Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : Farewell, Buzzie Bavasi

Farewell, Buzzie Bavasi

2008-05-01 15:47

by Jon Weisman

The Associated Press is reporting that former Dodger general manager Buzzie Bavasi has died at the age of 93.

Bavasi straddled the Brooklyn-Los Angeles transition, before moving on to join the expansion San Diego Padres in 1968 and later the Angels. Maury Brown interviewed Bavasi about his life in the sport for The Biz of Baseball in 2005.

Update: MLB.com now has a story up - others no doubt will follow.

Comments (79)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2008-05-01 15:53:40

1. Jacob L

I met Bavazi through some friends of my parents. I didn't know much about him at the time (I was 10 or 11), but this was about at the apex of my being awed by anyone associated with Major League Baseball. I recall him being pretty friendly. On top of that, I got awesome seats to Game 2 of the 1982 ALCS indirectly through him (behind the Milwaukee dugout, close enough for the guys next to us to lay into Gorman Thomas).

2008-05-01 15:54:12

2. Robert Fiore

Hall of Famer, do you suppose? There don't seem to be a lot of pure General Managers (as opposed to executives who acted as GM as well as owner) in the Hall, which may be a reflection of falling behind the times. Branch Rickey is the one that sticks out, though I don't know who all those people are.

2008-05-01 15:55:30

3. underdog

I feel really sad for first thinking, "He was still alive?" but my condolences to his family.

2008-05-01 15:56:28

4. underdog

Since we were posting Paula Abdul links in previous thread I thought it acceptable to post a link to a Miley Cyrus column that basically sums up my feelings on it all better than I could. Do read Tim Goodman's take:
http://tinyurl.com/5vl3so

2008-05-01 15:58:43

5. bhsportsguy

I thought it was cool that as a SABR member, I had his e-mail address though I never e-mailed him, I think Bob told me he did once.

You can bet that tomorrow night, right after Vin says "Hi everybody and pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be," he'll give a thought and a prayer to Buzzy Bavasi.

2008-05-01 16:00:32

6. Eric Enders

4 That link contains the following slanderous and highly offensive sentence: "For enders, it's about money. Period."

2008-05-01 16:01:35

7. bhsportsguy

6 It should correctly say, its about Texas basketball.

2008-05-01 16:03:57

8. Eric Enders

Bavasi seemed like a nice man. I had occasion to speak to him once; he was very helpful and accommodating. He'd never met me before and had nothing in particular to gain from helping me, but he did.

2008-05-01 16:05:32

9. D4P

I thought it was cool that as a SABR member, I had his e-mail address

Do all SABR members have his e-mail address...?

2008-05-01 16:06:01

10. underdog

6 Hah hah. Sorry about that. You should email Goodman for abusing a good name.

2008-05-01 16:06:43

11. Jacob L

Who wins for best baseball executive name between Buzzy, Fresco Thompson, and Branch Rickey?

2008-05-01 16:06:58

12. bhsportsguy

9 Yep, if you choose to list it on the memebership directory.

2008-05-01 16:07:01

13. Eric Enders

Don't forget, Suns Thoughts starts now. I will repost my LATed minor league question from the last thread:

So, since it looks like we'll be doing Farm System Thoughts tonight, does anybody think it's time for the Dodgers to admit they made a mistake by having Baez skip a level? Will they continue to let him flail away at Great Lakes, or will they send him to extended spring training until Ogden's season starts?

2008-05-01 16:08:28

14. MC Safety

First Top Chef last night, now Jon Weisman withholding his endorsement of curry!

2008-05-01 16:09:01

15. Eric Enders

McDonald whiffs the first two batters of the game.

2008-05-01 16:10:31

16. scareduck

Thumbnail bio from the Seattle P-I:

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/05/buzzie_bavasi_19142008.html

2008-05-01 16:14:00

17. Eric Enders

Pitching for Tennessee is Donald Veal, the Cubs' top pitching propect who lastr year turned into the lefty version of Nuke LaLoosh.

DeJesus, on his actual 21st birthday, grounds out to lead off the 1st for the Suns.

2008-05-01 16:14:35

18. D4P

Pitching for Tennessee is Donald Veal, the Cubs' top pitching propect

Him? Is he funny or something?

2008-05-01 16:17:31

19. bhsportsguy

Eric Enders might have more to add but as far as I can tell only four executives/pioneers are in the HOF for primarily the work they did building their ballclub. There are several owner types who had lots of say (Bill Veeck for one) but I don't think of them as front office types.

The four and the recurring theme is New York:

Ed Barrow (Boston/New York Yankees)
Larry Macphail (Cin. Reds/Brooklyn/NYY)
Lee Macphail (New York Yankees/Baltimore Orioles)
Branch Rickey (St. Louie/Brookly/Pittsburgh)
George Weiss (New York Yankees)

2008-05-01 16:20:32

20. Bluebleeder87

I have read some really cool stuff on Bavasi in the past, looks like he lived a full life at 93

2008-05-01 16:26:04

21. scareduck

18 - no, but he's treated cruelly in a small pen before being slaughtered. Come to think of it, that describes a lot of relievers.

2008-05-01 16:27:47

22. Jon Weisman

18 - My thoughts exactly. We really connect on this.

2008-05-01 16:29:31

23. Eric Enders

19 You said four but listed five... actually four is correct, I think, because MacPhail Jr. is definitely in more for his work as AL president than for any team-building accomplishments. (Well, actually he's in more because his name was MacPhail and he had lots of friends on the Veterans' Committee because he served on it for a while.)

Harry Wright, Clark Griffith, Al Spalding, Frank Selee, Frank Chance, Fred Clarke, Barney Dreyfuss, Cum Posey, J.L. Wilkinson, Effa Manley, Rickey, and Veeck are all in at least partly for the way they performed what today would be considered a General Manager's duties. But George Weiss is the only person in the Hall of Fame who was strictly a GM only.

I wonder if John Schuerholz will get in?

2008-05-01 16:30:31

24. D4P

22
It's like we finish each other's...sandwiches.

2008-05-01 16:36:20

25. Jon Weisman

By the way, the Thursday night TV chat thread is below this thread.

2008-05-01 16:37:40

26. bhsportsguy

23 I guess Andy won't make them the Macphails the first three generation family in the Hall.

2008-05-01 16:39:02

27. Greg Brock

18 I should have known you'd get to the Arrested Development joke first.

Drat!

2008-05-01 16:39:45

28. Jim Hitchcock

25 NPUTO?

2008-05-01 16:39:51

29. Eric Enders

26 Well, his name is MacPhail and he's been around a long time...

2008-05-01 16:41:17

30. bhsportsguy

27 Kids ready for the SAT?

2008-05-01 16:42:37

31. Jon Weisman

Tennesee, McDonald's opponent, is in last place in its Southern League division.

2008-05-01 16:43:06

32. Greg Brock

30 Three more hours of tutoring tomorrow after school, and they'll be as ready as I can make them.

2008-05-01 16:46:41

33. Eric Enders

I keep doing a double-take while listening to the radio broadcast because Tennessee has a player named Matt Camp.

2008-05-01 16:48:30

34. underdog

3Ks for McDonald so far. And The Cutlet isn't doing too bad either.

2008-05-01 16:50:19

35. Daniel Zappala

4 I agree with most of what he said, but this caught my eye (as well as the crack about Enders):

Never mind that most summer dresses and halter tops that young girls wear show off more skin

Not in my house they won't.

2008-05-01 16:51:11

36. Jon Weisman

35 - Easier for them to hide their movie popcorn, then.

2008-05-01 16:53:00

37. Jon Weisman

33- How are the broadcasters of this fine affair?

2008-05-01 16:53:01

38. D4P

35
Some of Daniel's daughters getting on the school bus:

http://tinyurl.com/5kfyv8

2008-05-01 16:54:22

39. underdog

I wish I could hear the Jax game. My sound's still busted at work. Just checking the live box. Looks like, uh, a good game.

2008-05-01 16:57:02

40. Eric Enders

37 It's J.P. Shadrick, the Suns' usual announcer. I'm a fan. He's professional, informative, and he clearly does his homework. It's a comfortable voice to listen to.

Whenever Dodgers front-office personnel visit Jacksonville he tends to have them as guests on the air, so maybe we'll be hearing from Ned.

2008-05-01 17:01:41

41. Eric Enders

In the fifth McDonald lost his perfect game on the first batter, his no-hitter on the second batter, and his shutout on the third batter. 1-0 Tennessee.

2008-05-01 17:05:13

42. Daniel Zappala

38 I don't even need to look at that picture to know what it's going to be.

2008-05-01 17:07:57

43. Eric Enders

McDonald has been reading Billingsley's how-to book, "Pitching Four Dominant Innings, Then Falling Apart in the Fifth for Dummies."

4-0 Tennessee.

2008-05-01 17:08:35

44. underdog

Aw man, poor James. I hope this was the inning Ned was in the men's room.

2008-05-01 17:12:55

45. D4P

42
It was perfect.

2008-05-01 17:13:36

46. bhsportsguy

44 Actually, this is probably viewed as a necessary hurdle for McDonald, last year he was pretty domininant at Inland Empire and in Jacksonville, now he is known quantity so teams are going to ready to face him. How he bounces back from innings like this and games like this will be an indicator when he can advance.

2008-05-01 17:14:52

47. underdog

Good point. At any rate, it sounds like it'll be more likely we see him in September and The Minotaur before then, barring any setbacks.

2008-05-01 17:15:05

48. Daniel Zappala

45 Too bad my kids walk to school.

2008-05-01 17:16:18

49. Eric Enders

They're probably sweating by the time they get there from wearing all that clothing!

2008-05-01 17:18:12

50. bhsportsguy

It also sounds like Gurnick might be wrong since I did not hear Kershaw is warming up but maybe a little later.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2008-05-01 17:19:02

51. Daniel Zappala

My daughter's last word on her spelling test this week: bison.

2008-05-01 17:20:28

52. Daniel Zappala

49 You ever seen a school bus with air conditioning?

2008-05-01 17:26:07

53. Eric Enders

Ivan DeJesus throws the ball into the third row. 6-0 Tennessee. Muegge is pitching for the Suns.

2008-05-01 17:29:28

54. Eric Enders

Brent Leach has been promoted to Jacksonville, according to Shadrich.

Bout time. He's a dark horse to help the big team out of the bullpen as soon as this year, IMO. He's dominated everywhere he's been.

2008-05-01 17:32:22

55. ToyCannon

54
What was the strange injury he missed last year with?

2008-05-01 17:37:53

56. Eric Enders

55 I want to say it was something to do with his hip, but I really don't remember. He pitched the first third of the year and dominated, then was out the rest of the season.

2008-05-01 17:42:15

57. Eric Enders

I'm assuming no Kershaw tonight. Shadrick says Colletti & Friends will be staying in Jacksonville through Sunday.

2008-05-01 17:42:44

58. Eric Enders

Which, if true, means that Gurnick did in fact Albomize himself.

2008-05-01 17:45:50

59. Eric Enders

Actually, no he didn't. I thought the article had said something about continuing on to Denver.

2008-05-01 18:01:35

60. bhsportsguy

58 I don't know, its pretty vague that Kershaw is going to pitch sometime this weekend, it seems the word that Gurnick got was that Kershaw was going to pitch in tandem with McDonald.

2008-05-01 18:01:48

61. underdog

I found a nice story on Brent Leach from MLB.com, from 2 years ago.
http://tinyurl.com/6fxhrf

So he went from reliever to starter to reliever...

2008-05-01 18:07:13

62. Eric Enders

Brent Leach is a left-hander who throws 95 and has had an injury-plagued career which includes Tommy John surgery. He's been switched from starter to reliever to starter to reliever. Soon, Xeifrank will be telling us his name really starts with a G.

2008-05-01 18:10:40

63. Gen3Blue

I really doubt Kershaw would pitch in tandem with McDonald.(of course I've been wrong on incredably rare occasions). No, I think Ned will have to stay overnight on the beautiful coast.

2008-05-01 18:19:34

64. CanuckDodger

62 -- Since when does Leach throw 95 MPH? I know he was in the low 90's as a closer in college, and after we drafted him and made him a starter, his FB velocity went down to 87-88.

2008-05-01 18:49:15

65. Gen3Blue

Only took 2 or 3 years to totally forget about Leach. Where is he now? At least he spelled his name the better way.

2008-05-01 19:33:36

66. LAT

We should just give every pitcher TJ surgery right out of high School. It would really move things along.

2008-05-01 19:46:42

67. Marty

Rough couple of days for the local Singleton papers.

2008-05-01 19:50:57

68. popup

RIP Buzzie. He put together the Dodger team that will always be my favorite--- the Koufax, Drysdale, Wills team of the 60's

Stan from Tacoma

2008-05-01 19:51:11

69. twerp

How long has it been since the Dodgers managed back-to-back sweeps?

2008-05-01 19:51:55

70. JT Dutch

... I wasn't the biggest fan of Buzzie Bavasi when he was a GM; but in all fairness, I only was angry at the moves he made and the attitude he displayed as a GM. I never met the man himself, and I'm sure he was a much better person than I imagined him to be when I was younger.

My condolences to his family and friends.

2008-05-01 20:09:59

71. bhsportsguy

69 The end of the 2006 season on the road against Colorado and San Francisco.

2008-05-01 20:19:00

72. Icaros

Can we go back in time and sign Fukudome instead of Jones?

121 PAs:

.353/.455/.500

2008-05-01 20:22:42

73. El Lay Dave

Buzzie apparently had a good, long life. You know it was long when this appears in your obit:

"He was like a father to me," said Don Zimmer , ... "From the time I was 19 years old ... all my life, really. I can't describe how much he meant to me."

I'd forgotten how he recanted on the infamous remarks on not re-signing Nolan Ryan:

After the durable Ryan notched his sixth no-hitter 11 years later, Bavasi sent him a message: "Nolan, some time ago I made it public that I made a mistake. You don't have to rub it in."

The Griddle also has an entry, with an exclusive quote:
http://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/972850.html

2008-05-01 20:25:44

74. gpellamjr

72 I didn't follow this near close enough. Did the Dodgers ever have a chance to sign him? I don't remember being aware of that at the time. But, yeah. That would be awesome.

2008-05-01 20:29:24

75. Icaros

I don't know whether they had a chance or not.

2008-05-01 20:40:17

76. El Lay Dave

For some reason, I decided to look back at the chronology of The Bison nickname, although I already know most of the story well. The game thread of his second game has been cited several times here, but that never quite gets all the way. The short synopsis:

- Announcer Don Sutton makes buffalo simile for Kemp, which is noted by a couple commenters.
- D4P points out that Bob Timmermann would insist on "bison".
- Disabled List writes " "Bison" would be a killer nickname for Kemp. Bison Kemp works for me. I second that motion."
http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/387331.html
comments 108-129

But there is no more "bison" or "buffalo" usage the rest of that game. It isn't until the next game thread and a comment about 28 hours later that it resurfaces, and for the first time as "The Bison", with seven further usages in that thread, since Kemp only PRs in that game.

84. Eric Enders 2006-05-30 15:31:22
So much for looking forward to watching The Bison tonight.

http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/388072.html

And now you know the rest of the story?

2008-05-01 20:48:19

77. El Lay Dave

74 I don't know about a chance or not, but the I seem to recall that the Dodgers didn't see Fukudome as a CF and didn't want him as a corner OF. (I guess they didn't see Kemp as a CF either, but he's clearly #2 to Jones on Torre's depth chart.)

2008-05-01 20:53:33

78. Jon Weisman

NPUT

2008-05-01 21:19:45

79. Eric Enders

76 I will happily take credit where no credit is due. ;)