Larry Bowa joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as third base coach in November of 2007 following two seasons with the New York Yankees.
Bowa has been a third base coach in the Majors for more than 12 seasons with the Phillies (1988-96), Angels (1997-99) and Mariners (2000). He also managed Philadelphia from 2001-04. He spent the 2005 season as a studio analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.
Previously, Bowa was named manager of the San Diego Padres before returning to managing the Philadelphia Phillies in 2001. That year, he was named the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America, The Sporting News, USA Today, Baseball Weekly and ESPN the Magazine, after leading the Phillies to their first winning season since 1993.
A five-time National League All-Star, Bowa played in 16 Major League seasons with the Phillies (1970-81), Chicago Cubs (1982-85) and New York Mets (1985). Appearing in 2,222 career games at shortstop, Bowa ranks second in National League history behind only Ozzie Smith (2,511) and fourth in the Majors behind Luis Aparicio (2,581), Smith and Cal Ripken, Jr. (2,302). He holds the NL record for highest lifetime fielding percentage as a shortstop (.980), and held ML record until 1988, now ranking third (based on 1,000 games played) behind Mike Bordick (.982) and Omar Vizquel (.983). He won two Gold Glove Awards, in 1972 and 1978. In 1971, just his second year in majors, he broke Ernie Banks' 1959 ML record (.985) for highest fielding percentage by a shortstop (.987, 11 errors). Bowa holds the World Series record for starting seven double plays in the 1980 series vs. Kansas City.
Before joining ESPN in 2004, Bowa's previous broadcasting experience included hosting a talk show on WWDB-FM (Philadelphia) in the late 1970's during the off-season. He also wrote a weekly column for the Philadelphia Journal in 1977 and has been a spokesman for the American Heart Association since 2001. In 2002, Bowa was inducted to the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame. His autobiography, I Still Hate to Lose was released in 2004.
