipper of the Dodgers' Spokane Indians
Spokane Indians
The Spokane Indians are a minor league baseball team located in Spokane, Washington, United States. They are a Short-Season A classification team in the Northwest League and have been a farm team of the Texas Rangers since 2003. The Indians play home games at Avista Stadium...
PCL farm club in , Bragan played an influential role in helping Maury Wills
Maury Wills
Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers , and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos...
, a speedy shortstop whose baseball career had stalled until he learned to switch hit
Switch hitter
In baseball, a switch-hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed.-Baseball:Usually, right-handed batters hit better against left-handed pitchers and vice-versa. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher. Such pitches are often...
under Bragan. Said former Dodger general manager Buzzie Bavasi
Buzzie Bavasi
Emil Joseph "Buzzie" Bavasi was an American executive in Major League Baseball who played a major role in the operation of three franchises from the late 1940s through the mid-1980s....
, "Bobby would call six times a day and tell me over again how Wills had learned to switch-hit and how he was a great team leader, off and on the field, and how I was absolutely nuts if I didn't bring him up right away." Wills would fashion a 14-year MLB career, play on three world championship Dodger teams, and in set a new record for stolen bases in a season, with 104 thefts, breaking Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
's 47-year-old mark of 96.
President of Texas League and National Association
In 1969, Bragan, a Fort WorthFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
resident, began a new career chapter when he became president of the Texas League. He was so successful, in 1975 he was elected president of the minor leagues' governing body, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.
Upon completion of his three year term as president of the minor leagues, Bobby and his wife, Gwenn, returned home to Fort Worth, where they had lived since Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers assigned him to manage the Fort Worth Cats in 1948. Bragan joined the Texas Rangers' front office in 1979 and continued to make appearances and speaking engagements on behalf of the ballclub well into his 80s.
After Gwenn Bragan’s death in 1983, Bobby married Roberta Beckman. It was Roberta who suggested to Bobby that he establish a scholarship foundation to encourage youth to do well in school and go on to college. With the financial seed money provided by Roberta, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation http://www.BobbyBragan.org (BBYF) was established in 1991.
Roberta Beckman Bragan died in 1993. Bobby married Betty Bloxam in 1995 and the two stayed together until his death.
As he passed his 90th birthday, Bobby continued an active schedule, as the Chairman of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation and making numerous appearances for civic organizations and businesses, including his beloved Fort Worth Cats as well as in schools, where he enjoyed entertaining and motivating students.
Each year, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation
Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation
The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation was created by Bobby Bragan, who has worked since 1992 to motivate the youth of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to become better scholars, citizens, and athletes, and to serve as leaders and role models for their peers....
honors outstanding athletes and executives for the achievements on and off of the playing field at the annual Bobby Bragan Gala to raise funds for the scholarships. Honorees have included Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Larry King, Tommy LaSorda, Bobby Valentine, Bud Selig, Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, Lou Brock
Lou Brock
Louis Clark "Lou" Brock is an American former professional baseball player. He began his Major League Baseball career with the Chicago Cubs but, spent the majority of his career as the left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock was best known for breaking Ty Cobb's all-time major league...
and Brooks Robinson
Brooks Robinson
Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. is a former American professional baseball player. He played his entire 23-year major league career for the Baltimore Orioles . Nicknamed "The Human Vacuum Cleaner", he is generally acclaimed as the greatest defensive third-basemen in major league history...
.
Bragan came from a baseball family. Five of the six Bragan boys played baseball professionally. His late brother Jimmy
Jim Bragan
James Alton Bragan was an infielder, manager and league president in American minor league baseball, a scout and coach at the major league level, and a college baseball coach during a 40-plus year career in the game...
was a minor league player and longtime coach and scout in major league baseball who himself was president of the AA Southern League
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
during the 1980s. His brother Peter has owned and operated the Jacksonville Suns in the class AA Southern League for over 25 years and his late son, Bobby Bragan, Jr. operated the Elmira, NY ballclub in the New York-Penn League.
Honors
- 1950 - Selected as Outstanding Young Man of Fort Worth
- 1976 - Elected Outstanding Man of Florida by St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce
- 1980 - Elected into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
- 1989 - Received the Wall of Fame from P.O.N.Y. Baseball, Washington, PA
- 1994 - Number retired (# 10) by Fort Worth CatsFort Worth CatsThe Fort Worth Cats are a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats are a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 2002 season the Cats...
- 1998 - Inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame
- 2005 - Elected into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame http://www.tshof.org
- 2006 - Inducted into the Legends of LaGrave
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record and playing statistics
- LosAngelesDodgersonline.com
- Bobby Bragan at Find a GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation