Bob Brenly, BSED '76, holds the World Series trophy aloft after his Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in Game 7 in October. Photo by The Associated Press

In his first season as a major-league manager, Bob Brenly guided Arizona to its first World Series title.

By Joe Donatelli

The World Series that seemingly had it all -- the New York Yankees, controversial decisions, a come-from-behind Game 7 victory -- also featured a Bobcat. Bob Brenly, BSED '76, last fall became the first Ohio University graduate to manage a World Series victor when he directed the Arizona Diamondbacks to a dramatic victory over the Yankees. In doing so, the rookie manager handed the franchise its first title and the state of Arizona its first professional sports championship.

"I could get used to this," Brenly said as the clubhouse champagne flowed and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sought him out for a handshake.

That Brenly is a success comes as no shock to the Ohio University baseball community. Longtime Bobcat coach Bob Wren recalls that Brenly was the top catching prospect in Ohio his senior year at Coshocton High School in 1972.

"You talk about true grit," Wren says, "he had it."

Wren retired and Jerry France took over before Brenly's freshman year. By the time Brenly graduated in 1976, he had earned All-America honors and matched Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt's school-record 10 home runs in a single season.

To the surprise of many, Brenly was not drafted after his senior year. The knock: a bum knee. (His knee was fine, France says, but you couldn't convince the scouts of that.) The San Francisco Giants eventually signed him as a free agent.

After five years in the minor leagues, he played his first major-league game in 1981. The blue-collar catcher made the 1984 All-Star team and played for two of the Giants' playoff teams before retiring after the 1989 season.

Broadcasting looked like a natural second career since, as a player, he had hosted the "Bob Brenly Show" after games. He landed a job as a color commentator for the Chicago Cubs, working alongside fellow alumnus Thom Brennaman, Ron Santo and Harry Caray for WGN radio. His coaching debut came in 1992, when the San Francisco Giants hired him as the bullpen coach.

Brenly returned to the broadcast booth four years later and, in 1998, rejoined Brennaman, who had just been named the fledgling Diamondbacks' play-by-play man.

When team manager Buck Showalter was fired after three seasons, the Diamondbacks interviewed Brenly and -- in a rare but not unprecedented move -- named him to the post Oct. 30, 2000. A year and five days later, his team defeated America's most successful sports franchise in what some baseball fans labeled the most dramatic, unorthodox World Series in history. In an era where nearly every manager plays by the book, Brenly played his hunches -- and won.

The Diamondbacks jumped to a two-game lead over the Yankees behind the pitching of World Series co-MVPs Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. The Yankees took Game 3. In Game 4, Brenly pitched Schilling on only three days' rest. The manager looked like a genius until he pulled Schilling after seven innings and a relief pitcher surrendered the lead and the game. The national print and broadcast media latched on to a common story line: Brenly was managing the Diamondbacks right out of the Series.

Game 7 would prove to be Brenly's salvation. Again he pitched Schilling on three days' rest. This time, when his ace gave up an eighth-inning home run, it appeared he had left Schilling in too long.

When Brenly came out to relieve Schilling, he told the pitcher, "We'll get that one back. That's not going to beat us, big man." He was right. Johnson pitched perfect relief. And then, in the bottom of the ninth, down 2-1 with one out, the Diamondbacks rallied for two runs to wrap up one of the most entertaining World Series in recent history and vindicate Brenly.

"We are all so very proud of him," Wren says.

Joe Donatelli, BSJ '98, is a reporter with Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C.