Bob Boone, catcher for the 1980 world champion Phillies, dies at 78
Part of baseball's first three-generation family, Boone played 10 seasons with the Phillies, converting from an infielder to catcher, where he was a savant, winning seven Gold Gloves.
Bob Boone, the rugged catcher on the 1980 world champion Phillies who was part of baseball’s first three-generation family, died Monday. He was 78.
Mr. Boone was a third baseman at Stanford before the Phillies, who drafted him in 1969, turned him into a catcher. His father Ray played 13 seasons in the big leagues and his sons Aaron and Bret both became All-Stars. The Boones are one of five families to have three generations of major leaguers.
Mr. Boone played 10 seasons with the Phillies and he often pushed through injuries to stay on the field. He caught the fastball from Tug McGraw to clinch the 1980 World Series and was part of the homegrown cast of players who brought the Phillies their first crown.
“He was a man of great integrity,” his son, Bret Boone, wrote on Facebook. “He was a great dad, husband, and patriarch. It was a privilege to call him my father. Baseball lost a great one today.”
Robert Raymond Boone was born on Nov. 19, 1947 in San Diego and was a descendant of American pioneer Daniel Boone. He tagged along with his dad to the ballpark, just like his sons would do years later with him at Veterans Stadium. Mr. Boone graduated from Stanford with a psychology degree and finished his pre-med courses before joining the Phillies.
He was a minor-league infielder when he left the Phillies in 1970 to serve in the Army and was moved to catcher later that season when he returned. Mr. Boone reached the majors at the end of the 1972 season and was the starting catcher a season later. Mr. Boone fractured his elbow in the minors, played through back spasms, and missed the Phillies’ National League championship celebration in 1980 because he was having his ankle tended to in the trainer’s room after a runner slid into him at home. It was just a flesh wound, Mr. Boone told reporters.
Mr. Boone prepared days later for the World Series opener by chilling his foot in an ice machine, swallowing aspirin an hour before first pitch, and taping his ankle so tight that his toenails turned blue. He had three hits that night and drove in two runs as the Phillies won Game 1 against Kansas City.
“We were watching on television and I said to my wife, ‘Bob’s hurt. I can tell by the way he’s moving around,’” Ray Boone told the Daily News’ Ray Didinger after Game 1. “I talked to him on the phone the next day. I asked him about it. He said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing. I got some X-rays but it’s nothing.’ That’s the way he is. He’s tough. He’s not a complainer. I knew he’d start this game tonight. A little pain’s not going to keep him out of the World Series.”
Mr. Boone won seven Gold Glove awards, played for three teams over 19 seasons, and retired in 1990 with Kansas City as the major league leader in games caught. He made four All-Star teams, led the Phillies with a .412 average in the 1980 World Series, and was added in 2005 to the Phillies’ Wall of Fame.
He was hired during his final season by former Sixers general manager Pat Williams to manage the expansion baseball team in Orlando but Major League Baseball instead awarded franchises to Miami and Denver. Mr. Boone managed in Detroit and Oakland’s minor-league systems before joining the Reds in 1994 as their bench coach, weeks after the team traded for his son Bret. A year later, Mr. Boone returned to Kansas City to manage the Royals. Mr. Boone managed six seasons, three with the Royals and three with the Reds. His son Aaron has managed the Yankees since 2018 and his son Bret was the Rangers’ hitting coach in 2025.
Mr. Boone struggled to call games from behind the plate after becoming a catcher but worked tirelessly to improve his skills. By the end of his career, Mr. Boone was a savant. Jim Murray, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist from the Los Angeles Times, once compared Mr. Boone to a boxing manager as he worked behind the plate with a sense of ownership. He didn’t use “we” or “him” when describing what the pitcher was throwing. He wore the responsibility.
“It’s an art form,” Mr. Boone said of catching. “It’s two parts ability and one part instinct.”
Mr. Boone and McGraw famously disagreed during the final at-bat of the 1980 World Series as the catcher wanted McGraw to throw his famous screwball to Willie Wilson, but the pitcher’s elbow would not let him. He shrugged off Boone’s signals repeatedly before they agreed to throw the fastball that Willie Wilson missed. A batter earlier, Mr. Boone hustled to catch a foul ball near the Phillies’ dugout before it popped out of his glove and into the waiting mitt of Pete Rose. Mr. Boone, known for his defensive prowess, said years later that the mishap was on Rose as the first baseman was late to arrive and should’ve called off the catcher. Mr. Boone feared Rose was going to knock them both into the dugout. At last, the out was made.
“I wanted to kiss him,” Mr. Boone said of Rose as the Phillies soon became champions.
Mr. Boone is survived by his wife Sue; sons Aaron, Bret, and Matt; and grandchildren.
