11/10/2026 09:47:00
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11/10 09:45 CST Bob Boone, World Series champion and part of 3-generation
baseball family, has died. He was 78
Bob Boone, World Series champion and part of 3-generation baseball family, has
died. He was 78
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
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.
"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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