Buzzie Bavasi, 2007 Breitbard Hall of Famer, passes away

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Peter Bavasi, a former Major League Baseball general manager, got his start in the sport under his father, Emil J. “Buzzie” Bavasi, one of the most respected and well liked executives during his four decades in the game.

Buzzie, anyone in baseball knows, made his mark as a general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers after the franchise moved West.

But Peter, Buzzie’s oldest of four sons, tells a story about how his father’s loyalty to the Dodgers ultimately led Buzzie to helping bring the San Diego Padres to life in 1969 as a National League expansion franchise.

Recalled Peter of his college years, it seemed every baseball offseason when he came home for a holiday or the weekend, his mom (Evit) would tell him about the latest opportunity his dad turned down to remain general manager of the Dodgers.

“He never made money out of baseball, but he could have,” Peter said. “In the off-season there were always changes at the ownership level, and my dad would get a call offering part ownership. My mom would tell me about it. But he always turned it down. Baseball wasn’t about the money to Buzzie. He loved working for the Dodgers.”

But in 1967, Bavasi finally did make the decision to leave the Dodgers. He joined original Padres owner C. Arnholdt Smith in an effort that land the expansion franchise that began play in San Diego in 1969.

But if he had left the Dodgers earlier for a part-ownership of a team in the Midwest or East, Bavasi likely wouldn’t have been available to guide the San Diego group that gained approval for the Padres to enter the National League.

Bavasi, now 92 and still living in La Jolla, is being inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame on Feb. 13 for his pioneering role in bringing Major League Baseball to San Diego. He was inducted into the Padres Hall of Fame in 2001.

“The only reason he came to San Diego, is he thought it was a great opportunity to start baseball in San Diego and a chance to make it a family venture for his boys,” Peter said. “I was his first farm director. My brother Billy worked on the grounds crew. Bobby went to law school, but he worked in the farm department for Bob Fontaine. Chris played at Northern Arizona and was the only who didn’t really work in baseball, but he did work the concession stands, hauling beer kegs around, at Dodger Stadium.”

Peter and Bill both went on to become general managers. Chris remained in Flagstaff, Ariz., after his college years at Northern Arizona and eventually became the city’s mayor.

The Padres open their 39th season in 2007 and will be playing their fourth season at downtown’s Petco Park. The franchise has won five National League West titles in 1984, 1996, 1998, 2005 and 2006 and two National League pennants in 1984 and 1998.

In 2007, Tony Gwynn will become the first full-time Padres player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Gwynn will join Dave Winfield, who began his career with the Padres under Bavasi. Winfield and Gwynn may be eventually joined by Trevor Hoffman.

All these legendary names and championships in San Diego began with Bavasi, whose name remains on the list of candidates considered by the Veterans Committee for induction into Cooperstown.

Bavasi served the Padres as president from 1969 to 1977 before the late Gene Autrey, owner of the California Angels, asked Bavasi to help him turn around his franchise. He served as general manager from 1978-84, a span that included two AL West titles.

Bavasi’s baseball career began with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939. He came West with the Dodgers as Southern California’s first Major League Baseball team. He was the Dodgers’ vice-president and GM from 1951 until he resigned to come to San Diego.

“Friendships endure more than money,” Peter said his father taught him. “He still corresponds with Ralph Branca, Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, Don Zimmer and many others. Even as the players have grown older into the 70s, he calls, writes letters and e-mails. He has kept in contact with widows of his former players. We were talking about this the other day when we went to the funeral for Larry Sherry. All these friends are lifers in the game of baseball.”

As a general manager, Bavasi was known for building rosters. He would collect not just the star players who would go on to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He filled holes in the roster with utility players, relief pitchers and extra guys.

“He brought aboard guys like Wally Moon, and they won a pennant in 1959 after a disastrous 1958 season,” Peter said.

Bavasi also trusted and nurtured veteran scouts in building his teams.

“He had great affection for senior scouts,” Peter said. “Today, general managers use computers and statistics. All that stuff is important, and you can’t knock technology, but Buzzie was a proponent of nurturing scouts."

He also nurtured a baseball franchise in San Diego that 39 seasons later is still thriving. The Padres have won back-to-back NL West titles and are drawing 2-million plus fans to see his old team at Petco Park.