EMIL JOSEPH "BUZZIE" BAVASI

• Longtime baseball executive who operated the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and California Angels.
• Helped usher in the Golden Era (1947–1972) by playing a strategic role in the integration of Major League Baseball.
• Thrived at the center of the Golden Era’s storied triangle of rivalries in 1950s New York, then helped bring MLB to the West Coast in 1958.  
• Founded a new franchise in San Diego toward the end of the Golden Era in 1968.  
• Continued his winning ways with the California Angels into the 1980s, and served for 21 years on the National Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee until 1999.

Previous image: Throwing out the first ball for the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, 2007