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| Bobby Winkles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Manager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born:(1930-03-11)March 11, 1930 Tuckerman, Arkansas, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: April 17, 2020(2020-04-17) (aged 90) Indian Wells, California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial record | 170–213 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning % | .444 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Managerial record atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As manager As coach | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bobby Brooks Winkles (March 11, 1930 – April 17, 2020) was an Americanbaseball player andcoach. After an eight-year career as aninfielder in theminor leagues, he became the acclaimedcollege baseball coach atArizona State University (ASU) in 1959. Then, 13 years later, he returned toprofessional baseball as amanager, coach, front-office executive and broadcaster in themajor leagues.[1]
Born inTuckerman, Arkansas, and raised in nearbySwifton, Winkles was a graduate ofIllinois Wesleyan University, where he became a member of theSigma ChiFraternity. A right-handed-hitting and -throwingshortstop, he playedminor league baseball in theChicago White Sox organization between 1951 and 1958,hitting .270 with 890hits in 858games played before retiring to become Arizona State's head baseball coach at age 29.
From 1959 to 1971 Winkles was theASU Sun Devil baseball program's first varsity head coach. His overall record while head coach at ASU was 524–173, awinning percentage of .751, and he led ASU to its first three national titles (1965, 1967 and 1969). He also coached several notable players while he was at the helm of the Sun Devils, includingRick Monday,Sal Bando,Reggie Jackson,Sterling Slaughter andLarry Gura. Winkles was named the 1965 and 1969 NCAA Coach of the Year andThe Sporting News Coach of the Year in 1965, 1967 and 1969. Winkles was inducted into the ABCA Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. His No. 1 jersey was honored atPackard Stadium and the field was named in his honor.
In1972, Winkles jumped from the Arizona State campus to the major leagues as acoach for theCalifornia Angels of theAmerican League. In1973, Winkles became the Angels' manager, succeedingDel Rice.[2] His1973 club won 79, lost 83 and finished fourth in theAmerican League West Division. But in1974, the Angels lost 44 of their first 75 games and Winkles was fired on June 26 and replaced withDick Williams.
On July 8, two weeks after the Angels fired him, Winkles became third base coach for theOakland Athletics and was a member of their1974 World Series championship team as well as their1975 AL West champions under skipperAlvin Dark. After Dark's firing, Winkles then spent1976 throughJune 25, 1977, as a coach for the cross-baySan Francisco Giants.
On June 26, Winkles returned to the Athletics to manage Oakland for parts of the1977 and1978 seasons, as he replaced (in 1977) and then was succeeded by (in 1978) the same manager:Jack McKeon. The A's were then a struggling outfit in the final throes of theCharlie Finley era. But Winkles' 1978 team roared to a 19–5 start by May 5, and was still 24–15 after sweeping adoubleheader against the White Sox on May 21 when Winkles resigned two days later on May 23 despite the club being in first place in theAmerican League West.[3] The primary reason behind his resignation was Finley's micro-management style.[4] By extension, he had also grown tired of Finley's hand-picked vice presidentStanley Burrell.[5] His final managerial record: 170 wins, 213 defeats (.444).
A coaching stint with the White Sox immediately followed Winkles' 1978 resignation as the A's manager, and he was a member of the White Sox staff through 1981. Then, from 1982 to 1985, Winkles led the Chisox' player development department. He joined theMontreal Expos as a coach from 1986 through 1988, and then moved into the broadcast booth as an analyst on the Expos' radio network from 1989 through 1993. In 2006, he was inducted into theCollege Baseball Hall of Fame.