Bing Devine

Vaughan Pallmore "Bing" Devine (March 1, 1916 – January 27, 2007) was an American front office executive in Major League Baseball. In the prime of his career, as a general manager, the executive who is responsible for all baseball operations, Devine was a major architect of four National League champions and three World Series champions in the six years between 1964 and 1969.

Specifically, Devine served as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from November 1957 through August 17, 1964, and was directly responsible for putting the 1964 world champion Cardinals on the field – even though he had been fired with six weeks remaining in the season, one of the most bizarre events in baseball annals. Many of the players Devine acquired led the Cardinals to the 1967 world title and the 1968 NL championship, the latter occurring during Devine's second tour (1968–78) as St. Louis general manager. In between those terms, from 1965–67, Devine was assistant to the president, and then president (and de facto general manager), of the New York Mets, where he helped put together the organization that would turn the franchise from baseball's laughingstocks to 1969 world champions as the "Miracle Mets." During the 1980s, he also served as president of the St. Louis football Cardinals of the National Football League.

Devine was born in St. Louis, and attended University City High School and Washington University in St. Louis. He played college basketball and semiprofessional baseball, then joined the Cardinals in 1939 as an office boy and batting practice pitcher. In 1941, he became business manager of the Class D Johnson City Cardinals. During a roster shortage, Devine activated himself as a second baseman for 27 games and 93 at bats, but he garnered only 11 hits for a .118 batting average. he hung up his uniform and concentrated on his work in the front office.

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