Ranking every Philadelphia Phillies manager from worst to first
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.
Longest-tenured Phillies managers
The Phillies have had a lot of one-season – or even partial-season – managers over the years. Here are the only skippers to last at least five seasons:
Harry Wright (1884-90)
Bill Shettsline (1898-1902)
Red Dooin (1910-14)
Burt Shotton (1928-1933)
Jimmie Wilson (1934-38)
Eddie Sawyer (1948-52)
Gene Mauch (1960-68)
Danny Ozark (1973-79)
Jim Fregosi (1991-96)
Charlie Manuel (2005-13)
The Dark Ages (1933-1948)
Over this decade and a half, the Phillies had seven different managers: Burt Shotton, Jimmie Wilson, Hans Lobert, Doc Prothro, Lobert again, Bucky Harris, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Ben Chapman, Dusty Cooke, and Eddie Sawyer. Shotton had managed from 1928-33, before leaving for the Cincinnati Reds.
In 1948, the season was split between Chapman, Cooke, and Sawyer, who would continue to manage the team until 1952.
If Shotton and Chapman’s names sound familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen the movie 42; in 1947, Shotton filled in for Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher when he was suspended for the season, and Chapman was the virulent racist Phillies skipper hurling racial epithets at a rookie Jackie Robinson.
Best Phillies postseason managers
Despite the franchise’s long life, the Phillies have a short postseason history: 11 division titles, seven pennants, and only two World Series titles. It took them 97 years to win their first championship, and 28 more to win their second. Their last postseason appearance was in 2011, and they’ve never earned a Wild Card berth.
Out of the organization’s 55 managers, only seven have any postseason appearances: Charlie Manuel, Danny Ozark, Dallas Green, Jim Fregosi, Paul Owens, Pat Moran, and Eddie Sawyer. Manuel, Ozark, and Green are the only ones to take the Phillies into the postseason multiple times.
Most ejectable Phillies managers
Managing the City of Brotherly Love’s baseball team doesn’t mean it’s all love. 34 of the 55 Phillies managers had at least one ejection to their name. Here’s who leads the pack:
- Charlie Manuel – 41
- Jim Fregosi – 24
- Gene Mauch, Larry Bowa – 23 each
- Red Dooin – 21
- Danny Ozark – 20
- Art Fletcher – 12
- Ben Chapman – 10
It’s surprising that Chapman, by all accounts a racist and bigot with a temper, only had 10 ejections during his Phillies managerial tenure. Then again, his behavior wasn’t exactly frowned upon back then. He’s certainly one of the franchise’s most problematic managers.
Top-10 all-time Phillies managers
10. Red Dooin (1910-14)
Red Dooin‘s 392 wins as Phillies manager puts him sixth all-time. He was also playing for the Phillies before and during his time at the helm; he made his MLB debut with the team in 1902, and remained with them until 1914.
9. Eddie Sawyer (1948-52, 58-60)
One of a few Phillies managers who went the Grover Cleveland route of serving multiple nonconsecutive terms, Eddie Sawyer has the distinction of bringing the pennant back to Philadelphia after nearly half a century.
A minor-league lifer, Sawyer left the Yankees to manage in the Phillies farm system before replacing the terrible Ben Chapman as the Phillies’ third manager of the 1948 season. The following season, Sawyer managed the first winning Phillies team since 1932. He also managed the first Phillies team to wear the now-famous red pinstripes.
His 1950 “Whiz Kids” won the pennant but were swept out of the World Series by the formidable Yankees.
8. Harry Wright (1884-93)
Harry Wright is one of the only Phillies managers in the Hall of Fame. He also is the third-winningest manager they’ve ever had behind Manuel and Mauch, compiling a 636-566 record. Percentage-wise, that’s even better than Mauch.
7. Larry Bowa (2001-05)
Charlie Manuel’s managerial predecessor never gets the credit he deserves for making the most of what he had. Larry Bowa only spent four seasons managing the Phillies, but he set a foundation on which Manuel would build, including then-rookie Jimmy Rollins.
6. Jim Fregosi (1991-96)
Speaking of lockouts, Jim Fregosi managed the Phillies during a turbulent time in MLB history. His managerial tenure in Philadelphia overlapped with the most recent work stoppage before the current one: the 1994-95 strike. The year before, he’d led the Phillies to 97 wins and the 1993 National League pennant.
He’s also remembered for being on the wrong end of the Nolan Ryan trade during his playing days, one of the biggest blunders in New York Mets history.
5. Pat Moran (1915-18)
Unless you’re over a century old, Pat Moran was before your time. But he was Grover Cleveland Alexander‘s Phillies manager, and a pennant-winner. His 323 wins as Phillies skipper is 11th all-time.
He would then go on to manage the Cincinnati Reds when they won the 1919 World Series over the infamous Chicago “Black Sox.”
4. Gene Mauch (1960-1968)
Despite Mauch’s utter lack of postseason time, we can’t ignore the fact that he’s the second-winningest manager in Phillies history, with 646 wins. He also lasted as long as Charlie Manuel, which is saying something, considering how many partial-season managers this franchise has had.
3. Danny Ozark (1973-79)
To use a biblical analogy, Danny Ozark was Moses, who led the Phillies through the desert for years, but could not lead them into the Promised Land. That honor went to Dallas Green, the Joshua of this analogy.
Ozark led the team out of the basement in the early 70s and began forming what would be their first championship core, with Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. During his term, they won three consecutive NL East titles and won 101 games in back-to-back seasons. Then, he had to sit and watch as the team he nurtured won the first Phillies championship, without him.
He’s still one of only four Phillies managers with 500+ wins, finishing his time in Philadelphia 594-510.
2. Dallas Green (1979-81)
Dallas Green accomplished something that none of his 40 predecessors could: he brought a championship to Philly. He didn’t even manage three full seasons, but the accomplishment of that first championship packs a punch.
1. Charlie Manuel (2005-13)
Charlie Manuel‘s tenure brought glory (and a World Series trophy) back to the City of Brotherly Love. His Phillies won two pennants, and some of the greatest players in franchise history flourished under his leadership. He’s also the winningest manager, with 780 career Phillies wins under his belt. Manuel remains with the organization to this day, but they haven’t been back to the postseason since his tenure.
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