Bob Fontaine, Sr.

Robert Marcel Fontaine, Sr. (November 14, 1923 – March 25, 1994) was an American professional baseball player, scout and executive. The native of San Jose, California, a World War II veteran, was the first director of scouting for the San Diego Padres of the National League, and served as the third general manager in the history of San Diego's Major League franchise.

As a minor league baseball pitcher, Fontaine went 26–18 in five minor league seasons (1941–42; 1946–48) in the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm system.^[1] He missed 1943–45 due to service in the United States Army Air Forces.

Following his playing days, Fontaine was a scout for Branch Rickey's Dodgers and moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates with Rickey in 1951, serving as a Pirates' scout for 18 seasons. After eight years (1969–76) as the Padres' first director of amateur scouting and player development, he was their general manager for 3 ¹⁄₂ seasons, from 1977 through July 7, 1980. The Padres went 255–311 (.451) with one winning season (1978), the first in franchise history, during his tenure.

Fontaine then served as the San Francisco Giants' scouting director until 1992. He died from pneumonia in Poway, California, in 1994 at age 70.

His son, Bob Fontaine, Jr. has also worked in baseball as a scouting director, and his grandson, Matthew Thomas, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2007.^[2]

References