Phillies 2016 Coaching Staff: Larry Bowa
By Ryan Gerstel
As the Philadelphia Phillies coaching staff prepares the team for the 2016 season, we have been introducing those coaches to the fans in a series here at TBOH.
Thus far in the series, I have covered assistant coach Jorge Velandia and bullpen coach Rick Krantiz, while Tyler DiSalle has presented catching coach John McLaren, bullpen catcher Jesus Tiamo, and 3rd base coach Juan Samuel.
You would be hard pressed to find someone who knows the ins and the outs of the Phillies organization as does Larry Bowa, and for some fairly obvious reasons. As our editor Matt Veasey wrote in his “Philography” on Bowa this winter, the now 70-year-old has spent 32 of his 51-year career in professional baseball with the club in one role or another.
As a player, Bowa is remembered by Phillies fans as a scrappy shortstop who was as good with the glove as any middle infielder in the game. During a 12-year Phillies career that spanned from 1970-1981, Bowa was selected to appear in five All-Star games, earned two Gold Glove awards, and was a key piece of the franchise’ first-ever World Series winner in 1980.
Bowa€’s Phillies playing career ended in October of 1982 when the team packaged him and Ryne Sandberg in an infamous trade to the Chicago Cubs for shortstop Ivan DeJesus.
Bowa would play four more years with the Cubs, and then part of one final year with the Mets before retiring after the 1985 season. His 2,222 games played at shortstop are the second-most in National League history, and his .980 career fielding percentage is 9th overall in MLB history, the second-best among those who played their entire career in the NL behind only Jimmy Rollins.
After his playing days concluded, Bowa returned to the Phillies as the third base coach from 1988-1996. During the 1993 season, Bowa and John Vukovich became the first members of the Phillies to go to a World Series as both a player and coach.
Bowa made his third trip through the Phillies organization as the club’s manager during the 2001-2004 seasons. In his first year as the skipper, Bowa inherited a 65-97 team and led them to an 86-76 record in 2001. It was the team’s first winning season since 1993, and he was rewarded for those efforts with the NL Manager of the Year honors from both The Sporting News and Baseball Prospectus.
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His Phillies followed up that 2001 season with a disappointing 80-81 record in 2002, but returned to winning records under Bowa during the 2003 and 2004 seasons in which he helped send off Veteran’s Stadium and ring in the Citizens Bank Park era.
Unfortunately for Bowa, the Phillies elected to fire him with just two games remaining in the ’04 season after the club once again fell short in their bid to make the playoffs. Bowa finished his Phillies managerial career with a 337-308 record.
A decade later, Bowa found himself back with the Phillies for a 4th term, this time in his current role as bench coach. He was hired to the roll under longtime friend Sandberg, and remained with the team when Pete Mackanin took over in June of 2015.
There were reports that the fiery Bowa was the leading candidate and would land the Miami Marlins™ managerial job early this past off-season, but Don Mattingly instead got the nod for that position.
In the aftermath of his losing out on that Marlins job, the Phillies announced that Bowa would return as Mackanin’s bench coach for the 2016 season. He will be Pete’s right-hand man, and take over running the team should the manager get tossed out or otherwise become unable to manage on any particular night. This will mark the 32nd season that the Phillies Wall of Famer will appear in uniform with the team.