During last night's game at Citizens Bank Park, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted that Larry Bowa was "holding court" in the dugout. Already the subject of rumors that he would be on a Phillies coaching staff next season, should Ryne Sandberg get his way, the question inevitably was asked last night by reporters. Dennis Deitch of the Delaware County Times was one of them.
The Phillies did without a bench coach in 2013, and most young managers would benefit from a veteran presense on the bench, as Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly remarked last night on Phillies Pre-Game Live. Deitch writes, Larry Bowa would indeed take a job on the 2014 Phillies coaching staff if the opportunity arose:
These days he’s an analyst for the MLB Network, and although the 67-year-old expressed happiness with that gig, it just so happens that one of his closest friends in baseball – Ryne Sandberg – is the interim manager with the Phillies and giving the organization a pretty strong sense that he’s the right man for the job in 2014.
Bowa not only praised the job being done by his double-play partner with the Cubs three decades ago, but also did but confess that if he were offered a job on Sandberg’s coaching staff in 2014, he would accept it.
A big fan of Sandberg the ballplayer, Bowa also had high praise for Sandberg the manager:
“(Sandberg) pays attention to detail. You’re going to see his quote: ‘Play the game the right way. Play hard.’ That’s how he played. He played it the right way. Forget his Hall of Fame numbers. His work ethic before a game was unbelievable. And he wants guys to be prepared. I don’t think you’ll ever see him get on anybody if they’re prepared. … He might be mild-mannered right here (in the public eye), but if you don’t do something the right way … he’s not going to do it in front of everybody, but he’ll get his point across.
“If you think you’re going to walk on him, forget it.”
So we shall wait. The big question is whether Bowa, whom butted heads with Phillies management now and then (and pretty much anyone else he ever worked for) would be on good terms with the organization to the point that they would re-hire him. Appearing in Phillies uniform for Wall of Fame ceremonies since he stopped coaching, Bowa seems plenty welcome at Citizens Bank Park.
Stay tuned.
