Biography of Bob Melvin

Last year's squad played particularly well within the West, going 41-32 in intra-division play, the best record among National League West clubs...he raised his managerial ejection total to an even dozen with five early departures during his initial season as the Diamondbacks' skipper after being tossed seven times during his stint with Seattle.

Bob returned to Arizona after a two-year stint as the skipper of the Seattle Mariners...the 44-year old Melvin is no stranger to the third base dugout in Chase Field after serving as Bob Brenly's bench coach during the 2001-2002 seasons, each year culminating in a Western Division title, including the World Series crown in '01...the 12th manager in Mariner history, Melvin posted a 156-168 record in his two seasons at the helm, highlighted by a 93-69 ledger during his rookie managerial campaign of 2003, shattering the team record for wins by a first-year Mariner manager, eclipsing Lou Piniella's 1993 mark of 82-80...Bob's 93 wins tied for the 15th most by any rookie manager in Major League history...he put his first career win in the books on April 3, 2003, in Oakland, a 7-6 triumph in 11 innings...similar to the circumstances that hampered the Diamondbacks in 2004, Melvin's Mariners lost an uphill battle with the injury bug during the same season and finished the campaign with a 63-99 mark...prior to his first stint with Arizona in 2001, he spent a pair of seasons alongside manager Phil Garner, first with Milwaukee in 1999, then in 2000 when Garner was hired in Detroit...Melvin's playing career ended with the 1994 season and after taking a year off he began working as a scout for the Brewers in 1996...he followed as a roving instructor in '97, then was the assistant to general manager Sal Bando for a season before putting the uniform on again as Garner's bench coach...Mel's first managerial experience came in 1999 when he skippered Maryvale in the Arizona Fall League....Bob is one of 12 current managers who have catching on their resume from their playing days...former full-time catchers who now manage in the Majors include Melvin, Bruce Bochy, John Gibbons, Mike Scioscia, Joe Torre, Eric Wedge and Ned Yost, while Clint Hurdle (22 games) and Ken Macha (4 games) each had minimal receiving experience...three other managers, Jim Leyland, Grady Little and Joe Maddon, each hired over the winter, were minor league catchers prior to becoming coaches and eventually managers.

Bob caught for 10 seasons in the big leagues, making 7 different stops, including 5 clubs in his last 4 years...originally drafted by Baltimore in the third round of the '79 draft, Melvin chose not to sign at the time, then inked his first contract with Detroit after going in the first round of the secondary phase of the 1981 January draft...he spent 4+ seasons in the minors before making his Major League debut on May 25, 1985 in Seattle, going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles...Bob served as Lance Parrish's back-up for the remainder of '85 then was part of a 6-player swap with San Francisco on October 7, 1985, going to the Giants with Juan Berenguer and a player-to-be-named (Scott Medvin) in exchange for Dave LaPoint, Eric King and Matt Nokes...BoMel spent three years sharing the catching duties with Bob Brenly in San Francisco...Melvin hit his first major league home run on June 18, 1986, off of San Diego's Mark Thurmond...he continued to hit home runs off Padre pitching in 1987, opening the year with a 2-homer game on April 7 against San Diego...of his career-high 11 home runs, 5 were against the Padres...he closed the year with another 2-homer game, taking Fernando Valenzuela deep twice on September 22...behind the plate he nabbed 31 of 78 base thieves, a 40% success rate which was second best in the N.L...he went 3-for-3 as the starting catcher in the sixth and final game of the NLCS against St. Louis...he homered off of Orel Hershiser on August 14, 1988, in Dodger Stadium, the last home run surrendered by Hershiser as he closed the campaign with 131.2 consecutive homerless innings...Bob joined Baltimore for 3 seasons from 1989-91, then wrapped up his playing career bouncing around, featuring stops with Kansas City (1992) and Boston (1993), before splitting the '94 season with the Yankees and White Sox...he had a string of 78 consecutive games without an error from September 13, 1989-September 22, 1990...Melvin recorded a career-high 5 hits on June 15, 1991, at Toronto.