Books and articles about Larry Bowa

Fast feet, a strong arm, soft hands, a quick temper, and unlimited determination characterized Bowa's years as an outstanding ML shortstop. Often at odds with teammates, managers, and members of the media, Bowa never let distractions influence his play in the field. When he finished his playing career in 1985, he held the NL record for games played at shortstop (2,222), years leading NL shortstops in fielding (6), and for fewest errors in a season of 150 or more games (9). He also holds the ML record for highest fielding percentage for a career (.980) and for a season of over 100 games (.991).

SHOPPING » Look for Larry Bowa books at BN.com » Look for Larry Bowa books at Amazon.com Your purchases keep BaseballLibrary.com online. Thank you!

RELATED LINKS Submissions » Bombing Bill Bonham: Cub pitcher allowed hits to first seven batters by Lyle Spatz » August 1982: Two Cy Young Winners Play the Outfield by Lyle Spatz Corrections » August 12, 2002 (#77) Around the Web » Cano still in stride from newsday.com » Larry Bowa from baseball-reference.com Jump directly to Library content from any website!

A powerless switch-hitter early in his career, he developed into a tough out, hitting .280 or better four times, with a high of .305 in 1975, and seldom striking out. He was always a good basestealer, finishing with 318 for his career. With Bowa at short, the Phillies won division titles from 1976 to 1978 and the world championship in 1980.

Bowa was named manager of the Padres before the 1987 season, but his aggressive and often angry style was ineffective, and he was fired after leading San Diego to a 16-30 start in 1988. (AL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » May 8, 1971: At Philadelphia, Joe Morgan has four hits, steals two bases, and scores three runs to lead Houston to an 8–1 win over the Phils. Winning P Don Wilson knocks in two runs with a bunt double that rolls past SS Larry Bowa, who is breaking for 3B. » June 18, 1972: Larry Bowa's 9th-inning double is the Phillies' only hit as the Astros Jerry Reuss hurls a 10–0 shutout. Tomorrow, Houston's Larry Dierker will also spin a one-hitter. » June 22, 1977: The Phillies outslug the Reds, 15–9, at Vets Stadium. Joel Hoerner makes his debut with the Reds, handing out an intentional walk and then a grand slam to Larry Bowa. » October 4, 1977: The Phillies score twice in the 9th inning on singles by Bake McBride, Larry Bowa, and Mike Schmidt off Elias Sosa, to beat the Dodgers 7–5 in the opening game of the National League Championship Series. Ron Cey blasts a grand slam for Los Angeles in the 7th, and Greg Luzinski homers for the Phils. » October 7, 1977: Down 5–3 with two outs in the 9th inning, the Dodgers catch lightning in a bottle. Pinch hitter Vic Davalillo beats out a 2-strike drag bunt and pinch hitter Manny Mota follows with a long double off Greg Luzinski's glove. Mota reaches 3rd on a throw that Ted Sizemore mishandles. Lopes' grounder hits a seam in the carpet and caroms off Mike Schmidt's knee to Larry Bowa, and the shortstop's throw is ruled late. Los Angeles pulls out a 6–5 victory. » May 17, 1979: The wind is really blowing out at Wrigley as the Cubs (6) and the Phillies (5) combine for a ML-record-tying 11 home runs and 97 total bases during a wild 10-inning slugfest won 23–22 by the Phils. Dave Kingman has three home runs and six RBIs for the Cubs, while teammate Bill Buckner has a grand slam and seven RBIs. Mike Schmidt's two home runs include the game-winner in the 10th off Cub relief ace Bruce Sutter. Bob Boone has five RBIs and Larry Bowa five hits. The Phils jump to a 7–0 lead in the 1st and lead 15–6 after three innings, and 21–9 going into the bottom of the 6th but can't hold it. Rawly Eastwick shuts out the Cubs for two frames to win. The two teams combine to have 21 different players score runs and the 2-team total of 47 extra bases on long hits (24-Phi) sets a ML mark for an extra inning game. It is the largest scoring game in the majors since August 25, 1922, when these same two teams met. » January 27, 1982: Philadelphia sends veteran SS Larry Bowa and minor league infielder Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs in exchange for SS Ivan DeJesus. » June 10, 1984: The Cubs add a 9th inning insurance run on a triple steal to beat the Cardinals' Joaquin Andujar 2–0. Leon Durham steals home, while Jody Davis takes 3B and Larry Bowa goes to 2B. » August 1, 1985: Vince Coleman steals two bases in the first inning of the Cardinals' 9–8 loss to the Cubs to run his season total to 74, breaking the ML rookie record of 72 set last season by Juan Samuel. A squeeze bunt by Larry Bowa with the bases full in the 14th scores the winning run. Bowa had earlier tripled with the sacks full. The game takes five hours and three minutes to end. » October 28, 1986: Former Phillies SS Larry Bowa is named manager of the Padres, replacing Steve Boros. » May 28, 1988: The Padres fire manager Larry Bowa and replace him with Jack McKeon, who is also the club's vice president of baseball operations. McKeon's son-in-law, Greg Booker, has pitched in 17 of the first 46 Padre games, but will appear in just 17 games the rest of the year. » November 1, 2000: The Phillies pick former Phils SS Larry Bowa as their new manager. » November 14, 2001: Seattle's Lou Piniella is named the AL Manager of the Year. Philadelphia's Larry Bowa takes honors in the NL.