Bruce Bochy, Manager, Texas Rangers

Date of Birth: 4/16/1955
Birthplace: Landes de Bussac, France
College: Brevard Community College

Bruce Bochy, manager of the Texas Rangers, started his major league baseball career as a catcher. After playing baseball in high school and college, Bochy was drafted by the Houston Astros in 1975. He played for the Astros from 1978 through 1980. He followed that with a year with the New York Mets (1982) and five years with the San Diego Padres (1983-1987). Bochy ended his playing career with a .239 batting average.

It took several years for Bochy to move to the role of manager but he has worked in that position continuously since 1995. Bochy's managerial career began with a long stint (12 years) with the San Diego Padres (1995-2006). He led the Padres to four first place finishes in the NL West division (1996, 1998, 2005, 2006) and one National League pennant (1998). In 1996, Bochy was named NL Manager of the Year.

Bochy's best years as a manager have been in the last eight years, as manager of the San Francisco Giants. In both 2010 and 2012, Bochy led the Giants to first place finishes in the NL West, NL pennant wins and World Series wins. The World Series win in 2010 was the first for the Giants since 1954.

In 2014, Bochy again led the Giants to a NL pennant and a World Series win. They finished the regular season in second place in the NL West division with an 88-74 record and a Wild Card spot. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 in the Wild Card game and then went on to defeat the Washington Nationals in the NL Division series (three games to one) and the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship series (four games to one). It took them seven games to defeat the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

On August 27, 2014, Bochy won his 1,600th game and he became the NL West leader in wins, passing Tommy Lasorda.

Although Bochy again led the Giants to a winning season in 2015, they didn't make it to the playoffs. The team finished in second place in the NL West division with an 84-78 record.

Bochy led the Giants to the playoffs again in 2016. They finished the regular season in second place in the NL West division but they won the second Wild Card position. They had an 87 to 75 record in the regular season and they defeated the New York Mets in the Wild Card game. They lost the division series in four games to the Chicago Cubs.

The Giants and Bochy had a miserable season in 2017. They finished at the bottom of the National League and tied for the bottom of all of baseball with the Detroit Tigers. They had 98 losses and just 64 wins.

Bochy and the Giants had another losing season in 2018, finishing with 73 wins and 89 losses. The Giants and Bochy had only a slightly better season in 2019, with 77 wins and 85 losses.

In 25 years as a manager, Bochy had 2003 wins and 2029 losses. His record in thirteen years with the Giants is 1,052 wins to 1,054 losses.

Bochy retired as a manager after the 2019 season. He came out of retirement to sign on as the manager of the Rangers on October 21, 2022.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Bruce Bochy
Baseball Reference - Bruce Bochy