Phillies: Larry Bowa, Charlie Manuel team up for new TV show

Larry Bowa and Charlie Manuel first met more than a half-century ago — respectively as Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins prospects during an instructional league game in Clearwater, Florida. The baseball lifers next crossed paths in the Sunshine State in 2003, when Bowa was managing and Manuel was advising then-general manager Ed Wade. Manuel later replaced Bowa as Phillies manager … but the two eventually would become colleagues again as senior advisors to the general manager starting in 2018.

Now, Bowa, 75, and Manuel, 77, will bring their decades of combined knowledge about the game they love to area televisions screens through a new NBC Sports Philadelphia show called Down the Line with Charlie & Bo.

Former Phillies managers will talk baseball on ‘Down the Line with Charlie & Bo.’

“Charlie and I talked a little bit about doing something last year when we were upstairs watching games [at Citizens Bank Park],” Bowa recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It was more of a get into some kind of lounge and have a question-and-answer session with fans, but we wanted it to go further than that.”

“We wanted to go out in the city and explain how he came from Virginia and I came from California and we both sort of connected with the city,” Bowa continued. “And we just kind of wanted to share our baseball experiences and mix it up with the fans.”

The show will allow them to do just that. Set to air weekly on Saturdays following Phillies games through early October, the half-hour show will be hosted by Sam Wilson, who previously served as the morning update anchor for 97.5 The Fanatic.

“Well guys, the news is out! My first TV job!” Wilson tweeted Thursday morning. “Never in a million years did I think I’d be making my TV debut with these two … especially after a pandemic. A true ‘pinch me’ moment.”

Down the Line with Charlie & Bo‘s pilot will air this Saturday at noon, before the Phillies take on the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The first episode will feature the former Phillies managers walking down Broad Street near City Hall, a location that goes hand in hand with parades they helped make happen in 1980 and 2008. Other area locations already shot for future episodes, the Inquirer reports, include the Art Museum, Navy Yard and Ocean City boardwalk.

The show’s segments will include the pair sharing their unique stories and insights, interacting with fans, visiting various sites and having conversations with friends and former teammates.

Seeing Bowa and Manuel talk about baseball will surely be can’t-miss TV.