Longtime Major League Baseball Scout Reflects on Storied Career that Began at St. John’s

Earlier this year, Mr. Bove was hired as Special Assistant to the General Manager for the Houston Astros, the culmination of a long career in major league scouting and several top-tier signings. He comes from a family of die-hard baseball fans—and is a treasure trove of stories about America’s Pastime.

“That love for baseball started early on both sides of my family,” he said. “Our Sunday dinner was based around whatever game was on that day.”

He added, “We’d play stickball until it got dark, and I played Little League. The first games I ever saw were at Ebbets Field (home of the Brooklyn, now Los Angeles Dodgers). My father was a school bus driver and he took all the neighborhood kids to Dodgers games.” Mr. Bove was present when the late Gil Hodges hit his 14th grand slam home run, a National League record at the time.

A native of Queens, NY, he attended Christ the King High School, played baseball, and stressed there was little doubt he would attend St. John’s. “That was where you wanted to go. St. John’s was considered the Yankees of college baseball.”

Mr. Bove was offered a scholarship to St. John’s by legendary Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach John “Jack” Kaiser ’49C, which he reflected was akin to “hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. He was a wonderful man and an outstanding coach and teacher. I really liked him when I was there, but I really appreciated him after I left.”

Cocaptain of the St. John’s Baseball team, Mr. Bove was twice named a District II All-American, and also named Team Most Valuable Player in 1971. Many of his St. John’s teammates remain close friends.

“If I was evaluating myself as a scout, I didn’t run very well, I didn’t throw very well, but I could hit,” he laughed. “The thing I prided myself on was that I didn’t strike out.”

Mr. Bove’s dreams of playing professional baseball were unfortunately not realized, but he soon discovered another talent that would serve him well: recognizing talent. He began his career as an assistant coach at St. John’s shortly after graduation, but was encouraged to go into scouting by friend Ralph DiLullo, long considered one of the game’s greatest scouts.

His first foray into professional scouting came with the Major League Scouting Bureau, which assisted lower budgeted teams who couldn’t afford large scouting departments with their scouting needs. Moving to Florida, that region became Mr. Bove’s base of operations for the next decade and beyond.

Gaining invaluable experience with the bureau, he always hoped to work for a team. In 1992, he was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers as their Southeastern Supervisor and held several positions with them until 2004.

Mr. Bove has made many friends throughout his long career, including former New York Mets and Montreal Expos General Manager Omar Minaya, who he coached as a member of the Flushing Tigers baseball team. Mr. Minaya and Expos Director of Amateur Scouting (and current Houston Astros General Manager) Dana Brown hired him as an Area Scout for the Expos (now the Washington Nationals) in 2004.

There, Mr. Bove helped sign Ian Desmond—who is his favorite success story. Mr. Desmond was a two-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger during a decade-long major league career. Cultivating relationships with players and their families is of paramount importance and scouting, Mr. Bove stressed, is all about relationships. “I tell whoever I sign that I am with them all the way. Every at-bat, every pitch you throw, every hit, we’re in this together.”

In 2005, Mr. Minaya hired Mr. Bove as Major League Scout and Director of Amateur Scouting for the Mets. There he helped draft Jonathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey. In 2012, he was hired as Major League Scout and Special Assignment Scout for the Toronto Blue Jays, where he was instrumental in the signings of Marcus Stroman, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

A self-professed old school baseball man, Mr. Bove has a complicated relationship with the emergence of analytics for evaluating player ability. “Do I need a machine telling me exit velocity when I can see with my eyes that a guy hit the ball hard?” he asked. “Don’t get me wrong: it has a place, but it’s so overdone. You can’t measure heart.”

He added, “I would be willing to bet that there isn’t one big league player who was taken after the 15th round who wasn’t taken because a scout pounded his fist on the table (supporting him). The scout knew the kid and had a good feeling about him. With analytics, the players are faceless. Business is about people, and baseball is the ultimate people business.” He added, “You want to fight it, but I tell guys you can’t fight it from the unemployment line.”

Mr. Bove spent 13 years with the Blue Jays—which he considered some of the best of his professional career—but as management changed, he felt his time would probably soon come to an end and considered retirement. “Then Dana gets the GM job at the Astros and rejuvenates me with this fancy title,” he laughed.

As Special Assistant to the General Manager, he explained there’s no such thing as a typical day. “Every day is different,” he stressed. His responsibilities include evaluating high school and college players for the draft and players in their minor league system to aid in future team planning. “It’s nothing I haven’t done before. I’ve really done it all,” he recalled, including traveling all over the world to scout talent.

In 2017, Mr. Bove was named East Coast Scout of the Year. It’s hardly surprising he considers baseball the country’s greatest sport. “When I’m in a restaurant and a football or basketball player walks in, you can tell by their size. Baseball players are regular guys. Anyone can play baseball.”

He related a story from his tenure with the Mets to drive his point home. “I was evaluating some young players for the Mets down in Port St. Lucie and a guy takes me by the arm and says, ‘Let’s take a look at those pitchers.’ It was (Hall of Fame pitcher) Tom Seaver. He couldn’t have been more than 5’10”, but he was a bull, an absolute bull.”

“It’s been a great career—and it all started at St. John’s. I have been very fortunate.”