Washington Senators’ Dick Bosman pitched historic game in D.C.

WASHINGTON – Dick Bosman made his Major League debut for the Washington Senators in 1966 and started the last home game for the team at RFK Stadium.

But the Wisconsin native, who turns 78 today, had a more impressive post-playing career.

Bosman, after his playing days ended in 1976, got his start as a coach in the McLean Little League in Northern Virginia, as he told this reporter in an interview in the 1990s.

The right-hander was the pitching coach for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons in 1986 and then was the pitching coach for Triple-A Rochester in the Baltimore system from 1989-91.

That led to his job as the pitching coach for the Orioles from 1992-94 and he was later the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 1995-2000.

He worked in Baltimore and Texas under manager Johnny Oates, who grew up in Prince George’s, Virginia, and was a star in college at Virginia Tech.

After that time in Texas, Bosman spent several years as a pitching coach in the minor leagues in the Tampa Bay system.

Among the young pitchers he worked with were James Shields, Wade Davis, Alex Cobb, Jake McGee, and Jeremy Hellickson, a Rookie of the Year with Tampa Bay who pitched for the Nationals in 2018 and 2019.

Bosman was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Feb. 17, 1944, and he went to Bradford High in that city.

He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1963 and was also part of the Giants’ system before he made his big league debut with the Senators on June 1, 1966, as he went 7.1 innings against the Boston Red Sox and gave up nine hits and three earned runs.

Bosman was 2-6 with an ERA of 7.62 in 13 games with seven starts as a rookie.

By 1969 he was 14-5 with an ERA of 2.19 – the best mark in the league – with the Senators under manager Ted Williams.

He won a career-high 16 games the next season with Washington then was 12-16 with the Senators in 1971.

Bosman was the starting pitcher on Sept. 30, 1971, as the Senators hosted the New York Yankees at RFK Stadium.

He gave up three homers in that game; the Senators led 7-5 with two outs in the ninth when fans swarmed the field and Washington eventually had to forfeit. Paul Lindblad took the loss for the Senators.

Bosman made the move to Texas the next season and he was 8-10 as a starter that year.

The native of Wisconsin later played for Cleveland before ending his Major League career with Oakland in 1976.

In 1974, while pitching for Cleveland, he threw a no-hitter against the A’s – who went on to win the World Series later that year. His throwing error led to the only runner in the game.

The last batter he faced was Texas’s Jeff Burroughs, his former teammate, on Sept. 19 at the A’s won 13-3 over the Rangers in 1976.

He was 82-85 with an ERA of 3.67 in 307 games with 229 starts in the majors.

“Those were the days when you lost, it was the end of the world. That’s the way I was from the first day I ever put on a baseball glove. Back then it was all right to break a helmet or fire a bat or go nuts, because that’s why you were out there, to win that ball game. I’ll be a son of a bitch if you lost. Maybe I was wrong, but that’s the way I felt. And I still feel that way,” Bosman told Peter Golenbock in “The Forever Boys.”

Bosman also published a book on pitching with Ted Leavengood.