Bob Watson Marquee

b. April 10, 1946 · Houston Astros 1966–1979, Boston Red Sox 1979, New York Yankees 1980–1982, Atlanta Braves 1982–1984

On May 4, 1975, at San Francisco, he was on second base when a teammate homered and ran hard because the clocks were counting: the game's millionth run had been calculated to be near, and he beat a Cincinnati runner to the plate by four seconds. The company that sponsored the count gave him a million pennies.

Nineteen seasons gave him 1,826 hits, 184 home runs, 989 runs batted in and a .295 average, with two All-Star selections. He drove in 110 runs for Houston in 1977 and hit .324 in 1975, and he was the first man to hit for the cycle in both leagues.

He was the Astros' general manager from 1993 and the Yankees' from 1996, when New York won the World Series — the first Black general manager to win one. He later ran discipline for the commissioner's office. He died of kidney disease in 2020, at seventy-four. The 1990 ballot gave him three votes of 444.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	2	1973, 1975
Player of the Week	2	1973, 1976
Player of the Month	1	1975

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1966	HOU	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1967	HOU	6	14	1	3	0	0	1	2	0	3	0	.214
1968	HOU	45	140	13	32	7	0	2	8	13	32	1	.229
1969	HOU	20	40	3	11	3	0	0	3	6	5	0	.275
1970	HOU	97	327	48	89	19	2	11	61	24	59	1	.272
1971	HOU	129	468	49	135	17	3	9	67	41	56	0	.288
1972	HOU	147	548	74	171	27	4	16	86	53	83	1	.312
1973	HOU	158	573	97	179	24	3	16	94	85	73	1	.312
1974	HOU	150	524	69	156	19	4	11	67	60	61	3	.298
1975	HOU	132	485	67	157	27	1	18	85	40	50	3	.324
1976	HOU	157	585	76	183	31	3	16	102	62	64	3	.313
1977	HOU	151	554	77	160	38	6	22	110	57	69	5	.289
1978	HOU	139	461	51	133	25	4	14	79	51	57	3	.289
1979	BOS/HOU	133	475	63	144	23	4	16	71	45	56	3	.303
1980	NYY	130	469	62	144	25	3	13	68	48	56	2	.307
1981	NYY	59	156	15	33	3	3	6	12	24	17	0	.212
1982	ATL/NYY	64	131	19	32	6	1	5	25	17	20	1	.244
1983	ATL	65	149	14	46	9	0	6	37	18	23	0	.309
1984	ATL	49	85	4	18	4	0	2	12	9	12	0	.212
Career	—	1832	6185	802	1826	307	41	184	989	653	796	27	.295

On this day & linked events

1946

Born April 10, 1946

Los Angeles, CA, USA

2020

Died May 14, 2020

1966

Major-league debut: Bob Watson

Bob Watson made a major-league debut on September 9, 1966.

1977

Bob Watson Hits for the Cycle, 1977

Bob Watson hit for the cycle for the Houston Astros against the San Francisco Giants on June 24, 1977.

1979

Bob Watson Hits for the Cycle, 1979

Bob Watson hit for the cycle for the Boston Red Sox against the Baltimore Orioles on September 15, 1979.

1984

Final major-league game: Bob Watson

Bob Watson played a final major-league game on September 30, 1984.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain