Chris Bosio

Christopher Louis Bosio

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 225 lb.
• School Sacramento City College
• High School Cordova High School (Rancho Cordova)
• Debut August 3, 1986
• Final Game September 22, 1996
• Born April 3, 1963 in Carmichael, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Chris Bosio was signed as a 2nd round pick (secondary phase) in the January 1982 amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and scout Harry Smith. Bosio made his major league debut in 1986 for the Brewers, the beginning of an 11 year career in the bigs. Bosio hung around with the Brewers through 1992, when he moved to the Seattle Mariners via free agency. He quickly made history in 1993 as he hurled a no-hitter on April 22nd versus the Boston Red Sox. That game turned out to be the highlight of his stay in Seattle. Injuries and declining production led Bosio out of the majors for good after playing for Seattle in 1996. In total, he was 94-93 with a 3.96 ERA in 309 games (246 starts).

After his playing days, Bosio was a special assignment pitching coach in the Mariners organization from 2000-2002. There is some indication he took up this position in 1998, but this could not be confirmed. In 2001 Bosio doubled as the pitching coach for the Tacoma Rainiers, the AAA affiliate of the Mariners. He left the Mariners in 2003 when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays hired him as their pitching coach.

Following his departure from the Devil Rays, Bosio spent the next four years as a college pitching coach. He served as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh assistant pitching coach in 2004-2005. The next two years he worked for Lawrence University, first as its pitching coach and then as interim manager in 2006 & 2007.

Bosio returned to the professional coaching ranks in 2008 as pitching coach for the Chattanooga Lookouts. After the season he joined the Milwaukee Brewers organization and started 2009 as the pitching coach for the Nashville Sounds. On August 12, 2009 Bosio was named pitching coach of the Brewers replacing Bill Castro. This major league gig only lasted through the end of the season. In 2010, the Brewers appointed him as an advance scout for the team, a position he held until June 30, 2011. At that point Bosio returned to Nashville to finish the year as the Sounds' pitching coach.

In 2012, he followed former teammate Dale Sveum, who had just been named manager of the Chicago Cubs, to Chicago to become the Cubs' pitching coach. He remained in the position under Joe Maddon until being fired in October 2017, after the Cubs had been ousted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS. Still, he was on board when the Cubs ended their historic 108-year World Series title drought in 2016.

Shortly after being fired by the Cubs, he was hired by the Detroit Tigers to coach 2018 pitchers. A couple of weeks into the season, he took a leave of absence for an undisclosed medical issue, with bullpen coach Rick Anderson taking over on an interim basis. On June 27th, he was fired for making "insensitive comments" that violated team policy. It was learned the following day that he had referred to pitcher Daniel Stumpf as "Spider Monkey" in the presence of others; he claimed it was an innocent nickname, although it seemed he was the only one to use what is often a racially-loaded term to refer to the player. Reactions to the firing were mixed, with some praising the Tigers for enforcing public decorum at a time when it was under assault from many quarters, and others wondering if such drastic action was justified for what was, it appeared, a one-off comment with no harm intended. There was more to the story though, as a year later, a former clubhouse attendant filed suit against Bosio and the Tigers in the third circuit court of Wayne County claiming that he suffered discriminatory remarks from Bosio and that upper management had tolerated a culture of racism and discrimination against African-American employees of the team. The "monkey" insult was apparently directed at the young employee, not at Stumpf, and was part of a pattern of harassment, the lawsuit claimed. This firing of Bosio effectively ended his coaching career.

Notable Achievements

• 15 Wins Seasons: 2 (1989 & 1992)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 3 (1989, 1991 & 1992)

Further Reading

• Anthony Fenech: "Detroit Tigers' Daniel Stumpf's nickname at root of Chris Bosio firing", USA Today Sports, June 28, 2018. [1]
• Bob Nightengale: "Chris Bosio 'crushed' by Tigers firing, insists he did not direct slur toward employee", USA Today Sports, June 28, 2018. [2]
• Shawn Windsor: In firing Chris Bosio, Detroit Tigers prove that words still matter", Detroit Free Press, June 28, 2018. [3]