Al Bumbry Stats & Facts
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Al Bumbry
Position: Centerfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
5-8, 170lb (173cm, 77kg)
Born: April 21, 1947 in Fredericksburg, VA
Draft: Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 11th round of the 1968 MLB June Amateur Draft from Virginia State University (Petersburg, VA).
High School: Ralph Bunche HS (King George, VA)
School: Virginia State University (Petersburg, VA)
Debut: September 5, 1972 (Age 25-137d, 13,294th in major league history)
vs. NYY 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: October 5, 1985 (Age 38-167d)
vs. HOU 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Full Name: Alonza Benjamin Bumbry
Nicknames: The Bee
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Notable Events and Chronology for Al Bumbry Career
Biography
The speedy Bumbry stole 254 bases during his career and set the Orioles’ record with 252 lifetime. With 1403 Oriole hits, he left among the Birds’ top five all-time. In 1973, he was the AL Rookie of the Year as he batted .337, and in 1980 became the first Oriole to get 200 hits in a season. The good defensive outfielder won a Bronze Star in Vietnam.
Scouting Report
“Bumbry bats leadoff but does not draw walks the way most leadoff men do. He tends to be impatient and will swing at an inordinate number of first pitches, even if there are men on base and a pitcher has just walked a few of his teammates… He is a low fastball hitter who likes the ball twoard the outside corner… he has trouble with high fastballs.” — from the 1984 Scouting Report
Biography:
Al Bumbry was a speedy outfielder who played 14 years in the major leagues, mostly with the Baltimore Orioles.
Born “Alonza Benjamin Bumbrey”, Bumbry attended Virginia State University before being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 11th round of the 1968 amateur draft. He began his pro career in 1969 before serving from July 1969 to June 1971 in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star as platoon leader. After returning to baseball, he made his big league debut with the O’s as a September call-up in 1972.
Bumbry stuck with Baltimore for good in 1973 and hit .337 in 110 games. He had too few at-bats to qualify for the American League batting championship, or he would have been a threat to winner Rod Carew, who hit .350, as no one else who qualified hit higher than .306. Bumbry tied a modern major league record by hitting 3 triples in a game on September 22. He went on to lead the circuit with 11 triples and was named Rookie of the Year.
Bumbry was a fixture in the Orioles outfield for over a decade, with the exception of 1978, when he was injured. During that time, his team won four AL East titles, two American League Pennants, and the 1983 World Series. He finished in the AL top ten in batting average in 1977 (7th; .317) and 1980 (9th; .318), and among the top five in stolen bases five times.
After the 1984 season, Bumbry became a free agent and signed with the San Diego Padres. However, at age 38, he hit just .200 and stole only two bases, and he retired after the season. He ended his career with 254 steals.
After his playing days, Bumbry was a Red Sox coach from 1988 to 1993. In the 1989 Hall of Fame Game, he went 2-for-3 with a stolen base. He was a coach at the time, and appeared in a game consisting of Red Sox players against other teammates since the Cincinnati Reds, who were supposed to be the opponent, had an airplane was stuck in Montreal at the time with hydraulic problems. In 1989, he played for the Winter Haven Super Sox of the Senior Professional Baseball Association. He hit .340 with 39 RBIs in 51 games with the club.
On Veterans Day we salute **Al Bumbry**, one of just 10 major league players to have served in Vietnam.
“I was a tank platoon leader in Vietnam for a year. It was all very stressful. I had 9 vehicles and 45 men in my platoon, and I was responsible for all of our activities. The main thing was I was responsible for the lives of those men. My commander told me when I got assigned that platoon to go out into the jungles of Vietnam and do what they wanted us to do, he said to me and two other first lieutenants just in Vietnam, that this war was going on before you got here, it will be going on after you leave and your main objective should be to see that you and your men get home safely,” he said. “At the same time, not neglecting your responsibilities, be very aware and conscious of your actions, but your main objective is to get yourself and your men back home safely. While I was performing my assignments, I always kept that in the back of my mind.” He did just that, and won a Bronze Star — awarded for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone — in the process. “I won a Bronze Star when my platoon intercepted a large shipment of supplies heading north to the Viet Cong military.” Like so many of that generation, when Al Bumbry came back to America, he was a changed man. “I’m sure it changed me,” he said. “I think I realized when I was in a do-or-die situation and I was a commander and responsible for my life and the men in my platoon, it must have made my focus more on what I had to do and my responsibilities.”
Bumbry was later a member of the Orioles coaching staff in 1995. He had two stints as a Cleveland Indians coach, in 1998 and again in 2002.
Bumbry’s son Steven Bumbry signed with the Orioles as a 12th round pick in the 2009 amateur draft.
Notable Achievements
1973 AL Rookie of the Year Award
AL All-Star (1980)
AL Triples Leader (1973)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 1 (1980)
200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1980)
Won a World Series with the Baltimore Orioles in 1983
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