Bud Black, Manager, Colorado Rockies

Date of Birth: 6/30/1957
Birthplace: San Mateo, California
College: San Diego State University

Bud Black, manager of the Colorado Rockies, started his baseball career as a pitcher. He first pitched in college and in 1981 began his major league career with the Seattle Mariners. In 15 years in the majors, Black moved around quite a bit, playing for five different teams. His longest time was seven years with the Kansas City Royals from 1982-1988. Black pitched in 398 games for the Mariners, Royals, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, and the San Francisco Giants and ended his playing career in 1994 with a 121-116 win-loss record, .511 win percentage, and a 3.84 ERA.

In 2000, after five years away from major league baseball, Black returned to become the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels. He held that position through the 2006 season, after which he got his first and current job as manager of the San Diego Padres.

Black's reign as the Padres manager has not been impressive, except for the 2010 season, when he led the team to a second place finish in the NL West division with a 90-72 record and a .556 win percentage. However, that record was not good enough to get the Padres to the playoffs. Black's other seasons with the Padres have not led to good results, with the team usually finishing in fourth or fifth place in the NL West division. He led the team to a winning record only twice, in his first year, 2007, with a 89-74 record and .546 win percentage and third place finish, and in the previously mentioned 2010 season.

In 2013, the Padres finished in third place in the NL West division with a 76-86 win-loss record. They had an almost identical record in 2014, finishing again in third place with a 77-85 record.

Black was fired as manager of the Padres on June 15, 2015. At the time, the Padres had a 32-33 record.

On November 25, 2015, Black was hired by the Los Angeles Angels as a special assistant to the general manager.

Black was named manager of the Rockies on November 7, 2016. In his first season with the Rockies, he led them to a third place finish in the NL West division and to the second NL Wild Card with an 87-75 record. They were defeated in the Wild Card Game by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rockies and Black fared better in 2018, finishing in a first place tie for the NL West division title with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both teams had 91 wins and 72 losses. The Rockies lost the tie-breaker game, but they earned a Wild Card spot. However, they lost that game to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Black and the Rockies had a losing season in 2019, finishing in fourth place in the NL West division with 71 wins and 91 losses. They again finished in fourth place in 2020, with 26 wins and 34 losses.

The Rockies again finished in fourth place in the NL West division in 2021. Under Black's leadership, they had 74 wins and 87 losses.

In his 13 years as a major league manager, Black has led teams to 998 wins and 1,072 losses.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Bud Black
Baseball Reference - Bud Black