ARLINGTON, Texas — For the casual fan, there are a few things you need to know about Rangers manager Bruce Bochy.
He's won three World Series titles.
He has a voice that lends itself to Western movies and chili commercials.
And he has a very large head.
How large? Bochy's hat size is widely said to be 8 1/8 inches, though ESPN's baseball encyclopedia Tim Kurkjian has reported it to be 8 1/4. In any case, Bochy's hat size is, quite literally, off the charts: The official MLB team shops don't offer sizes above an 8.
Oddly enough, one of the few heads on Bochy's level was that of former Ranger Kevin Mench, whose hat size was reportedly an 8 1/4.
But no baseball heads have been more in the spotlight, or more discussed as the stuff of legend, than Bochy's.
Kurkjian - again, a true baseball encyclopedia - unearthed two gems about Bochy's sizable dome in a 2020 story for ESPN.
First was the hilarious nugget, from Bochy himself, about his playing days as a journeyman catcher. When Bochy, whose nickname was "Headly," would get traded, he said, he'd bring his helmet with him. The new team, which often didn't have a helmet in Bochy's size, would then spray paint it with their colors and logo.
And then there was the time Bochy, then with the Padres, hit a walk-off homer against flamethrowing Nolan Ryan. Bochy got back to his locker, where he found a six-pack of beer, with ice, in his helmet.
Plenty of players could fit a six pack in their helmet, Bochy's teammate, Terry Kennedy, told Kurkjian. Only Bochy's helmet could fit "a six-pack of beer with ice," Kennedy said.
Bochy, who's known for his easygoing manner and sense of humor, has leaned into the hat size jokes. Or, rather, stretched into them.
In 2012, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith faced a possible fine for wearing a San Francisco Giants hat in his postgame press conference, a violation of the NFL's dress code.
Bochy, then the manager of Giants, decided to show his support for Smith by wearing a 49ers hat in his press conference. The only problem, of course, was that pesky hat size. The biggest 49ers hat the club's equipment manager could find was 7 3/4, well below Bochy's 8 1/8.
"He's got a hat-stretcher," Bochy told reporters. "He took care of it."
Bochy, who engineered a dynasty with the Giants, winning titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, didn't let success go to his head, for all its size.
When the New York Times' Tyler Kepner asked Bochy about his oft-cited hat size in 2015, the seasoned manager responded in his usual self-deprecating fashion.
"There’s a lot of empty space in there too," Bochy said.
