KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bob Boone, a catcher who won seven Gold Gloves and later wore a Kansas City Royals uniform as both player and manager, has died at 78. His family shared the news on social media Tuesday, Nov. 10. No cause of death was given.
The Boones were baseball’s first family with three generations of big leaguers. His father, Ray Boone, was an All-Star infielder, and his sons Bret and Aaron both reached the majors, with all four earning All-Star selections. Major League Baseball said it was saddened by his passing and called his family one of the sport’s most historic.
A star at Stanford, Boone was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies and reached the big leagues in 1972. He finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting and made three All-Star teams with Philadelphia. In the 1980 World Series, he hit .412 against the Royals, going 7-for-17, as the Phillies won their first championship. Seven of his clubs reached October play from 1976 through 1986.
Boone moved to the California Angels in 1982, helped them win the division in his first season there, and during seven years in Anaheim set the club record for games caught. He signed with Kansas City in 1989 at age 41, played 131 games, and batted .274 while winning his seventh and last Gold Glove. According to MLB, no older position player has ever taken one home. After 40 games in 1990 he retired, having caught 2,225 games, the most in major league history at that point.
The Royals hired him to manage before the 1995 season, after the strike-shortened 1994 year, to replace Hal McRae. That club was in the wild-card hunt for much of 1995 before a poor September left it 70-74. Boone’s 1996 team finished 75-86, and he was let go at the 1997 All-Star break with the Royals at 36-46. His record in Kansas City was 181-206, and he later managed the Cincinnati Reds from 2001 to 2003, finishing 371-444 overall as a manager.
In 2005 he moved into the Washington Nationals’ front office, where he was still working when the club won the 2019 World Series, and he stepped away in 2021.
Section: More Kansas City MO sports news
Filed under: Kansas City MO Sports News
