Bob Brenly

Robert Earl Brenly (born February 25, 1954) is an American baseball sportscaster and a former professional baseball player, coach and manager.

He played the majority of his Major League Baseball career as a catcher with the San Francisco Giants.

After retiring as a player, Brenly worked as a broadcaster with the Chicago Cubs, then as a coach with the Giants, then as a broadcaster for Fox.

Brenly was born on February 25, 1954, in Coshocton, Ohio.

Brenly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and was a member of the Bobcats baseball team.

By the time he graduated in 1976, Brenly had earned All-America honors and matched Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt's school record of 10 home runs in a single college season.

Brenly was not drafted but signed as an amateur free agent by the San Francisco Giants in 1976.

Brenly made his major league debut in 1981 at the age of 27.

Brenly replaced Milt May as the Giants starting catcher in 1983 and posted a .224 batting average along with 7 home runs and 34 runs batted in.

Brenly had his best season offensively in 1984 when, he was hitting for a .318 batting average at mid-season to earn a spot as a reserve player for the National League in the 1984 All-Star game.

He finished the season with a career-high .291 batting average with 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in.

Brenly won the 1984 Willie Mac Award for his spirit and leadership.

In 1986, Brenly led National League catchers with a .995 fielding percentage, committing only 3 errors as a catcher in 101 games as the Giants improved from last place the previous season to finish third in the National League Western Division.

Also in 1986, Brenly broke up a perfect game attempt by pitcher Don Carman on August 20 by leading off the ninth inning with a double.

Although Brenly was a good defensive catcher, he also has the dubious distinction of committing 4 errors in one inning while playing as a substitute third baseman during a game on September 14, 1986, against the Atlanta Braves.

Already suited up to catch, he was asked to man third base when the regular player was unavailable.

Three errors were on ground balls and one on a throw, with the throwing error coming on the same play as one of the ground ball errors.

Brenly atoned for his mistakes by hitting a fifth-inning home run.

He then hit a two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning to tie the game and finally hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game.

Brenly was playing first base during a Giants-Mets game on September 3, 1986 when Keith Hernandez hit a sharp grounder to pitcher Terry Mulholland.

The ball got stuck in Mulholland's glove so Mulholland tossed the glove with the baseball to Brenly for the out.

Brenly was inducted to the Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987.

Brenly led National League catchers in 1987 with 83 assists and posted a .267 batting average with 18 home runs and 51 runs batted in as, the Giants won the National League Western Division title.

In the only post-season appearance of his career in the 1987 National League Championship Series, Brenly hit .235 with 1 home run and 2 runs batted in as the Giants were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game series.

During the 1988 season, Brenly caught only 69 games and was released at the end of the season.

In 1989, Brenly became a free agent and signed a contract to play for the Toronto Blue Jays.

After half a season with the Blue Jays, he was released.

On July 18 and, re-signed to play for the Giants.

After 12 more games with the Giants, he retired at the end of the 1989 season at the age of 35.

In a 9-year career, Brenly played in 871 games, accumulating 647 hits in 2615 at bats for a .247 career batting average along with 91 home runs and 333 runs batted in.

He ended his career with a .984 fielding percentage as a catcher.

After serving a year as an analyst in Chicago, Brenly served as a coach for the Giants under manager Roger Craig, beginning in 1992.

When Craig was fired at the end of the season in favor of Dusty Baker, Brenly stayed on the staff for three more years.

Brenly later returned to being a baseball analyst for Fox (where Brenly had worked from 1996 to 2000 and called the 1996, 1998, and 2000 World Series alongside Joe Buck and Tim McCarver and the ALCS and All-Star Game in 1997 and 1999. He was then hired in November 2004 to replace Steve Stone as a color analyst for televised Chicago Cubs games. Brenly teamed with play-by-play announcer Len Kasper. He had previously teamed with Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman, and Ron Santo during the 1990 and 1991 seasons on radio. He often jokes about his mediocre playing career. Brenly is often referred to by his nickname, "BB" and was rumored to be in the running for several managerial positions for the 2008 season, though nothing materialized. Brenly was in the running for the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers managerial position and was said to be the favorite, but the job went to Ken Macha instead.

In 1998, Brenly was hired as a broadcaster for the new expansion team in the Arizona Diamondbacks for Fox Sports Net Arizona.

He was at the position for three years, which included broadcasts across national Fox platforms.

He was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2001 season, and won the franchise's only championship his first year, becoming the fourth rookie manager to win a World Series and first since 1961.

In 2004, Brenly was released by the Diamondbacks and again became a broadcaster with the Cubs until 2012.

He now serves as a color commentator for Diamondbacks broadcasts.

In 2007, Brenly served as a game analyst during postseason broadcasts on the TBS cable television network.