In the days after the Phillies surged to within a Cubs’ base hit [1]from forging a one-game playoff with the Astros for the 2005 wild card, I wrote a long, season-ending story about the things it would be wise for then-GM Ed Wade to do.
Because, you know, I had all the answers and any wise GM would comb through my stories for trenchant baseball advice.
Yes, that was written in the sarcasm font.
Nevertheless, tucked beneath such things as re-signing Billy Wagner or trading Ryan Howard for pitching so that Jim Thome could be the everyday first baseman, I wrote that it would be wise for team to sign Charlie Manuel to an extension. The idea, I wrote, was ceremonial—like a reward for putting up with a lot of BS from the fans and media all while keeping his team focused on winning games.
It would have been a classy thing to do, I argued. After all, the Phillies similarly rewarded Larry Bowa for doing far less than Manuel.
But wow… you should have seen the e-mail that poured in from that one. People freaked out and resorted to the one thing sports fans who can’t wrap their heads around a certain point do…
They called me names.
Fact is, I enjoyed it. I like the show and if a bunch of people dressed with the alter-ego of an avatar can’t tell you how stupid you are, well, what’s the point. Besides, the things I’m really stupid about, like home repair or fiduciary matters, make my sports analysis look like it was developed by Stephen Hawking.
It’s the truth.
Anyway, the extra attention and massive email attacks were nice because it meant there were a few angry people out there reading. The web staff here at CSN doesn’t get much attention or recognition around the office. Oh sure, to folks on the outside Andy Schwartz and myself are pretty legit, but around the office we’re the freaks who compose those tricky sentences and can make the web site do all those colorful things. The fact is we’re oddballs (in more ways than one) which is especially true in regard to Andy since he was at CSN when they turned on the lights for the very first time. Actually, he very well might have flipped the switch.
He’s quite fastidious like that.
Tangent aside, it’s funny (not ha-ha) how wrong I was about Billy Wagner and Ryan Howard, but oh-so right about Manuel. The fact is Manuel did get a contract extension at the end of the 2007 season and the 2008 season, which will keep him with the club until 2012. And short of getting caught robbing a liquor store, there’s nothing Charlie can do to get fired before his contract expires, either.
Just like that and Charlie has become one of those venerable ol’ salts running a team just like Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson, Tommy Lasorda, or even Charlie’s old manager, Walter Alston. No matter how tough some seasons became, those old ball skippers were given the time and the patience to make it work. In that regard the Phillies were very smart in exercising patience with Manuel.
Know why? Because the big complaint about Manuel these days was over some of the choices he made during his second straight appearance in the World Series. Does anyone see the irony there? Charlie is a bad manager because he didn’t win the World Series for two straight years?
That’s knee-slapping funny.
No, the point is Charlie is not a bad manager. In fact, the old throwback from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is very much a progressive, modern manager. His players are relaxed and the atmosphere around the team is such that all the ballplayers have to do is worry about the game. Part of how this is fostered is that Charlie takes the slings and arrows. He puts himself out there and lets smart-assy national media types make fun of his diction and Appalachian twang while his players are unbothered.
There’s another irony: guys who never had to work for anything ever (and by work we mean real work such as provide for a wife, child, mother and 10 brothers and sisters when still a teenager) laugh to each other about the way about a guy who had to work for everything speaks in front of cameras.
Kind of makes me embarrassed to be in the same business with those people.
Nevertheless, let’s get to the bottom line. In 2012 Manuel will be finishing his eighth season with the Phillies, which will be the third-most in club history. Only Hall-of-Famer Harry Wright and should-be Hall-of-Famer Gene Mauch will have managed the Phillies longer.
Better yet, if the Phillies win an average of 67 games over the next three seasons, Manuel will surpass Mauch as the winningest manager in franchise history. Considering that the Phillies have averaged nearly 90 wins per season with Manuel at the helm, chances are he’s going to shatter the franchise record.
So here’s the question: How many folks out there thought Charlie was going to make it through the end of his first contract? How many thought he would be one of just two managers to win the World Series for the Phillies?
Finally, how many folks out there can remember back to that November of 2004 afternoon when Manuel was introduced as the manager and thought, “Yes, there is the man who will manage more winning games than any manager in franchise history and the second most in Philadelphia baseball history behind Connie Mack.”
I’ll apologize for all those boneheaded things I wrote about Billy Wagner and Ryan Howard, but not about Charlie.
That contract extension turned out to be a pretty good idea.
[1] Incidentally, Brad Lidge was on the mound to preserve the Astros’ wild-card clinching victory. His last pitch was to Jose Macias who smoked a liner destined for right field until Eric Bruntlett stepped in the snare it. How ironic is that? Cue the “Twilight Zone” music.
The B-Sides 
I know a guy who a handleful of years back dabbled in the Phillies minors for a few years. He said Charlie was the most knowledgable hitting coach he ever knew. He really respected him and I really respect this guy. To me, if the players like him, f- the media.