Robert Henry Gebhard (born January 3, 1943) is an American retired front-office executive in

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 ...

and a former right-handed

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, ...

for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

. He was the first

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 the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

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 ...

, serving from , the year before the Rockies made their MLB debut, until his resignation near the end of the season.

Career

As a player

Born in

Lamberton, Minnesota Lamberton is a town in Redwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 824 at the 2010 census. History Lamberton was platted in 1873, and named for Henry Wilson Lamberton, a railroad official. A post office has been in operation ...

, Gebhard attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. During his playing career, he stood tall, weighed , and batted right-handed. Gebhard was selected by the Twins in the 44th round of the first-ever baseball

amateur draft An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History His ...

in 1965, but he didn't reach the Twins until the age of 28, on August 2, , when he hurled two scoreless innings against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. He appeared in 30 games over the 1971 and seasons with Minnesota, then was signed as a free agent by the Expos in January 1974. He appeared in one game for Montreal on September 3, , giving up one

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

and five

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

s in two

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. All told, Gebhard compiled a record of one win, three defeats and an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 5.93 over 31 games and 41 innings of Major League play.

In the front office

Gebhard's front office career began with the Expos in as field director of

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

operations. He was a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

on the Expos' Major League staff in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, and then served as the club's

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 ...

director from 1983 to 1986. He then returned to the Twins to become assistant general manager under

Andy MacPhail Andrew Bowen MacPhail (born April 5, 1953) is an American baseball executive. He has previously served as general manager for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs, and as president for the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies. MacPhail i ...

, working with Minnesota during its and world championship seasons, before becoming the first GM in Rockies' history during the 1991–92 offseason. He supervised the building of the Rockies' farm system during , ran the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...

for them, and hired

Don Baylor Don Edward Baylor (June 28, 1949 – August 7, 2017), nicknamed "Groove," was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. During his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baylor was a power hitter known for standing very clo ...

as the club's first

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 ...

. The early years of the Rockies were successful at the gate and on the field. In , they set a Major League attendance record of 4.483 million fans in their maiden season at

Mile High Stadium Mile High Stadium (originally Bears Stadium until 1968) was an outdoor multi-purpose stadium located in Denver, Colorado, from 1948 to 2002. The stadium was built in 1948 to accommodate the Denver Bears baseball team, which was a member of th ...

, led both leagues in attendance four times, and drew over 3.2 million fans every year during Gebhard's tenure. They also enjoyed three consecutive winning seasons from 1995 to 1997, and a National League

wild card Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

playoff appearance in . However, successive losing campaigns in 1998–99, amplified by the Rockies' pitching staff's struggles at

Coors Field Coors Field is a baseball stadium in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. Opened in 1995 Major League Baseball season, 1995, the park is located in Denver's LoDo, Lower Downtown neighborhood, ...

, resulted in rampant speculation in late 1999 that Gebhard would be replaced as general manager. In response, he turned in his resignation on August 20. Gebhard then moved to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

as vice president and top assistant to general manager

Walt Jocketty Walter Joseph Jocketty (February 19, 1951 – April 25, 2025) was an American professional baseball executive. He served in Major League Baseball (MLB) as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1994 to 2007, and general manager, presiden ...

from 2000 to 2004, then joined the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

as interim general manager between Joe Garagiola Jr. and

Josh Byrnes Josh Byrnes (born June 23, 1970) is an American baseball executive who is senior vice president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Byrnes began his career in 1994 as an intern with the Cleveland I ...

from August to October . He then was the D-Backs' vice president and assistant to the general manager for several years before returning to the Cardinals as special assistant to GM

John Mozeliak John Mozeliak (born January 18, 1969) is an American professional baseball executive who is the president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Never a professional player, Mozeliak came to the Cardin ...

in 2016. Gebhard retired in after a 55-year career in professional baseball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhard, Bob 1943 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona Diamondbacks executives Baseball coaches from Minnesota Baseball players from Minnesota Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Colorado Rockies executives Evansville Triplets players Major League Baseball farm directors Major League Baseball general managers Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Memphis Blues players Minnesota Twins players Minnesota Twins executives Montreal Expos coaches Montreal Expos players People from Lamberton, Minnesota Portland Beavers players St. Cloud Rox players St. Louis Cardinals executives Tacoma Twins players Wilson Tobs players 20th-century American sportsmen