Bob Watson

For the lacrosse player, see Bob Watson (lacrosse). For the member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, see Bob Watson (Australian politician). For other people, see Robert Watson (disambiguation).

Bob Watson
Watson in 1976
First baseman / Left fielder
Born: April 10, 1946
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died: May 14, 2020(2020-05-14) (aged 74)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 9, 1966, for the Houston Astros
Last MLB appearance
September 30, 1984, for the Atlanta Braves
MLB statistics
Batting average.295
Home runs184
Runs batted in989
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
As player

As coach

Career highlights and awards

Robert José Watson (April 10, 1946 – May 14, 2020) was an American professional baseball player, coach and general manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from 1966 to 1984, most prominently as a member of the Houston Astros where he was a two-time All-Star player. Watson had a .295 batting average over a career that also saw him play for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and the Atlanta Braves.

After retiring as a player, Watson was a coach for the Oakland Athletics for four years, before he joined the Astros’ front office. In 1993, he became the second African-American general manager in major league baseball history with the Astros. He then served as the Yankees general manager from 1995 through 1998, during which time the team won the 1996 World Series.[1] Watson became the first African-American general manager to operate a team which would win the World Series.[2][3] He later served as MLB's vice president in charge of discipline and vice president of rules and on-field operations, from 2002 to 2010.[2] In 2020, Watson was inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame.[4]

  1. ^ "Baseball America Executive Database: Bob Watson". baseballamerica.com. Baseball America. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (May 15, 2020). "Bob Watson, Baseball's First Black General Manager, Dies at 74". The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  3. ^ "Bob Watson, L.A. product, MLB all-star and first black GM to win a World Series, dies at 74". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. May 15, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Houston Astros Hall of Fame". mlb.com. Retrieved October 20, 2022.