PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bob Boone, the catcher on the Philadelphia Phillies' first World Series championship team who won seven Gold Gloves and was part of baseball's first three-generation family, has died. He was 78.
Boone's son, Bret, announced his father's death Tuesday on social media. No cause of death was announced.
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“He was a man of great integrity. He was a great dad, husband, and patriarch. It was a privilege to call him my father. Baseball lost a great one today,” Bret Boone wrote.
Boone spent his first 10 seasons with the Phillies, played seven with the California Angels and two with the Kansas City Royals. He also managed the Royals and Cincinnati Reds.
His father, Ray, played 13 seasons in the majors and was a two-time All-Star with the Detroit Tigers. Bob Boone's two sons both enjoyed long baseball careers. Aaron Boone played 13 seasons in the majors and played for the Reds when Bob managed the team. Aaron now manages the New York Yankees. Bret Boone was a three-time All-Star over a 14-year career spent largely with the Seattle Mariners. A third son played in the minor leagues. Bret's son, Jake Boone, works in the New York Mets' front office after playing at Princeton and briefly in the minors.
Bob Boone was a sixth-round draft pick as a third baseman out of Stanford in 1969. He was converted to catcher in the minor leagues and caught 1,095 games with Philadelphia, second on the Phillies’ all-time list to Red Dooin (1,124). Boone caught 2,225 games overall in 19 big league seasons.
He was the first Phillies catcher to win a Gold Glove (1978, 1979) and led the Phillies with a .412 batting average in their 1980 World Series win over the Kansas City Royals.
Boone made NL All-Star teams in 1976, 1978 and 1979. He set the record for career games caught by a catcher with 1,919 in Kansas City. He was 41 years old when he won his final Gold Glove with the Royals in 1989. Ivan Rodriguez and Carlton Fisk have since passed Boone on the career games caught list.
Boone caught the final out of the 1980 Game 6 clincher when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson to win the World Series. Boone was involved in a more famous play earlier in that inning when he ran after Frank White's foul pop near the home dugout in Veteran's Stadium. The ball bounced off Boone's mitt and straight into Pete Rose's glove for an out — a catch played on countless highlight reels through the decades in Philadelphia.
He was added to the Phillies' Wall of Fame in 2005.
Boone won four more Gold Gloves, made another All-Star team and twice led the Angels to the playoffs. He went 10 for 22 (.455) with a homer and two RBIs against Boston in the 1986 American League Championship Series.
Boone went 371-444 overall as a manager, spending three seasons with the Royals and three with the Reds. He joined the Washington Nationals front office in 2005.
Washington won the World Series in 2019, the first championship in franchise history. Boone resigned in 2021 rather than comply with the organization’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
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