Dave Bristol may be remembered for being the manager who Braves owner Ted Turner replaced for one game in 1977. But the one-time Georgia Tech football signee spent 44 years in professional baseball, has always been admired by his peers, and was the manager in Cincinnati that created the early editions of The Big Red Machine that would win two world championships.
Bristol was born in Macon, but lives in Andrews, N.C., which has been his home for 83 years. He was sent to the Baylor School in Chattanooga in the 1940s, a prep academy where he played baseball and football and signed with Tech. The Washington Senators came calling, but Bristol was interested in other clubs, including Cincinnati, which sent a scout to see him in Chattanooga.
Bristol, who roomed at Baylor with future Georgia Tech running back Billy Teas, decided not to go to college and signed with the Reds.
An infielder who could play shortstop but mainly wound up at second base, Bristol began a whirlwind of travel, beginning with the Welch (West Virginia) club in the Class D Appalachian League in 1951. He then went to Class C Ogden (Utah) of the Pioneer League for two years before he was drafted into the Army and spending a year at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and another year in Japan.
Before he left to go overseas, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina, hoping to get his physical education degree. He would finish it eight years later at Western Carolina with a degree in American history.
When Bristol came back from Japan, he was sent to the Class B Piedmont League in Sunbury, Pa., before going to West Palm Beach in the Class D Florida State League.
For Bristol, his performance on the field wasn’t turning heads, he hit above .300 in only two minor league seasons, but the Reds had other plans for him.
In 1957, he was sent as a player-manager to the Hornell Redlegs of the Class D New York Penn League, made four more similar stops including Class B Topeka (Kansas) in the III (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa) League, his last as a player.
A career .283 minor league hitter in 10 seasons, Bristol became a full-time manager and was sent to Single-A Macon of the Sally League in 1962. There he saw Pete Rose for the first time and the next season he remained at Macon when the club became a Double-A team, the year the Sally League replaced the Southern Association. Then in 1964 and ’65 he went to Triple-A San Diego of the Pacific Coast League.
In his 10 seasons as a minor-league manager, Bristol was 652-562.
At that point, he was promoted to the big-league team in Cincinnati, where he was third-base coach before taking over the managerial role from Don Heffner in July 1966. While Heffner was fired with a 37-46 record, Bristol’s Reds finished the season with a 39-38 record.
With players such as Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez, Bristol led the club to 87-75, 83-79 and 89-73 records. But he couldn’t win a pennant in 1967 and ’68 and finished third in the NL West in 1969, though the division came down to the very last weekend and the Braves prevailed.
Bristol was fired, replaced by Sparky Anderson who had been coaching third base with Seattle, but Bristol was quickly picked up by the Seattle Pilots as their manager. The team moved to Milwaukee during spring training, and he never managed in Seattle, instead spending two-plus seasons with the Brewers (144-209) before he was let go 30 games into the 1972 season.
Bristol caught on with Montreal as a third base coach for three years before he was hired by the Braves as their manager for the 1976 season. Turner had just bought the club, but it came after Bristol was hired and the two never got along. The Braves finished 70-92 that season. On May 11, 1977, Turner replaced Bristol with himself for a game in Pittsburgh, the Braves having lost 16 consecutive games. The Braves lost the game and commissioner Bowie Kuhn and National League president Chub Feeney put an end to Turner’s tenure in the dugout. Bristol returned two games later.
But he was fired after a 61-101 season, then coached with the Giants (1978-79), Phillies (1982-85, 1988) and Reds (1989, 1993). He did manage the Giants for parts of two seasons, going 10-12 in 1979 and 75-86 the following season.
In 1994, with the phone no longer ringing, he retired from baseball, returning to his home in Andrews. In 2007, at the age of 74, the Reds called him to evaluate one of their rookie league teams.
He was replaced by three Hall of Fame managers/players during his career: Anderson in Cincinnati, Bobby Cox in Atlanta and Frank Robinson in San Francisco.
Where he lives now: Bristol is 83 and still resides in Andrews. His wife Betty, who he was married to for 60 years, died in 2006. They had four children: John, Mike, Cissy and Lance. He has three grandchildren.
What he does now: He plays a lot of golf and watches baseball on television. He also is a frequent visitor to nearby Young Harris College, where he watches the team play and also visits his friend, former Georgia governor Zell Miller. Bristol is in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and recently attended Rose's induction into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
On managing Pete Rose: "We had a lot of good players, so when I saw him at first I thought he was going to be good player, but a lot like the other ones we had. But he did have that hustle and desire written all over him.''
On why he was fired after three winning seasons in Cincinnati and replaced by Anderson: "You know what, they never told me why, and to this day I am not sure why.''
On his feelings about Anderson: "I met him when he was coaching third base for the Padres. I think he did a heck of a job with Cincinnati. I remember after I was fired telling him you are taking over a good club, and they know how to win. He came back to me years later and said you sure told me the truth.''
On how much it hurt not to get a chance to manage The Big Red Machine: "You can't dwell on it, you can't crawl in a hole somewhere. It's baseball and it happens. You have to keep moving.''
On his experience in Seattle: "It was messy. All spring long Bud Selig was at our camp trying to buy the team and bring us to Milwaukee. Then it happens and I never managed a game in Seattle. We get to Milwaukee and the fans there are used to seeing (Hank) Aaron, (Warren) Spahn and (Johnny) Sain. It didn't work out that way.''
On coming to the Braves: "Eddie Robinson was general manager and called me and asked me to come down to Atlanta. I met him at a hotel on the north side, and I guess he liked what he heard because he called me back and said the job was mine. I was tickled to death to be able to manage a team where my family in western Carolina could come and see our games. But the worst thing that happened was Ted bought the club in the winter right after I was hired. He would eventually fire Eddie Robinson.''
On Cox replacing him: "I love Bobby Cox. I saw him for the first time in 1959 when he was working out for the Dodgers organization. We both learned how to manage in the minor leagues, and I don't think there has ever been a manager that has run a clubhouse better than Bobby Cox. I don't think he has ever said a negative word about a player in his life. He has shown us all how to manage.''
On his feelings about Frank Robinson: "I played with him in 1953 when he was 17, and he was some kind of player. He has done a good job everywhere he has gone, especially when they made him the manager in Montreal before the team moved to Washington. He has served baseball well.''
On being with Rose for his induction into the Reds Hall of Fame: "It was great. And what was really good was what Johnny Bench and Tony Perez said about Pete. They said such nice things, especially about him being such a good teammate.''
On whether Rose should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame: "I definitely think so, though I don't think it will happen.''
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