I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about baseball and its history, and even I had forgotten about Bob Howsam. [Billy Beane beware; this may be what happens to you 40-50 years from now.]
So when I saw Howsam's obituary the other day, I felt embarassed for demonstrating yet again how quickly people forget. It's easy to point to Howsam's successes building the Cincinnati Reds clubs of the 1970s -- the Big Red Machine.
He was the general manager who hired Sparky Anderson -- a basically unknown former entity in 1970 -- to manage the team. Even Anderson, who went on to become a Hall of Fame manager of World Series champions in both the National (Reds) and American (Tigers) leagues -- was surprised at being named manager. Together, Anderson and Howsam put together a team that was the best NL team of 1970s, and after the A's, the second best team of that decade.
Howsam also helped create the Denver Broncos in the old American Football League. That was before my time, but apparently they were known for having really ugly socks. Of course, they became known for much more than that. While Howsam was running the Big Red Machine, the Orange Crush Defense and quarterback Craig Morton were getting beaten in the Super Bowl by the Dallas Cowboys. Later, the Broncos became John Elway's team and won two championships after several disappointments. I don't know how much -- if at all -- Howsam's legacy fit into those achievements, but his is a name that should not have been forgotten.
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