Phillies hire Girardi as manager

The Phillies have hired Joe Girardi as the 55th manager in franchise history, General Manager Matt Klentak announced today. Girardi received a three-year contract with a club option for 2023.

Girardi, 55, has managed 11 seasons in the major leagues and has a career record of 988-794 (.554) with the Florida Marlins (2006) and New York Yankees (2008-17). His win total is the fifth-highest among active major league managers. Among all active skippers with at least 500 games managed, Girardi’s .554 winning percentage ranks third behind only Dave Roberts (.605) and A.J. Hinch (.558).

“On behalf of everyone at the Phillies, I want to congratulate Joe and welcome him to our baseball family,” said Klentak. “Joe brings high character and a tremendous work ethic to his position, and he is a proven winner. I look forward to working with him and I believe that he is the right manager to lead our team to the next level."

From 2008-17, the Yankees were 200 games over the .500 mark at 910-710 and their .562 winning percentage was tops among all major league clubs. New York committed the fewest errors of any team in the majors (850) during that stretch and had the best fielding percentage in MLB (.986). The Yankees ranked second in the majors in runs scored during those 10 years (7,819) and their +926 run differential in that span was best among all major league clubs.

“I’m excited for this next chapter of my career,” said Girardi. “The Phillies have a strong commitment to winning from the owners to the front office to the players to the fans. It’s something that I’ve seen up close for the last 30 years of my baseball career. I played against the great Phillies players of the early ’90s – from Dutch Daulton to John Kruk to Dave Hollins – and I managed against their teams during the incredible run they had from 2008 to 2011. To have my name now associated with this great franchise is something that I couldn’t be happier about.”

Named the 2006 National League Manager of the Year by the BBWAA in his first season at the helm of the Florida Marlins, Girardi is the first manager in Phillies history to assume the position having previously won the award.

“Matt did a great job running the search, culminating with the three exceptional candidates we interviewed,” said Phillies managing partner, John Middleton. “Ultimately, we all agree that Joe is the right person to lead our team, and I am excited to welcome him to the Phillies.”

While with the Yankees, Girardi managed the club to a postseason appearance in six of his 10 seasons and won the franchise’s 27th World Series in 2009 in a six-game series against the Phillies. Girardi joins Steve O’Neill (1952-54) and Bucky Harris (1943) as the only skippers who had previously won a World Series prior to being hired by the Phillies as manager.

Originally selected as a catcher by the Chicago Cubs, while Dallas Green was General Manager, in the fifth round of the 1986 amateur draft out of Northwestern University, Girardi played 15 seasons in the major leagues with the Cubs (1989-92; 2000-02), Colorado Rockies (1993-1995), New York Yankees (1996-99) and St. Louis Cardinals (2003). He was a three-time World Series champion as a player (1996, 1998-99 with NYY) and made the postseason six times with the Cubs (1989), Rockies (1995) and Yankees (1996-99). Girardi appeared in 1,277 career games, the first of which came with the Cubs on April 4, 1989, against the Phillies at Wrigley Field. His first ever road game took place 10 days later at Veterans Stadium, a 6-4 Cubs win on April 14, 1989.

Girardi finished his playing career with a .267 batting average, 1,100 hits, 454 runs scored, 186 doubles, 36 home runs, 422 RBI and a .991 career fielding percentage. He was behind the plate for two no-hitters in his career: Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter on May 14, 1996, vs. Seattle and David Cone’s perfect game on July 18, 1999, vs. Montreal.

A 1986 graduate of Northwestern with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, Girardi spent the last two seasons as an on-air analyst for both MLB Network and FOX.

Girardi will wear No. 25.