Robert Raymond Boone (born November 19, 1947) is an American former

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) who was a four-time

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

. Born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, he is the son of MLB player

Ray Boone Raymond Otis Boone (July 27, 1923 – October 17, 2004) was an American professional baseball infielder and scout (sport), scout who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Primarily a third baseman and shortstop, he was a two-time American League ...

, and he is the father of two major leaguers: Bret Boone and

Aaron Boone Aaron John Boone (born March 9, 1973) is an American professional baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2009. As ...

. All four family members were named All-Stars during their careers.

Professional career

Philadelphia Phillies

Boone was drafted by the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

in the sixth round (126th overall) of the 1969 amateur draft after attending

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. He was brought to the majors in late 1972. While Boone never had excellent hitting numbers, he was an excellent defensive catcher, committing only eight errors and allowing only three passed balls in the 1977 season. Boone made the National League All-Star team three times in a Phillies uniform and helped the team win the 1980 World Series. In 1981, he batted .211/.279/.295. In 2005, Boone was inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.

California Angels

In 1982, the Phillies decided to trade the veteran catcher to the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

following an unproductive year from Boone and also as a possible retaliation for Boone's key role in leading the players in negotiations during the

1981 Major League Baseball strike The 1981 Major League Baseball strike was the first work stoppage in Major League Baseball since the 1972 Major League Baseball strike that resulted in regular season games being cancelled. Overall, it was the fourth work stoppage since 1972, bu ...

. Boone rebounded by throwing out 21 of the first 34 steal attempts and helping the Angels to the AL West title. In 1983, he made his fourth and final All-Star appearance. On September 30, 1984, Boone caught Mike Witt's perfect game.

Kansas City Royals

As a free agent, Boone signed with the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

, but a broken finger in 1990 led to his retirement at age 42 following his shortened season, in which he batted .239/.336/.265. Boone was a career .254/.315/.346 hitter with 1,838 hits, 105

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s (HR) and 826

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI), in 2,264 games. He was selected an All-Star in 1976, 1978–79, and 1983. Boone was one of the top defensive catchers of his era, winning seven Gold Glove awards. He caught 2,225 games in a 19-year big league career, a record that lasted for three years until Carlton Fisk passed him (the record currently is held by

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Ran ...

, with 2,427). Boone caught 117 shutouts during his career, ranking him tied for 13th all-time in 2010 among major league catchers.

Managerial career

In 1990, just after Boone retired as a player, a group trying to bring an MLB franchise to Orlando (called the Orlando SunRays) hired him to be its first manager. The job was contingent on Orlando being awarded a

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

franchise to begin play in 1993; the NL instead chose

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. Boone returned to the Royals in 1995 as the team's manager but was let go during the 1997 season after a third straight sub-.500 season. In 2001, he was hired to be the skipper of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, replacing Jack McKeon. However, after another two and a half sub-.500 seasons, the Reds replaced Boone with

Ray Knight Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets in Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally drafted by the Reds in the tenth round of the 1970 M ...

, on July 28, 2003.

Managerial record

Personal life

Bob and his family are descendants of

American pioneer American pioneers, also known as American settlers, were European American,Asian American, and African American settlers who migrated westward from the British Thirteen Colonies and later the United States of America to settle and develop areas ...

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

. Bob Boone and his wife, Susan Boone, have three sons. Two of his sons,

and Bret Boone, are former

players. Aaron Boone is currently the manager of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. Bret's son Jake Boone is an infielder in the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

minor league system. Bob Boone's extended family have been sportsmen. His mother, Patsy Boone, was a synchronized swimmer who swam with

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

in the movies. His sister Terry Boone was a champion swimmer, and his brother Rod Boone was a college baseball star who played Triple-A ball in the Astros and Royals organizations.

References

External links

Bob Boone
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, Bob 1947 births Living people Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from San Diego Philadelphia Phillies players California Angels players Kansas City Royals players Raleigh-Durham Phillies players Eugene Emeralds players Kansas City Royals managers Cincinnati Reds managers National League All-Stars American League All-Stars Gold Glove Award winners Stanford Cardinal baseball players Washington Nationals executives Cincinnati Reds coaches Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players