Rockies manager Bud Black made baseball history this week

When the Colorado Rockies beat the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, manager Bud Black became the first person in Major League Baseball history to record at least 100 games as a pitcher and at least 500 games as a manager with two teams.

As of Thursday Black is 1149-1313 as a big-league skipper, split between two clubs in the Padres and Rockies. Black is 500-600 since being hired by Colorado ahead of the 2017 season, after nine seasons with his hometown club in San Diego. From 1981 to 1995 the left-handed pitcher had a 121-116 record, with the bulk of his career being in Kansas City for the Royals. Black also picked up wins with San Franciso, Cleveland and Toronto.

“I like round numbers. I like math,” Black told MLB.com. “And then the players, probably first and foremost, who’ve played hard and have played to win regardless of our record and our standing. They’ve played hard for the coaches and I. The coaches have been great both places I’ve been. Grateful for all of that but again the opportunity and grateful for the continuation and the belief of the people above me who’ve kept me in this position.”

5⃣0⃣0⃣ wins as a Rockie

Congratulations, Buddy! pic.twitter.com/6CdhPhzt3c

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 12, 2024

Black now needs 35 wins to pass Clint Hurdle as the club’s all-time winningest manager, a benchmark that might occur at the end of this season.

At 24-44, the Rockies are pacing toward a second-straight 100-loss season after never having had one before last year. Still, Black has led Colorado to some of its highest highs, as the 91-win 2018 club was just one win shy of a franchise record for wins in a season and they played Los Angeles in a Game 163, which is the closest the Rockies have ever come to winning the NL West.

Black’s back-to-back playoff berths in 2017 and 2018 are the lone time that has happened in over 30 years of big-league ball in Denver. That 2018 team was also the best he’s ever had in 17 years as a skipper, managing all within the NL West but never winning the division.

Most around baseball don’t stick the Rockies poor play of the past few seasons on Black, rather they blame team ownership and executives led by Dick Monfort for assembling a poor club. Still, at this rate, it’s unknown if this will be his final season in Denver. Black turns 67 this month and the last report was that the Rockies were still working on an extension for the manager who is in a contract year. The Rockies need to win 59 wins for Black to beat Hurdle’s record, the team is on pace for 57 wins.

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