Jim Bowden

James Gordon Bowden III (born 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the general manager of the Washington Nationals.

Early life and career

Bowden was born in Boston and raised in Weston, Massachusetts. His entry to professional baseball came as an assistant in the Pittsburgh Pirates media relations department in 1985. He was a former college roommate of Squire Galbreath, whose father Dan and grandfather John were the principal owners of the Pirates. General manager Syd Thrift was impressed with Bowden and asked him to join the Pirates' baseball operations department as an administrator. Bowden computerized the Pirates' scouting files, and became a protege to Thrift. He followed Thrift to the New York Yankees, and eventually moved to the Cincinnati Reds as an assistant to the general manager.

General Manager

His first role as a general manager was with the Cincinnati Reds at age 31 in 1992. When he took this position, he was the youngest general manager in the history of Major League Baseball. He continued with the Reds until 2003, when he was fired as a result of the Reds' poor performance on the field, although the precipitating event was a controversy following a statement he made comparing the MLB players' union to the 9/11 hijackers. "If players want to strike, they ought to just pick Sept. 11, because that's what it's going to do to the game," Bowden said.

He then worked as a commentator on ESPN before being hired by the Nationals.

Controversy

As a general manager, Bowden is known for his frequent roster moves, accessibility to the media, willingness to sign players with track records for personal problems, and affection for athletic outfielders. In his 16 years as an MLB general manager, his teams have made the playoffs just once.

In addition to the 9/11 comments that led to his firing in Cincinnati, Bowden has been involved in several other controversies.

In 1993, he fired Reds manager and former star player Tony Perez after just 44 games. Coming on the heels of racially charged comments by Reds owner Marge Schott, the firing prompted criticism of Bowden and the team for treating Perez, one of the league's few minority managers, unfairly.

In 1998, he traded All-Star reliever and Cincinnati native Jeff Shaw to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shaw claimed at the time that Bowden had agreed not to trade him as part of a contract that involved Shaw taking less money from the Reds than he could have gotten elsewhere. “We had a handshake deal that he wasn't going to trade me,” Shaw said. “Three months later, he traded me. ... If I had been in the room with him, I would have killed him.”

In 2000, Reds coach Ron Oester reportedly was offered the job of manager by Bowden, but that when Oester didn't accept immediately, Bowden offered the job to Bob Boone without contacting Oester. At the time, Oester called Bowden “one of the worst people in the world.”

On April 17, 2006, Bowden was arrested for drunk driving in Miami, Florida.

As the GM of the Nationals, he made a deal with the Reds in mid-season 2006 involving Gary Majewski, who received a cortisone shot shortly before the trade. In May 2007 the Reds filed a grievance claiming they didn't know they were getting damaged goods. Later it was reported by Hall of Fame Sportswriter Hal McCoy that Bowden also included in the same trade a pitcher, Daryl Thompson, who Bowden believed was injured. McCoy reported that Bowden included Thompson to "stick it" to the Reds.

Bowden's poor reputation has spread to other general managers. San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers in 2005 said of Bowden, "The guy's an idiot. I won't take his calls, and I don't think many others do."

An avid Segway enthusiast, he purchased a custom version in Washington Nationals team colors for Spring Training 2008. He is currently being investigated by the FBI as part of a larger probe into the alleged skimming of player bonuses by scouts in the Dominican Republic.

References

*Bowden, Jim. " [http://www.examiner.com/US-a68511~Jim_Bowden__Scouting_our_way_to_the_top.html "Scouting our way to the top"] ", The San Francisco Examiner. April 5, 2006.
*" [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/nationals/2005-10-27-bowden-extension_x.htm "Nationals extend GM Bowden's contract through April"] ", USA Today. October 27, 2005.
*" [http://video1.washingtontimes.com/chatter/2008/02/jim_bowdens_segway_mark_zucker.html "Jim Bowden's Segway"] ", Washington Times. February 19, 2008.
*" [http://reds.enquirer.com/2001/04/01/red_bowden_makes_deals_-.html "Bowden makes deals--And enemies"] ", Cincinnati Enquirer. April 1, 2001.
*" [http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/REPOSITORY/508140445&template=single "Boos for Bowden"] ", Concord Monitor. August 13, 2005.

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