Phillies Great Player Profile: Charlie Manuel

Greetings Phillies fans and welcome to this new Broad Street Sports original series where I will be sharing the lives and legacies of some of the greatest and most influential members of the Phillies organization over the franchise’s 140 years of existence. Hopefully, you learn something new about your favorite Phillies, and even if you don’t thanks for reading, and Go Phils!

Charlie Fuqua Manuel was born on January 4th, 1944 in Northfork West Virginia—the third of 11 children born to June and Charles Manuel Sr. Manuel would spend most of his childhood living in Beuna Vista Virginia where he starred as a four-sport athlete at Parry McCluer HS playing on the Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Track teams. However, as Manuel’s senior year trudged to a close with a full ride to join the Baseball team at the University of Pennsylvania in front of him, Charlie Sr. would tragically take his own life, requesting at death for the junior Manuel to stay home to take care of his mother and siblings.

After honoring his father’s final wish, Manuel would sign with the Minnesota Twins in 1963, going on to swing between the major and minor league clubs until his MLB retirement in 1975. Manuel finished with a career -2.1 WAR and a batting line of .198/.273/.534 in the Major Leagues. Despite his struggles in the States, Manuel was afforded a second chance in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization of Japan for the 1976 season. Chuck became known as Aka-Oni or “Red Devil” becoming one of the leagues most feared hitters batting .303 with a staggering 189 homers in just six seasons leading up to his retirement from Pro-ball in 1981.

After retirement, Manuel returned to the US as a scout in the Twins organization before being offered a job as the hitting coach of the Cleveland Indians through the mid to late 1990s. He would eventually take over as manager of the club in 2000 leading the team to two 90-win seasons and one playoff appearance in 2001 before being fired over contract disputes midway through the 2002 campaign.

Soon after his resentment from Cleavland, Manuel was hired as a Special Assistant to the General Manager by the Phillies, promptly taking over as the team’s Skipper following the firing of Larry Bowa in 2004. Manuel would go on to lead the Phillies to back-to-back winning seasons, just barely missing the playoffs in both 2005 and 2006.

In 2007, things would change for both Manuel and the Phillies organization, as following a slow start to the campaign Manuel would help push the Phils past the collapsing Mets, earning their first NL East title since the magical 1993 season. The team would go on to be swept by the Colorado Rockies in the National League Divison Series, but a culture was established as Manuel came in second in NL Manager of the Year Voting.

The 2008 season would prove to be the highlight of Manuel’s professional career. After guiding the team past yet another slow start, the Phils heated up stealing the NL East and punching their ticket to the postseason for the second consecutive season, which hadn’t happened since all the way back in 1980 and ‘81 when the club won their first World Series title. History may have been destined to repeat itself as Manuel led the club through a rigorous postseason, which ended with the team’s second World Championship in a five-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

As the years went on Manuel continued to build his legacy as the greatest Phillies manager of all time. Charlie led the Phils to three more postseason appearances, a National League Pennant, and three additional NL East titles, not to mention the team’s only 100+ season in franchise history during the 2011 season. While the Phils dominance continued, they were never able to reach the peak they saw in 2008 again. Following 2011, Injuries, bad contracts, and underperforming stars brought the Phillies second golden era to an end.

Manuel would be fired towards the end of an abysmal 2013 season, during which the Phils would go only 73-89, while stars like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels would look like no more than shells of their former selves. Manuel was asked to stick around the organization as a special assistant; a role he still serves in to this day.

When it was all said and done it’s hard to debate Charlie Manuel’s endowment on the Phillies organization. Manuel holds the managerial record for wins along with the highest win% in franchise history at .551 (780-646). He led the team to their second World Series in club history (2008), two National League Championships (2008, 2009), and five National League East Divison titles (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), while also managing the 2009 and 2010 National League All-Star teams. Charlie Manuel is without a doubt a Phillie great and beyond that an incredible person whose commonality and light-hearted sense of humor made him a friendly face around the organization for the past 20 years.