Athletes - Dave Bristol

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	Athletes - Dave Bristol

James David Bristol (born June 23, 1933 in Macon, Georgia) is a former manager in Major League Baseball in the 1960s and 1970s. He managed the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and San Francisco Giants during this period.

Bristol, a right-handed hitting infielder, never played in the major leagues. He became a playing manager in the Cincinnati farm system at the age of 24 with Hornell of the Class D New York - Penn League in 1957. By 1964, he was managing the Reds' top farm team, the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, where, at age 31, he won a pennant.

In 1966, Bristol was named to the Reds' coaching staff, and when the team performed badly under rookie skipper Don Heffner, Bristol took over the club as manager in July. At 33, he was the youngest pilot in the major leagues. Bristol guided the Reds through 3 1/2 winning seasons, but he was dismissed following the 1969 campaign. Sparky Anderson, who took over from Bristol, would go into the Baseball Hall of Fame as the leader of the "Big Red Machine."

Cincinnati (298-265, .529) represented the highwater mark of Bristol's managing career. He had losing teams thereafter, and his career managing record shows 657 win and 764 defeats (.462).

In 1977, Bristol served as Atlanta Braves manager on two different occasions. Braves owner Ted Turner decided after a long losing streak that he would take over the managerial reigns of the team. However, this only lasted for one game (a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates) as baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn forbade Turner from managing further due to major league rules prohibiting players or managers from owning a share of a team. Afterward, Turner rehired Bristol for the remainder of the season.

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