The baseball world was captivated by left-handed pitching prospect Jim Abbott ahead of the 1988 major league draft mostly because he didn’t have a right hand. Seven teams passed on him before the Angels picked him.
Why? Largely because Angels scouting director Bob Fontaine Jr. ignored the potential limitations that others fixated on when evaluating Abbott. Rather than dwelling on the absence of a right hand, Fontaine saw something wondrous coming out of Abbott’s left hand — a cut fastball.
“He’s actually more suited to the pro game than the amateurs with the aluminum bats,” Fontaine told The Times after the draft. “He’s going to be breaking off a lot of these wood bats with that cut fastball.”
As usual, Fontaine, who died Saturday at age 73, was prophetic in his assessment. Abbott became the rare pitcher to go straight from college — he’d starred at Michigan — to the major leagues, skipping the minors entirely and enjoying a 10-year MLB career while inspiring numerous fans in disabled communities.
“I think every scout, if they scout for any length of time, is going to have one player that just is special to you. Jimmy Abbott was that,” Fontaine told JapanBall in 2022. “There were people that were even kind of saying, ‘Oh, they did it for a publicity stunt.’ I remember saying, ‘Yeah, we took the eighth player in the country for a publicity stunt? Give us some credit!
Fontaine was showered with plenty of posthumous credit over the weekend. He scouted for six teams, and a highlight of his resume was drafting the nucleus of the Angels roster that won the 2002 World Series.
“What a character … what a storyteller … and what a talent evaluator … there is no 2002 World Series title for the #Angels without Bob Fontaine Jr. … RIP,” wrote former longtime Times baseball writer Mike Digiovanna on X.
“Crushed regarding Bob Fontaine Jr.’s passing, as he was a special man who I was lucky to work closely with three times @WhiteSox @Mariners, and @BlueJays. Fun as hell, elite evaluator, and phenomenal people skills. RIP, Robert,” added former Dodgers general manager Dan Evans.
“A gifted talent evaluator and mentor, Bob helped shape generations of Angels by overseeing the signing and development of numerous Halos, including Jim Abbott, Jim Edmonds, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad,” the Angels said in a statement. “Bob left a lasting mark on baseball by devoting over five decades to the game. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”
The Angels frustrated Fontaine at times by declining to spend big on players from talent-rich Latin America. Rather than sulk, however, he scoured the globe, in 1992 signing three players from Russia and a fast-pitch softball player from New Zealand named Gus Leger.
Asked by The Times’ Bill Shaikin if he had ever played baseball, Leger responded, “I haven’t. Would it help?”
The experiment failed — none of the quartet advanced beyond Class-A — yet Fontaine maintained the sunny outlook he inherited from his father. Bob Fontaine Sr. was a scout who worked under the legendary Branch Rickey with the Brooklyn Dodgers before becoming scouting director of the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 years and the first scouting director of the expansion franchise San Diego Padres. He also served as general manager of the Padres from 1977-1980.
“[My father] told me when I got started, ‘Don’t you ever, ever not appreciate where you are and what you’re doing, because you’re lucky. You’re going to a ballpark to make a living, so your bad days aren’t that bad,’” Fontaine Jr. said. “I never forgot that, I never forgot how lucky I am.
“Hey, you’re looking at a guy that barely squeaked through high school, who doesn’t have any ability, and I lasted almost 50 years. It’s because in baseball, if you listen, and you’re not afraid to take a chance once in a while, even somebody with my lack of ability can stay around for a while,” he said.
Fontaine got his foot in the door through his father. His first job as a teenager was as a minor league bat boy with the Pirates. Next he became a peanut vendor at Forbes Field. By age 19, he caught on with the Padres as an area scout.
Both Fontaines were scouts well ahead of the deep empirical and objective analysis of baseball data — sabermetrics is the catch-all term — that some believe has made scouts obsolete. Fontaine maintained the best evaluations come when scouting is utilized along with numbers.
“What the traditional scout gives you is personal reference, like with things I learned on players that I missed on,” he said. “Analytics didn’t do that. I’m a firm believer that the best video camera is your eyes, the best model is your brain, and the best way to make a tough decision is with your heart.”
Fontaine’s methods produced results. Under his guidance in 1977, the Padres drafted future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith in the fourth round. Four years later Fontaine plucked another future Hall of Famer, taking outfielder Tony Gwynn in the third round.
And when Fontaine moved to the Montreal Expos in 1985, he took a 6-foot-11 left-handed pitcher out of USC named Randy Johnson in the second round — another Hall of Famer.
Fontaine co-authored a memoir in 2021, “In Search of Millionaires (The Life of a Baseball Gypsy): The Accounts of Bob Fontaine Jr.”
“Baseball has provided me with a fabulous opportunity to see the world and work in an industry that most people envy,” he wrote in the book. “I didn’t get rich, except in experiences. To meet and work against so many fine people, as well as some great general managers and owners, has been a privilege.”
Times sports columnist Bill Shaikin contributed to this story.
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