Some people like chocolate, and some like vanilla. I just loved it from the day I got my first glove.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But you were quite the football player, too \u2013 with a scholarship offer to Georgia Tech.<\/strong><\/p>\n Football was a means to a college education.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But you eventually turned that down to play baseball.<\/strong><\/p>\n I promised my mother when I signed to play baseball that I would finish college. Took me eight years, but I did. I\u2019m proud of that, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were a career .280 hitter at second base in the minors, but after five seasons, you were made a player-manager. Did the organization tell you that your future was in managing?<\/strong><\/p>\n They just said, \u2018you\u2019re going to Hornell, New York to take over a ballclub.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As quickly as that? The 1957 season had already started.<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in Wausau, Wisconsin, of all places, and the Reds had sent some players to Bradford, Pennsylvania and the team folded after they were 5-15. They called the Reds\u2019 office: what do they want us to do with these extra players that belong to Cincinnati? \u2018Tell them to go to Batavia, New York, and we will have a manager and some more players there in two days.\u2019<\/p>\n When I got to Hornell, we had three pitchers. They all pitched in the first three games, and we won all three.<\/p>\n On the fourth day, a guy waked into the office at noon and told the GM, \u2018I\u2019m a pitcher. Can I get a job?\u2019 We signed him, and he pitched that night [laughs]<\/em>.<\/p>\n I managed my first game against Olean, New York, and Paul Owens was the player-manager for Olean. He later hired me to coach at Philadelphia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were a player-manager for several seasons. What ended your playing career?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, along came Tommy Harper, and along came Pete Rose. In 1962, Cesar Tovar was the MVP of the NYP League; Pete Rose was MVP of the Florida State League; Tommy Harper was MVP for Topeka of the III league. All three were second-basemen.<\/p>\n The Reds produced some good players; that\u2019s why I was lucky to be able to manage a lot of them. They could play! And they loved to play!<\/p>\n But that was my job \u2013 to manage — and I loved it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Was it a difficult adjustment to give up playing? You were still in your 20s then.<\/strong><\/p>\n I saw that I wasn\u2019t going to make it as a player, so you have to change over and aim higher. I wanted to get to the big leagues. If you don\u2019t aim at something, you\u2019ll hit it every time.<\/p>\n It worked out good. I managed D, C, B, A, AA, AAA, Instructional League, winter ball, and the big leagues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And throughout your managerial career, you stressed fundamentals. Darrel Chaney told me you were a \u201cfundamental maniac\u201d and drilled that into the players every day.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Reds were great. Our farm system had people who believed in that. We didn\u2019t have It\u2019ll haunt you if you don\u2019t have good fundamentals \u2013 how to play the game. Chaney was a recipient of a lot of that coaching \u2013 with two different teams! [laughs]<\/em><\/p>\n You have 27 outs. Don\u2019t waste ’em!<\/p>\n Bobby Mattick was a Reds scout who signed a lot of good players. He used to say, \u2018I\u2019ll sign them. You send them to Bristol, and he\u2019ll work on them.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How much of your managerial style did you have to develop on the fly, starting the way you did?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was young: 22-23. Everybody in the Reds organization tried to give me help.<\/p>\n I would copy anybody if I thought it would help me. And we had some scouts who would really help me.<\/p>\n When I managed in Hornell and Geneva, Dutch Dotterer was the area scout for the Reds. He lived in Syracuse, and he loved baseball. He would come early and spend the day; he was good for me.<\/p>\n And a lot of old-time scouts helped. One from the Phillies once told me: \u2018Dave, if you leave the dugout to take the pitcher out, bring him back with you. Don\u2019t let him talk you out of it.\u2019 I\u2019ve always remembered that.<\/p>\n Dutch Ruether, a left-handed pitcher who played for the 1919 Reds, was a Giants scout when I managed San Diego. I learned a lot from him, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are there things you wish you could have done differently as you grew as a manager?<\/strong><\/p>\n I wish I knew as much about pitching then as I do now.<\/p>\n I had a pitcher in Palatka who pitched two no-hitters, two one-hitters, and two two-hitters. Now, that\u2019s pretty good. He made it as far as AAA. He might walk 13 and strike out 14. It would drive you crazy — but hey, that\u2019s part of it.<\/p>\n I had Ken Hunt in Visalia, and he was wild and everything. I said \u2018you\u2019re going to pitch nine innings one way or another.\u2019 He got to 4-2\/3 innings and I brought in a relief pitcher to get the third out, put Hunt in the outfield, and brought him back to the mound. He finished the game. The next year he pitched great at Columbia.<\/p>\n In the first half of the 1961 season, he was something like 9-1 for the Reds. The second half of the season wasn\u2019t much for him.<\/p>\n In 1962, the Reds sent him to me at Macon, Georgia, and he was wild again.\u00a0 He was pitching one night, and in about the third inning, he wound up and threw the ball over the top of the grandstand by the press box. He walked off the mound, and I\u2019ve never seen him since.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You just missed a chance to manage Frank Robinson with the Reds.<\/strong><\/p>\n The best manager I ever played for was Earl Brucker, who was a coach for Connie Mack for many years. In 1953 he was our manager at Ogden, Utah — Ken Hunt\u2019s home town. And we won the pennant.<\/p>\n Bobby Mattick brought Frank Robinson in there — 17 years old, after graduating from McClymonds High School in Oakland. He played 70 games and drove in 72 runs. What a player!<\/p>\n And if they would have asked me about trading him, I would have said ‘no.’\u00a0 He could win the game for you\u2014shoot! — Dave Bristol, on Frank Robinson<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [The Reds traded the 30-year-old Robinson to Baltimore after the 1965 season; he won the Triple Crown for the Orioles in 1966, when Bristol was named Reds manager in midseason.]<\/em><\/p>\n What if they would have kept Robinson? We traded him, and lost Claude Osteen and Jimmy Wynn. Imagine Wynn hitting in Crosley Field! I think we might have found a place for him!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You took over the Reds in midseason 1966, when Don Heffner was fired. You had winning records each year, yet you were fired after the 1969 season. How did that Bill DeWitt hired me, and then he sold the club [in 1966]. After it was sold, they brought in Bob Howsam from St. Louis as general manager.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s been reported that you and Howsam did not see eye-to-eye, and that was a factor in you being let go.<\/strong><\/p>\n I got along great with Bob Howsam. He knew how to run a ballclub, and he gave me a two-year contract. I never had a cross word with him. He told me I was coming back the last two weeks of the [1969] season. I was surprised, really. But hey, things happen.<\/p>\n But hey, Sparky Anderson came in, and did a hell of a job. And he did a hell of a job in Detroit. And he had good talent at both places.<\/p>\n [It should be noted that despite having just been fired by the Reds, Dave met with Sparky Anderson during the 1969 World Series, to give Sparky a full rundown on the Reds players so he could hit the ground running with Cincinnati.]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But who developed that talent for him in Cincinnati?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hey, it\u2019s more than me. How about the scouts who signed them?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Big Red Machine is yours, as much as it is anyone\u2019s<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s kind of you to say. I\u2019m proud of them!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You moved on to the Seattle\/Milwaukee franchise in 1970. What was that experience like, compared to Cincinnati?<\/strong><\/p>\n That was a big culture shock, going from the Reds to the Brewers. It was basically an Look [by comparison] at the Reds team \u2013 that<\/em> was some good players! History has proven that.<\/p>\n We had a good coaching staff in Milwaukee, and we worked hard to be the best that we could.<\/p>\n Wes Stock was a heck of a pitching coach. Jackie Moore was bullpen coach. Cal Ermer had managed the Twins, and was third-base coach. Roy McMillan was infield coach. Good coaches and good people!<\/p>\n But the caliber of players just wasn\u2019t the same [as Cincinnati].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Things didn\u2019t work out in Milwaukee, and early in your third season there, you were fired.<\/strong><\/p>\n The general manager who hired me got fired. Bud Selig brought in Frank Lane, and he didn\u2019t like me and I didn\u2019t like him. He would trade players without even asking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is it tough to be successful when you and the GM don\u2019t see eye-to-eye? <\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s for sure. He wanted me out of there.<\/p>\n After my second year in Milwaukee, Gabe Paul got permission to talk to me about coming to Cleveland. I said no, I will honor my contract. I\u2019m not made that way [to jump contracts]. I\u2019m not going to do it.<\/p>\n Gabe said, \u2018I\u2019ll bet you a new hat that Frank Lane will fire you by the end of May.\u2019<\/p>\n On May 20, I sent Gabe Paul a new hat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So Lane was laying in the weeds for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n No question. He didn\u2019t want me from the time he was there. At the press conference, he said, \u2018I don\u2019t know how we will get along without you, but in the morning we\u2019re going to start trying.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You had a great line about being let go by the Brewers in 1972.<\/strong><\/p>\n I said, \u2018It was a neat incision. There will be no scars, and the patient will be up within two days.\u2019 And I told the traveling secretary to get me a one-way plane ticket to Chattanooga.<\/p>\n I sent Bud Selig a picture of the two of us on the dugout steps, Opening Day in Milwaukee. I wrote on it, \u2018This was probably the only time we smiled all year.\u2019 I was hoping he would sign it and say something, but he didn\u2019t. I was disappointed in that.<\/p>\n Of course, he\u2019s probably disappointed in me, too.<\/p>\n But I gave them all I had, I\u2019ll tell you that. Hey, move on and look for something else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You didn\u2019t have to look very long; you were with the Expos in 1973.<\/strong><\/p>\n Manager Gene Mauch said, \u2018you got a job, so don\u2019t worry\u2019 and I went to Montreal for three years. After Mauch got fired, I went to Atlanta in 1976.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your time in Atlanta was best known for Ted Turner sending you on \u201cvacation\u201d in the middle of the 1977 season, and managing the team himself for one game. How I said, \u2018the commissioner won\u2019t let you do that.\u2019 He got by for one game, then called me and said \u2018I will see you tomorrow night at the ballpark\u2019 like nothing had happened. And that was kind of embarrassing, you know.<\/p>\n It worked good when he turned it over to John Schierholz and Bobby Cox, and got out of the ballpark. It worked out great for 14 straight years; that was wonderful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then you coached and managed in San Francisco in 1979 and 1980.<\/strong><\/p>\n We had pretty good players, but here again, Spec Richardson, the GM, loved me.<\/p>\n One of the hardest things I had to do was tell Willie McCovey that his playing days were <\/p>\n You had to do the same thing in Cincinnati, with pitcher Joe Nuxhall in 1967.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the same as telling Nuxhall. I told him, \u2018hey, they\u2019re going to make you the second guy on the radio; it might work out good.\u2019 Hell, it worked out 40 years good. He\u2019s an icon now.<\/p>\n I loved Joe Nuxhall. The salt of the earth. We were dear friends.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And now you have finally received some long-overdue recognition, with your election to the Reds Hall of Fame. Was Induction Weekend what you had hoped it would be?<\/strong><\/p>\n And more. That was outstanding! And no one had a better time, and no one will wear <\/p>\n Your former players seemed to be as happy as you were.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wasn\u2019t that wonderful? Tony P\u00e9rez and Johnny Bench and Tommy Helms had the nicest things to say. George Culver came all the way from Bakersfield, on his own, to see me. I was tickled to death!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019re still active, coaching young players. At age 85, do you still have energy and passion for the game?<\/strong><\/p>\n Still do! I love it. I get a kick out of it today. I go to minor-league baseball games, and I talk baseball every day.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still trying to impart some wisdom to those kids.<\/p>\n Some people like chocolate, and some like vanilla. I just loved it from the day I got my first glove. — Dave Bristol, about his love for the game<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n You have given your life to the game. How would you like for Dave Bristol to be remembered?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018He competed, and he wanted his players to play the right way and be good citizens.\u2019 That means a lot to me.<\/p>\n I released an infielder in Palatka, Florida, in 1960. He didn\u2019t like it. He went to New York City and became very big in the Postal Department. Later, he told me, \u2018I didn\u2019t like it at the time, but the things you stressed and taught me have helped me become a better person, and made me a lot of money.\u2019<\/p>\n You gotta love<\/em> that!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From player to manager<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Topeka\"](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/topeka.jpg?w=600\")
<\/p>\nA \u201cfundamental maniac\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Brisblkbrd\"](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brisblkbrd.jpg\")
to take a back seat to any organization about teaching fundamentals.<\/p>\nDeveloping as a manager<\/span><\/h2>\n
1966: In the big leagues with Cincinnati<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Bristol](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bristol-chaw.jpg?w=212\")
come about?<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter the Reds<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Bris](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bris-brew.jpg?w=238\")
expansion team \u2013 it was their second year. The caliber of players just astounded me.<\/p>\n![\"Bris](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bris-braves.jpg?w=228\")
did you deal with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"BristolMac\"](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bristolmac.jpg?w=188\")
over. That was tough. You couldn\u2019t ask for a better guy than Willie McCovey — Dave Bristol<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n2018: The Reds Hall of Fame<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Brisplqjkt\"](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brisplqjkt.jpg?w=368\")
that red jacket with more pride than I will.<\/p>\n