Misplaced Pages

Jim Bowden (baseball)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 71.142.1.22 (talk) at 23:24, 20 May 2010. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 23:24, 20 May 2010 by 71.142.1.22 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
For the rugby league footballer of the 1950s for Great Britain, England, and Huddersfield, see James Bowden
For the American SCUBA diver, elite technical diver, cave diver, and deep diver, see Jim Bowden (diver)

James Goodwin Bowden IV (born 18 May 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts ) is a former Major League Baseball executive and current host on MLB Network Radio's "INSIDE PITCH" on Sirius 210/XM 175. He also Co-Hosts for Fox Sports Radio and is a Baseball Analyst for FoxSports.com. Jim also Hosts the Show "GM's Corner" which is also on FoxSports.com.

Early life and career

Bowden was raised in Weston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Rollins College in 1983. His entry to professional baseball came as an assistant in the Pittsburgh Pirates media relations department in 1985. He was a former college roommate of Squire Galbreath, whose father Dan and grandfather John were the principal owners of the Pirates. General manager Syd Thrift was impressed with Bowden and asked him to join the Pirates' baseball operations department as an administrator. Bowden computerized the Pirates' scouting files, and became a protege to Thrift. He followed Thrift to the New York Yankees, and eventually moved to the Cincinnati Reds as an assistant to the general manager.

General manager

His first role as a general manager was with the Cincinnati Reds at age 31 in 1992. When he took this position, he was the youngest general manager in the history of Major League Baseball. He continued with the Reds until being fired in 2003.

Bowden is perhaps best known for his acquisition of OF Ken Griffey, Jr. from Seattle in February 2000. His Reds teams made just one playoff appearance in 1995, when they lost in the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves.

After his time in Cincinnati came to an end, Bowden worked as a commentator on ESPN before being hired by Major League Baseball to serve as GM of the Montreal Expos, who were soon to become the Washington Nationals.

Bowden was the general manager of the Washington Nationals beginning in November 2004. The team never finished over .500 during Bowden's tenure.

Bowden is known for his frequent roster moves, accessibility to the media, willingness to sign players with track records for personal problems, and affection for athletic outfielders. In his 16 years as an MLB general manager, his teams have made the playoffs just once (however the '99 Reds did play in a one-game playoff).

Controversy

Bowden has been involved in several controversies:

  • In 2002, he made a comment comparing the MLB players union to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. Commenting on the possibility of a strike by the players, he said, “If they (the players) do walk out ... I encourage all of them, "Make sure it's Sept. 11th. Be symbolic about it. Let Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building, if that's what they want him to do,'" Bowden later apologized for the remarks.
  • In February 2009, it was announced that Bowden was part of an FBI federal investigation (not as a target or subject, but as a witness) into the skimming of signing bonus money from Latin American baseball players. He resigned from the Nationals on 1 March 2009.

Sources

  1. BR Bullpen page Accessed 4 March 2009
  2. Robinson, Joshua, and Michael S. Schmidt. "Nationals’ G.M. Resigns as Scandal Deepens", The New York Times, 1 March 2009.
  3. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/31/sports/yanks-dismiss-thrift-s-top-aide.html
  4. "Nationals GM Resigns"
  5. Nationals' Jim Bowden on FBI Probe: I'm Innocent SI.com, 23 February 2009
  6. "Nationals general manager Jim Bowden resigns" The Associated Press via Yahoo! 1 March 2009 Accessed 4 March 2009

References

Cincinnati Reds general managers
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals general managers
Montreal Expos (1969–2004)
Washington Nationals (2005–present)
Categories: