Bragan, ‘Mr. Baseball,’ dies

FORT WORTH, Texas – Bobby Bragan, the longtime baseball man with ties to the Spokane Indians, has died. He was 92.

The Alabama native died Thursday at his Fort Worth home, his Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation said.

Bragan spent seven seasons as a major league manager: Pittsburgh (1956-57), Cleveland (1958) and the Milwaukee (1963-65) and Atlanta (1966) Braves. He compiled a record of 443-478. He managed Braves Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn.

“He was a dear friend of mine for nearly 50 years,” said commissioner Bud Selig, who met Bragan when he was manager of the Milwaukee Braves. “He had a long and wonderful baseball career as a player, coach, manager and executive.”

He played parts of seven seasons from 1940-48 for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Brooklyn Dodgers, playing mostly shortstop and catcher and batting .240 for his career.

As Spokane’s manager for the full season in 1959, he made his final appearances as a player, at age 41, going 1 for 6 in three games. Bragan took over in Spokane on July 1, 1958. After two weeks, he ordered the weak-hitting, fleet-footed Maury Wills to switch hit.

Bragan was dubbed “Mr. Baseball” for his decades of dedication to the game. In 2005, he earned the distinction as the oldest manager of a pro baseball game. At 88, he led his former minor league team, the Fort Worth Cats.

Bragan worked in the 1970s and 1980s as the Texas Rangers’ community director of public relations for the team’s speakers bureau. He remained a special assistant to the club for the past 20 years. The Rangers on Friday lauded his “unmatched legacy.”