Bruce Bochy

Bruce Douglas Bochy (born April 16, 1955) is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

During his playing career, Bochy was a catcher for the Houston Astros, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres.

He is the first manager to do so by way of winning the League Championship Series (the LCS did not exist prior to 1969), and just one of seven managers in baseball history to win four or more World Series.

Bochy attended Brevard Community College (later known as Eastern Florida State College) for two years on a partial scholarship, winning a state championship in 1975, before committing to play baseball for Eddie Stanky at South Alabama.

On January 9, 1975, Bochy was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the eighth round of the 1975 MLB draft, but did not sign.

On June 3, 1975, he was drafted in the first round (24th overall) by the Houston Astros in the 1975 Supplemental Draft and decided to turn professional.

With the Astros, Bochy primarily backed up Alan Ashby.

He was behind the plate in Game 4 of the 1980 NLCS versus the Philadelphia Phillies when Pete Rose ran him over to score the go-ahead run in the top of the tenth inning.

On February 11, 1981, Bochy was traded to the Mets for minor leaguers Stan Hough and Randy Rogers.

On January 21, 1983, he was released by the Mets.

On February 23, 1983, Bochy signed as a free agent with the San Diego Padres.

With the Padres, he was the backup to Terry Kennedy from 1983 to 1986 and rookie catcher Benito Santiago in 1987.

He participated in the first five postseason appearances in Padres history, as a backup catcher in 1984 and as their manager in 1996, 1998, 2005, and 2006.

Bochy was the backup to Terry Kennedy when the Padres won their first NL pennant in 1984, and he played in one game in the 1984 World Series, which the Padres lost in five games to the Detroit Tigers.

On July 1, 1985, Bochy hit a tenth-inning walk-off home run off Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros, the only walk-off home run allowed in Ryan's career.

Bochy was behind the plate on September 11, 1985, when Pete Rose, with the Cincinnati Reds, collected his record-breaking 4,192nd major league hit off Padres pitcher Eric Show.

On November 9, 1987, Bochy was granted free agency.

In 1988, Bochy spent his final season playing in Triple-A Las Vegas where he served as a player-coach, batting .231 in 53 games.

In 802 career at-bats, he hit .239 with 26 home runs.

After retiring as a player, Bochy was hired by Padres general manager Jack McKeon to manage in their minor league system.

He started the 1989 season assisting the Class-A Riverside Red Wave before leaving to manage the Short-Season Class-A Spokane Indians, leading them to their third consecutive championship.

In 1990, Bochy took over as manager of the Red Wave, finishing with a 64–78 record.

In 1991, Bochy followed the team to Adelanto, California, where they became the High Desert Mavericks, and led them to a 73–63 record and California League title.

After retiring as a player, Bochy managed the Padres for 12 seasons, from 1995 to 2006, and the San Francisco Giants for 13 seasons, from 2007 to 2019.

As manager, Bochy led the Giants to three World Series championships, the Padres to one World Series appearance, and the Rangers to the franchise's first World Series championship in his first season with the club.

He is one of only three managers to win a World Series championship in both leagues, joining Sparky Anderson and Tony LaRussa as the others.

In 1998, he led the Padres to their first National League (NL) pennant in 14 years; however, they lost the 1998 World Series to the New York Yankees.

Bochy was both the first foreign-born manager to reach the World Series (1998) and the first European-born manager to win the World Series (2010).

Bochy reached the World Series for a second time as the manager of the 2010 Giants, this time in a winning effort over the Texas Rangers, and brought the first ever World Series Championship home to the city of San Francisco; it was the first for the Giants franchise since 1954.

Bochy is the 11th manager in MLB history to achieve 2,000 wins.

Bochy is the only former Padres player to serve as the team's manager on a non-interim basis.

Two years later, in the 2012 World Series, by sweeping the Detroit Tigers, Bochy managed the Giants to their second World Series Championship win in three years.

On July 23, 2013, he became the 21st manager with 1500 wins.

He reached the World Series for a fourth time, in 2014, and managed his third World Championship in five years, this time leading the Giants over the Kansas City Royals in seven games.

In 2023, he came out of retirement to lead his third different franchise to the World Series as the manager of the American League Champion Texas Rangers, joining Bill McKechnie and Dick Williams with that distinction.

On April 10, 2017, Bochy surpassed Dusty Baker for the most wins in the West Coast portion of Giants history.

He is the only manager in Major League history to win at least 900 games with two different teams.

Bochy was born in France (in Bussac-Forêt, Charente-Maritime), where his father, Sergeant Major (E-9) Gus Bochy, was stationed as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army at the time.

Growing up, Bochy moved with his family to the Panama Canal Zone, South Carolina, and Virginia, before settling in Melbourne, Florida.

Bochy graduated from Melbourne High School, where he was a baseball teammate of Darrell Hammond of Saturday Night Live fame.