Bruce Bochte

From SoSH

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Moment in the Sun 3 Life After Baseball 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

Bruce Bochte (born November 12, 1950, in Pasadena, California) was a utility player with a 12 year career from 1974-1982, 1984-1986. He played for the California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics all of the American League. Bochte was a first baseman, an outfielder and a designated hitter,and he played collegiate ball for Santa Clara University until he was drafted in the second round (34th overall) of the 1972 draft.

He was called up to the Angels after hitting .355 in 92 games for the Salt Lake City Angels of the Pacific Coast League, and made his major league debut on July 19, 1974.

Moment in the Sun

• Bochte was elected to the American League All-Star team in 1979 when he hit .316 with 100 RBIs and set career standards in virtually every major offensive category.

Life After Baseball

Bochte has worked at the Center for the Story of the Universe, a research affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, which emphasizes higher education for the mind, body and spirit. He studies cosmology, focusing on the origin and evolutionary dynamics of the universe.

Besides his work with the Centre, Bochte has taken a new job with the Bay Institute of San Francisco, whose objective is to restore and protect San Francisco Bay and its tributaries.

While he was in Seattle, Bochte was on the board of directors for the Adopt-A-Stream restoration program in Snohomish County, promoting and raising money. He studied the origin of the Puget Sound region and also helped restore a coho run in Maxwelton Creek on the south end of Whidbey Island, where he lived for 3 1/2 years after his baseball career ended in 1986.

Trivia

• Bruce Bochte has been credited as one of the possible creators of the expression, the "Mendoza Line", which refers to a batting average below .200. Other players also rumored to have helped coin this phrase are George Brett and Tom Paciorek.

Transactions

• June 6, 1972: Drafted by the California Angels in the 2nd round of the 1972 amateur draft.
• May 11, 1977: Traded by the California Angels with Sid Monge and $250,000 to the Cleveland Indians for Dave LaRoche and Dave Schuler.
• November 2, 1977: Granted Free Agency.
• December 20, 1977: Signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.
• November 10, 1982: Granted Free Agency.
• November 14, 1983: Signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.
• December 20, 1984: Granted Free Agency.
• December 24, 1984: Signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.
• November 12, 1985: Granted Free Agency.
• December 4, 1985: Signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.
• November 10, 1986: Granted Free Agency.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis