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Jan Quay
Hi Everyone,
David asked me to please post Bill Waltermeyer's introduction speech for Larry Bowa when he was inducted to the Sacramento Hall of Fame in January 2016. Wally sent it to me the night of the event. It is a really neat intro!
Hope all is well with each of you and your families,
Jan (Quay) Healy
Never Give Up!
Those 3 words are what Larry Bowa has lived by his entire life as he is honored tonight for his induction into the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame.
A few weeks ago Larry asked me to introduce him tonight, which it is my honor to do so and an honor to be asked.
I spoke to TC Martin a few weeks ago and he said not to include any of the baseball related accomplishments, but to include a few things about Larry that most people may not know. So here goes…
For those that don’t know me, I’m Bill Waltermeyer, Larry’s first cousin. In some ways, I was the little brother that Larry never had. Larry was big brother that I never had.
Larry was born and raised here in Sacramento by Paul and Mary Bowa. From the day he was born, he had a baseball in his hand and his father, Paul, had visions of Larry someday playing in the major leagues. You see, Paul was an athlete in High School (Baseball, Football, Basketball and Track) and played professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinal organization, which included playing for our own Sacramento Solons at Edmonds Field in 1944.
Larry’s mom was from a large family that everyone excelled in sports, and she too was quite the softball player.
So where do I fit in to this story? My dad passed away when I was 3. My mom, who was Larry’s mom’s sister, was left with 3 children to care for. Back in those days (1952), family took care of family – no matter what. So our family moved in together – Uncle Paul, Aunty, my mom, Larry, Paula (who was 5 months old), and my 2 sisters – Carole and Sheryl. Our family of 4 and Larry’s family of 4 became a family of 8 – overnight. While we lived together in a small home for a short period of time, we always lived close by – usually across the street or next door.
Larry’s Dad became my surrogate father, and his mom became my second mom. I was now the little brother that he never had.
All throughout our childhood, I can remember the fun times we had riding our bikes to William Land Park and playing baseball – all year long.
Larry’s dad played professional baseball during the WWII time period, in the St. Louis organization, which included playing and managing in the minor leagues. His playing days ended early 1947 with a near fatal concussion that was a result of a beaning. Back in those days they didn’t wear helmets.
Larry was destined to play professional baseball someday as his dad mentored him in all aspects of the game. Paul coached Larry in Little League and Babe Ruth League always with the drive to excel in whatever he did.
His dad always told him that if you are going to play professional baseball, you need to play a musical instrument because those long bus rides in the minors are boring and tiring. So, Larry learned to play the accordion (sort of). He took accordion lessons in grammar school and all I can remember is that he knew only one song – “Lady of Spain”. His musical career didn’t last long and he never made it to the Lawrence Welk Show. The fall back musical career was over before it started.
As Larry progressed in his youth baseball, his failure to make his high school baseball team was a huge setback to his aspirations. He was embarrassed about it, in fact, didn’t tell his dad for a few days when it happened. In fact, he never did tell his dad – a local scout (the late Ronnie King) happened to tell Uncle Paul about the incident. But…Larry Never Gave Up!
Summer months in high school meant playing for American Legion – Post61. He played on a Championship team. This is back in the day when American Legion baseball was the quality of baseball you would expect of boys 16 -18 years old.
So - - there were championships in Little League, Babe Ruth League, and American Legion. He never gave up.
American Legion Baseball was huge in Sacramento in the early to mid 60’s. 1964 Post 61 vs. Manhart championship game was played at Land Park Diamond #1, now known a Doc Oliver Field. 3,000 people in attendance. Post61 wins the game 2-1 with Larry scoring the winning run sliding under the tag by Don Graf, the brother of Larry’s brother-in-law Jim Graf. When was the last time you saw 3,000 people attend an American Legion game in Sacramento? 1964. The picture of this was on the front page of the Sacramento BEE – not just the sports section.
They went on to play in the State Championships, winning the Northern California Regional but losing in Southern California to a pitching phenom named Rollie Fingers. I remember all this because I was the little brother he never had…and I was the bat-boy.
Larry Never Gave Up.
After high school, Larry enrolled in Sacramento City College playing for Del Bandy. Del observed Larry playing American Legion ball and asked Larry to join the City College team. Larry said, “Del, I can’t even make the high school team, how am I going to compete at the college level?”. Del convinced him to give it a shot.
Once again, there were league championships. In fact, Larry was awarded with Little All American honors while leading the team in their championship years.
Now here’s a 18-19 year old kid that was cut from his high school baseball team that Never Gave UP and went on to play college baseball….and more.
In 1964 a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies heard about this feisty shortstop that he should come to see. The scout, the late Eddie Bockman, came to Sacramento from his home in the Bay Area one day to see Larry play in a double header. The feisty shortstop got thrown out of game 1 before he even had an AT Bat. Before game 2 even got started, he was tossed again. Eddie wasted a trip to Sacramento. He had his share of ejections in professional baseball over the next 50 years. This may have run in the family as his dad had his share of ejections too in both professional and local sports. In fact, Paul was suspended for a few weeks by the Director of the Recreation and Parks, Reg Renfree, back in the early 60s. Reg, as it turned out, ended up being my father-in-law, so our family always had a few laughs about that.
Larry later played for the Phillies Scout Eddie Bockman in the Peninsula League in the Bay Area on weekends during the winter months and once again – he Never Gave Up. The class of ball was such that aspiring athletes, college level and minor league players would play in the once very powerful league. Eddie Bockman, just like Del Bandy, believed in Larry. While the Phillies did not draft Larry, he was signed to a contract in 1965 for $2,000.
Larry Never Gave Up.
While there may be others that have more natural talent, there is nobody that has worked harder to hone his talent than Larry.
In his early days in the minor leagues (first game) at Spartanburg, South Carolina, Larry faced a guy named Nolan Ryan. The result – 4 punch-out’s! Larry was ready to pack his bags and head home. He told his manager just put me on a bus and send me home.
But He Never Gave Up.
Larry spent 5 years in the minors before being called up to the show in 1970 to start at shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium.
Through the early 70’s the Phillies struggled; however Larry Never Gave Up.
He was 3rd in voting in Rookie of the year in 1970
He won 2 Gold Gloves
He was selected to the National League All Star team 5 times
In 1978 he finished 3 in the MVP voting behind Dave Parker and Steve Garvey
He Never Gave Up
The ultimate prize came in 1980 with a World Series win with the Philadelphia Phillies, their first WS win in franchise history.
Larry played in MLB for 16 years, (12 with the Phillies, 4 with the Cubs, before finishing his career with a short stint with the NY Mets.
But, as the story goes, he never gave up.
He continued his illustrious career with coaching and managing in the major leagues. He has managed the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies, winning honors as the Manager of the Year with the Phillies in 2001 when he led the Phillies to their first winning season in 8 years.
He has held coaching positions with Seattle Mariners, Anaheim Angels, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and still coaches with the Phillies.
Larry has always been an inspiration to his family, especially to his sister Paula’s sons Joe and Nick Johnson. During the late 90’s and early 2000’s Larry was a huge help in mentoring his nephew Nick Johnson. Nick went on to be drafted in the 3rd round of the 1996 amateur baseball draft by the New York Yankees. Nick played in the major leagues for 10 years with the Yankees, Expos, Nationals, Marlins, and the Orioles. His promising career was cut short by some unfortunate injuries. Larry’s guidance to Nick was invaluable as he developed along the way. Perhaps Nick will someday be up here being inducted into the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame for his accomplishments in baseball.
For a short time between coaching positions, Larry worked for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight as an analyst, and Sirius XM Radio. He also worked as a studio analyst with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Network. Once again – hard work paid off. One day Patty (Larry’s wife) received a box at their home in Philadelphia. They didn’t know what it was as they weren’t expecting a delivery. They opened the box to find an Emmy Award to Larry for his work as an analyst and for a special segment on MLB Tonight. This was quite an honor to receive an Emmy Award for a “former” baseball player.
While he enjoyed his time with ESPN and the MLB Network, he had the desire to get back on the field and he did so with the Phillies in 2013.
Last year the Phillies honored Larry with a special award for serving 50 years in baseball – 1965 – 2015. In a few weeks he’ll be heading to spring training as the Phillies Bench Coach. While some might think he’s been going to spring training for 50+ years, a few of us know that Larry’s first spring training was in 1947 when his dad was a manager for the Duluth Dukes in the Cardinals organization.
As the saying goes – “Baseball is Life, the rest is just details.”
Larry has been inducted into the Sacramento City College Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame and with tonight’s recognition he is now a proud member of the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame joining this elite group of athletes. He continues to dedicate his life work to the game of baseball through hard work, ,coaching and mentoring young athletes.
There may be more gifted athletes than Larry but there are none that have worked harder to get where he is today. It is my honor to welcome Larry Bowa to the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame; a well-deserved accomplishment by a feisty, little guy who never gave up.
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