Robert Marcel Fontaine (November 14, 1923 – March 25, 1994) was an American
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Moder ...
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...
,
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
and executive. The native of
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
, a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
veteran, was the first director of scouting for the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
of the
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 ...
, and served as the third
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
in the history of San Diego's
Major League franchise.
As a
minor league baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
, Fontaine went 26–18 in five seasons (1941–42; 1946–48) in the
Brooklyn Dodgers' farm system
In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...
.
Baseball Reference Minors
/ref> He missed 1943–45 due to service in the United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
.
Following his playing days, Fontaine was a scout for Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also creat ...
's Dodgers and moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
with Rickey in 1951, serving as a Pirates' scout for 18 seasons. He spent eight years (1969–76) as the expansion
Expansion may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine
* ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004
* ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970
* ''Expansi ...
Padres' first director of amateur scouting, and added the responsibilities of director of player development in 1973. Then, upon the departure of Peter Bavasi
Peter Bavasi (born 1942 in Bronxville, New York) is an American former front-office executive in Major League Baseball.
The son of Emil J. "Buzzie" Bavasi, who spent almost 35 years in senior management positions in the Major Leagues, Peter Bavas ...
for the presidency of the Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
in June 1976, Fontaine was promoted to general manager. He served in that role for four seasons, through July 7, 1980. The Padres went 295–372 (.442) with one winning season (), the first in franchise history, during his tenure.
Fontaine then served as the San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
' scouting director until 1992. He died from pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
in Poway, California
Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census.
Poway is part of San Diego's East ...
, in 1994 at age 70.
His son Bob Fontaine Jr. has also worked in baseball as a scouting director, and his grandson, Matthew Thomas, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
in 2007.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Bob
1923 births
1994 deaths
Baseball players from San Jose, California
Brooklyn Dodgers scouts
Major League Baseball farm directors
Major League Baseball general managers
Major League Baseball scouting directors
Mobile Bears players
Montreal Royals players
Olean Oilers players
Pittsburgh Pirates scouts
San Diego Padres executives
San Francisco Giants executives
Santa Barbara Saints players
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II