In Memory: Former Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi Dies At 92
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Bavasi Throws First Pitch
To Open Padres' Season In '03 |
Former Dodgers GM BUZZIE BAVASI, who "shepherded the Dodgers through their World Series-studded transition from Brooklyn" to L.A., died Thursday of natural causes at the age of 92, according to Yahoo Sports' Steve Henson in a special to the L.A. TIMES. Bavasi, who also served as Padres President and Angels Exec VP, was "one of the last of a midcentury generation of wisecracking wheeler-dealers." Although Bavasi's reputation as a "dynamic baseball executive became somewhat tarnished during his time with the Padres and Angels, Bavasi will be remembered best for building championship Dodgers teams while staying within the budget" of former Dodgers Owner WALTER O'MALLEY. Bavasi started with the Dodgers organization in '38, and ultimately left MLB in '84, "lamenting that the game had changed irreversibly when agents began representing players in contract negotiations." MLB Commissioner BUD SELIG said in a statement, "Buzzie was one of the game's greatest front-office executives during a period that spanned parts of six different decades." His death was announced by the Mariners, whose GM is BILL BAVASI, Buzzie's son (L.A. TIMES, 5/2). In N.Y., Richard Goldstein notes Bavasi "championed the acceptance of black players in organized baseball, helped take [MLB] to California, put together an expansion team in San Diego and saw power shift from management to the players with the arrival of free agency" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/2). And in L.A., Steve Dilbeck writes Bavasi was "outlandish and shrewd, forthright and crusty, brilliant and simple. And an absolute original" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 5/2).
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