Bobby Winkles facts for kids

Bobby Brooks Winkles (born March 11, 1930 – died April 17, 2020) was an American baseball player and coach. He played as an infielder in the minor leagues for eight years. After that, he became a very successful college baseball coach at Arizona State University (ASU) starting in 1959.

Thirteen years later, Bobby Winkles moved to professional baseball. He worked as a manager, coach, and even a broadcaster in the major leagues. He was born in Tuckerman, Arkansas, and grew up in Swifton. He went to Illinois Wesleyan University. Before coaching, he played minor league baseball for the Chicago White Sox organization from 1951 to 1958. He was a right-handed shortstop.

Coaching at Arizona State

From 1959 to 1971, Bobby Winkles was the very first head coach for the ASU Sun Devil baseball team. He had an amazing record of 524 wins and only 173 losses. This means his teams won 75.1% of their games!

He led ASU to win three national championships. These big wins happened in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Many famous players were coached by Winkles at ASU. Some of these players include Rick Monday, Sal Bando, and Reggie Jackson.

Bobby Winkles was named the NCAA Coach of the Year in 1965 and 1969. The Sporting News also honored him as Coach of the Year in 1965, 1967, and 1969. In 1997, he was added to the ABCA Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame. His jersey number 1 was retired at Packard Stadium, and the baseball field was named after him.

Major League Baseball Career

In 1972, Bobby Winkles moved from college baseball to the major leagues. He became a coach for the California Angels in the American League. The next year, in 1973, he became the Angels' manager. His team won 79 games and lost 83 games that year.

However, in 1974, the Angels had a tough start. They lost many games, and Winkles was no longer their manager on June 26.

Just two weeks later, Winkles joined the Oakland Athletics as their third base coach. He was part of the team that won the 1974 World Series championship! He also helped them win the AL West title in 1975. After that, he coached for the San Francisco Giants from 1976 until June 1977.

On June 26, 1977, Winkles returned to the Oakland Athletics. He managed the team for parts of the 1977 and 1978 seasons. In 1978, his team started very strong, winning 19 of their first 24 games. They were even in first place in their division. But Winkles decided to resign on May 23 because of differences with the team owner. His final record as a major league manager was 170 wins and 213 losses.

After managing, Winkles coached for the Chicago White Sox until 1981. From 1982 to 1985, he worked as the director of player development for the White Sox. This meant he helped young players get better. He then coached for the Montreal Expos from 1986 to 1988. From 1989 to 1993, he worked as a radio analyst for the Expos, talking about games. In 2006, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.