That Balls Outta Here
FanSided

Ranking every Philadelphia Phillies manager from worst to first

By Gabrielle Starr

PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 21: Manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies speaks to the crowd as he celebrates defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 to advance to the World Series in Game Five of the NLCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 21, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 21: Manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies speaks to the crowd as he celebrates defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 to advance to the World Series in Game Five of the NLCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 21, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images) /
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UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1964: Manager Gene Mauch #4 of Philadelphia Phillies looks on from the dugout during a Major League Baseball game circa 1964. Mauch managed the Phillies from 1960-68. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1964: Manager Gene Mauch #4 of Philadelphia Phillies looks on from the dugout during a Major League Baseball game circa 1964. Mauch managed the Phillies from 1960-68. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Biggest Losers (Worst win % by a Phillies manager)

The team’s 24th manager, Hans Lobert managed exactly two Phillies games in 1938 and his squad lost both of them. He was then asked back in 1942, and went 42-109, for a slightly better .278 record, which is still the fourth-worst % in Phillies managerial history.

In the second half of the Phillies’ inaugural season Blondie Purcell replaced the franchise’s first manager Bob Ferguson, who had gone 4-13 (.235), but Purcell, who managed 81 games, finished worse (.160).

In franchise history, Gary Varsho and Dusty Cooke are the only two skippers with exactly .500 records. 19 Phillies managers finished their tenures with a winning record, including Andy Cohen, who managed exactly one game in 1960, and the team won.

Current Phillies manager Joe Girardi has a .497 record over his first two seasons at the helm.

Most losses by a Phillies manager

Gene Mauch leads all Phillies skippers with 684 losses during his term from 1960-68.  Charlie Manuel comes in second with 636, but has a better % (.551) than Mauch, since he had significantly more wins over a longer managerial tenure (2005-13). They’re the only two managers in franchise history with 600+ losses, though as this exercise clearly shows, many managers didn’t last very long.

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