Bruce Bochy's World Series title with Texas Rangers a remarkable feat
His Hall of Fame resume already stamped and headed for Cooperstown, Bruce Bochy elevated his status among major league managers into the stratosphere during the 2023 World Series.
Not only did Bochy win his fourth World Series title, but he did it by turning around a franchise, the Texas Rangers, that had never won one in its six-decade history.
For the record Bochy’s four world championships have equaled Walter Alston with the Dodgers and Joe Torre with the Yankees in the past 60 years. (Casey Stengel, 7, Joe McCarty, 7, and Connie Mack, 5 are the all-time, all-time leaders, but from a much different time in the game).
Moreover, Bochy’s ability to turn franchises around makes him Billy Martin without the temper tantrums.
The Padres and Giants were both struggling along when Bochy took over and delivered them to the playoffs – the Giants winning the whole thing three times.
Bochy retired after the 2020 season while the Rangers fell into disarray, going 60-102 in 2021 and 68-94 in 2022. Chris Young, who once pitched for Bochy and was now running the Rangers, talked his ol’ skipper out of retirement and at 68, Bochy was bound for Texas.
Sixty-eight wins to 90 and a World Series victory in a year is more than impressive.
The only glitch on Bochy’s record is that his career won-loss record is below .500 (2,093-2,101).
This is not true with two other 2023 managers destined for the Hall of Fame – Dusty Baker and Terry Francona.
Baker's career record in 26 years with five different teams (San Francisco, Cubs, Cincinnati, Washington and Houston) is 2,183-1,862, a winning percentage of 54%.
Francona’s 23-year career includes stops in Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland. His record is 1,950-1,672, 53.8%.
Both have announced they are retiring, but you never know about Dusty. He’s from Riverside, only 40 minutes from Anaheim.
Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Bruce Bochy's World Series title with Texas Rangers a remarkable feat
