Bobby Wine
Encyclopedia
Robert Paul Wine Sr. is a former shortstop
, coach
and manager
in Major League Baseball
. An excellent fielder who struggled as a batsman, Wine spent 12 seasons in the National League
with the Philadelphia Phillies
(1960; 1962–68) and the Montreal Expos
(1969–72). He won the NL Gold Glove Award
in .
The class C California League Bakersfield Bears would be his home in 1958. Bobby appeared in 112 games, got 440 at bats, had 137 hits with 11 home runs, and hit for a .311 average. 1959 would find him with the class A Eastern League Williamsport Grays, playing in 120 contests, getting 426 at bats, but only 89 hits and his batting average fell to .209.
Wine played with the International League
Buffalo Bisons
in 1960, appearing in 154 games with 569 at bats and 153 hits for a .269 average. He also had a good .958 fielding percentage at the shortstop position.
He was to get his first look at the major league game when the 1960 Philadelphia Phillies used him in 4 games. He picked up 2 base-hits and fielded his short-stop position flawlessly at a .1000 percentage.
In 1961 he was back with the Buffalo team where he hit for a .243 average and fielded at a .961 clip. He also spent time in 1962 with Buffalo, hitting .242 and fielding at a .977 percentage. This was to be his last minor league action as he would finish out the year with the 1962 Phillies, hitting at a .244 average and fielding .979. He played 20 games at third base in 1962 for the Philadelphia team and did not have an error.
Wine would spend the next ten seasons 1963 through 1972 in the major leagues. He would be with the Philadelphia club through 1968 when a back injury let him into only 27 games. Wine was with the memorable 1964 Philadelphia team which was in first place most of the year but collapsed in the last two weeks to let the St. Louis Cardinals
take the pennant on the last day of the season. He played shortstop during the late innings of Jim Bunning
's perfect game against the New York Mets
on Father's Day
of that year.
Wine was sent to the expansion Montreal Expos at the end of spring training in 1969 as compension for pitcher Larry Jackson
, who was selected from the Phillies in the 1969 expansion draft but chose to retire rather than join the Expos. He would spend the next four seasons 1969 through 1972 with the Montreal Expos hitting around the .220 mark and fielding almost flawlessly. At first he was the back-up to Maury Wills
, but he took over when Wills was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers
in June 1969. He remained the Expos' starter until they acquired Tim Foli
from the New York Mets at the end of spring training in 1972. In the 1970 season Bobby was 5th in the league in games played with 159 to his credit. He posted tremendous double play totals with the Expos over those three seasons, including a then-record 137 in 1970. However, his hitting was generally awful, his best batting average being .232 and his on-base percentage always falling below .300, with no power to speak of. He remained with Montreal as a back-up to Foli early in 1972, but played very little - he went to bat only 18 times - as the more versatile Héctor Torres
assumed the role of utility infielder. The Expos released him on July 10, ending his career.
Known for his strong arm, Wine rarely played enough, or enough full games, to accumulate high statistical totals. He was bothered by a bad back and missed most of the 1966 and 1968 seasons because of it. He had surgery for a ruptured spinal disc in 1968. However, he won the 1963 Gold Glove Award
, led the NL in fielding in 1967, and, as mentioned above, he set a ML shortstop record with 137 double plays in 1970. That was in fact his only season with more than 420 at-bats -he had 501. His best batting average came in his rookie 1962 season, when he hit .244. His .215 lifetime average is the fourth-worst all-time with 2,500 or more at-bats.
A jokster, "Wino" once pulled the Hidden ball trick
on, of all people, Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays
.
When chided for his lack of home run power in his playing career, Wine always cracks, "That's OK. I had one more than Ashburn." Ashburn is, of course, the late Richie Ashburn
, the diminutive but mighty Phillies' center fielder who is a member of the Hall of Fame. Wine's memory is correct as he indeed had 30 round trippers to Ashburn's 29. Ashburn, however, had 2,574 hits and a career .308 average to Wine's 682 safeties produced at a .215 clip. Five of Wine's 30 home runs came against Hall of Fame pitchers: two each off Juan Marichal
and Warren Spahn
and one off Bob Gibson
.
through the 1983
season — an era in which the Phils rebounded from cellar-dwellers to National League
champions in 1980
and 1983
and 1980 World Series
champions. After the 1979 season
, it was reported that Wine was considered for manager of the big league club, a job that eventually was kept by interim manager Dallas Green
. He remained with the Phillies as bench coach to Dallas Green
and was an important factor in the Phillies winning their first ever World Series title in 1980. Wine stayed as bench coach until the 1983 season when manager Pat Corrales
was fired at mid-season despite the team being in first place. Wine, thought by many to be the natural selection to ascend to manager, was not given the job but was in fact let go by the Phillies when General Manager Paul Owens
donned the manager's vestments.
He then moved to the Braves, serving as a coach in and from 1988-90. He was the interim manager of the 1985 Braves
from August 26 through season's end, replacing the fired Eddie Haas
. Under Wine, the Braves won 16 and lost 25 (.390) and remained lodged in fifth place in the National League West
. Wine's last years in uniform were as a New York Mets
coach from 1993-96. He has been a major league advance scout for the Braves since. A large part of Atlanta's success in its string of division titles in the National League East has been linked to his work where Wine shares his astute baseball observations directly with longtime Braves' manager Bobby Cox
.
, is a former major league catcher
and the current Head Baseball Coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
In 2007, Wine was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
. He lives with his wife, Fran, in Norristown, Pennsylvania
.
In 2009, Wine's grandson, Cory Wine, was drafted by his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies
, in the 38th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft
.
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
, coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
and manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. An excellent fielder who struggled as a batsman, Wine spent 12 seasons in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
with the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
(1960; 1962–68) and the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
(1969–72). He won the NL Gold Glove Award
Gold Glove Award
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League , as voted by the...
in .
Playing career
Before the 1957 season, Bobby Wine was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent. His first season of professional baseball would see him with the class D Appalachian League (Short Season) Johnson City Phillies. The 18 year old infielder appeared in 54 games, got 202 at bats, 68 base hits, including 6 home runs, and hit for a .337 average.The class C California League Bakersfield Bears would be his home in 1958. Bobby appeared in 112 games, got 440 at bats, had 137 hits with 11 home runs, and hit for a .311 average. 1959 would find him with the class A Eastern League Williamsport Grays, playing in 120 contests, getting 426 at bats, but only 89 hits and his batting average fell to .209.
Wine played with the International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
in 1960, appearing in 154 games with 569 at bats and 153 hits for a .269 average. He also had a good .958 fielding percentage at the shortstop position.
He was to get his first look at the major league game when the 1960 Philadelphia Phillies used him in 4 games. He picked up 2 base-hits and fielded his short-stop position flawlessly at a .1000 percentage.
In 1961 he was back with the Buffalo team where he hit for a .243 average and fielded at a .961 clip. He also spent time in 1962 with Buffalo, hitting .242 and fielding at a .977 percentage. This was to be his last minor league action as he would finish out the year with the 1962 Phillies, hitting at a .244 average and fielding .979. He played 20 games at third base in 1962 for the Philadelphia team and did not have an error.
Wine would spend the next ten seasons 1963 through 1972 in the major leagues. He would be with the Philadelphia club through 1968 when a back injury let him into only 27 games. Wine was with the memorable 1964 Philadelphia team which was in first place most of the year but collapsed in the last two weeks to let the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
take the pennant on the last day of the season. He played shortstop during the late innings of Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
's perfect game against the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
on Father's Day
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
of that year.
Wine was sent to the expansion Montreal Expos at the end of spring training in 1969 as compension for pitcher Larry Jackson
Larry Jackson
Lawrence Curtis Jackson was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies from 1955 to 1968...
, who was selected from the Phillies in the 1969 expansion draft but chose to retire rather than join the Expos. He would spend the next four seasons 1969 through 1972 with the Montreal Expos hitting around the .220 mark and fielding almost flawlessly. At first he was the back-up to Maury Wills
Maury Wills
Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers , and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos...
, but he took over when Wills was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
in June 1969. He remained the Expos' starter until they acquired Tim Foli
Tim Foli
Timothy John Foli , nicknamed Crazy Horse, is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels and New York Yankees from to...
from the New York Mets at the end of spring training in 1972. In the 1970 season Bobby was 5th in the league in games played with 159 to his credit. He posted tremendous double play totals with the Expos over those three seasons, including a then-record 137 in 1970. However, his hitting was generally awful, his best batting average being .232 and his on-base percentage always falling below .300, with no power to speak of. He remained with Montreal as a back-up to Foli early in 1972, but played very little - he went to bat only 18 times - as the more versatile Héctor Torres
Héctor Torres
Héctor Epitacio Torres Marroquin is a former Major League Baseball shortstop. He played all or part of nine seasons in the majors, between and , for the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays...
assumed the role of utility infielder. The Expos released him on July 10, ending his career.
Known for his strong arm, Wine rarely played enough, or enough full games, to accumulate high statistical totals. He was bothered by a bad back and missed most of the 1966 and 1968 seasons because of it. He had surgery for a ruptured spinal disc in 1968. However, he won the 1963 Gold Glove Award
Gold Glove Award
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League , as voted by the...
, led the NL in fielding in 1967, and, as mentioned above, he set a ML shortstop record with 137 double plays in 1970. That was in fact his only season with more than 420 at-bats -he had 501. His best batting average came in his rookie 1962 season, when he hit .244. His .215 lifetime average is the fourth-worst all-time with 2,500 or more at-bats.
A jokster, "Wino" once pulled the Hidden ball trick
Hidden ball trick
In the game of baseball, the hidden ball trick is a play in which the runner is deceived about the location of the ball, in an effort to have him tagged out.-Execution:...
on, of all people, Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
.
When chided for his lack of home run power in his playing career, Wine always cracks, "That's OK. I had one more than Ashburn." Ashburn is, of course, the late Richie Ashburn
Richie Ashburn
Don Richard "Richie" Ashburn , also known by the nicknames, "Putt-Putt", "The Tilden Flash", and "Whitey" due to his light-blond hair, was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska...
, the diminutive but mighty Phillies' center fielder who is a member of the Hall of Fame. Wine's memory is correct as he indeed had 30 round trippers to Ashburn's 29. Ashburn, however, had 2,574 hits and a career .308 average to Wine's 682 safeties produced at a .215 clip. Five of Wine's 30 home runs came against Hall of Fame pitchers: two each off Juan Marichal
Juan Marichal
Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. Playing for the San Francisco Giants most of his career, Marichal was known for his high leg kick, pinpoint control and intimidation tactics, which included aiming pitches directly at the opposing batters'...
and Warren Spahn
Warren Spahn
Warren Edward Spahn was an American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in the National League. He won 20 games each in 13 seasons, including a 23-7 record when he was age 42...
and one off Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals...
.
Coaching and managerial career
Wine became a coach almost immediately after his playing days ended. He worked with the Phillies from July 19721972 in baseball
-Labor strife and more moving:1972 was tainted by a players' strike over pension and salary arbitration. The strike erased the first week and a half of the season, and the Leagues decided to just excise the lost portion of the season with no makeups. As a result, an uneven number of games were...
through the 1983
1983 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: Baltimore Orioles over Philadelphia Phillies ; Rick Dempsey, MVP*American League Championship Series MVP: Mike Boddicker*National League Championship Series MVP: Gary Matthews...
season — an era in which the Phils rebounded from cellar-dwellers to National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
champions in 1980
1980 Philadelphia Phillies season
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies season was a season in American baseball. The team finished with a regular-season record of 91 wins and 71 losses, which was good enough to regain the National League East title by just one game over the Montreal Expos...
and 1983
1983 Philadelphia Phillies season
The Philadelphia Phillies season involved the Phillies winning the National League East Division title with a record of 90-72, six games over the Pittsburgh Pirates...
and 1980 World Series
1980 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 14, 1980 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaThe Royals jumped on Philly rookie starter Bob Walk early with a pair of two run bombs—one by Amos Otis in the second and another by Willie Aikens in the third...
champions. After the 1979 season
1979 Philadelphia Phillies season
The 1979 Philadelphia Phillies season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fourth in the National League East, 14 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates.- Offseason :...
, it was reported that Wine was considered for manager of the big league club, a job that eventually was kept by interim manager Dallas Green
Dallas Green
George Dallas Green is a former pitcher, manager, and executive in Major League Baseball. After playing for the Philadelphia Phillies and two other teams, he went on to manage the Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets, and managed the Phillies when they won their first World Series...
. He remained with the Phillies as bench coach to Dallas Green
Dallas Green
George Dallas Green is a former pitcher, manager, and executive in Major League Baseball. After playing for the Philadelphia Phillies and two other teams, he went on to manage the Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets, and managed the Phillies when they won their first World Series...
and was an important factor in the Phillies winning their first ever World Series title in 1980. Wine stayed as bench coach until the 1983 season when manager Pat Corrales
Pat Corrales
Patrick Corrales , is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who played from 1964–1973, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds, but also for the Philadelphia Phillies, St...
was fired at mid-season despite the team being in first place. Wine, thought by many to be the natural selection to ascend to manager, was not given the job but was in fact let go by the Phillies when General Manager Paul Owens
Paul Owens (baseball)
Paul Francis Owens was an American front office executive and manager in Major League Baseball.-Philadelphia Phillies:Owens' entire Major League career was spent with the Philadelphia Phillies...
donned the manager's vestments.
He then moved to the Braves, serving as a coach in and from 1988-90. He was the interim manager of the 1985 Braves
1985 Atlanta Braves season
The Atlanta Braves season was the 115th season in franchise history. The Braves failed to qualify for the postseason for the third consecutive season.-Offseason:...
from August 26 through season's end, replacing the fired Eddie Haas
Eddie Haas
George Edwin Haas is a former outfielder, coach, manager and scout in American Major League Baseball. Haas spent many years as a skipper in the farm system of the Atlanta Braves and replaced Joe Torre as Atlanta’s manager after the 1984 season...
. Under Wine, the Braves won 16 and lost 25 (.390) and remained lodged in fifth place in the National League West
National League West
The National League Western Division, or NL West, is one of the three divisions of Major League Baseball's National League. It was created in 1969 when the previously undivided National League expanded its membership to twelve teams, positioning half of them in an Eastern division and the other...
. Wine's last years in uniform were as a New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
coach from 1993-96. He has been a major league advance scout for the Braves since. A large part of Atlanta's success in its string of division titles in the National League East has been linked to his work where Wine shares his astute baseball observations directly with longtime Braves' manager Bobby Cox
Bobby Cox
Robert Joseph "Bobby" Cox is a former Major League Baseball third baseman and manager. He first led the Atlanta Braves from 1978 to 1981, and then managed the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982 to 1985. He later rejoined the Braves in 1985 as a general manager...
.
Legacy
Wine's son, RobbieRobbie Wine
Robert Paul Wine, Jr. is an American former Major League Baseball player. A catcher, Wine played for the Houston Astros in and . He last played professional baseball in ....
, is a former major league catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
and the current Head Baseball Coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
In 2007, Wine was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame is a nonprofit organization established in 1962. It is the only community-based hall of fame in the United States...
. He lives with his wife, Fran, in Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
.
In 2009, Wine's grandson, Cory Wine, was drafted by his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, in the 38th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft
2009 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held June 9 to June 11 at the MLB Network Studios in New York City.The drafting order is as follows:-First-round selections:Key-Supplemental first-round selections:From Baseball America...
.