Manuel is Most Courageous for 2025; Phillies World Series-winning manager overcomes stroke, returns to his baseball operations role
By Kevin Cooney
Associated Press/97.5 The Fanatic
He had stood on that pitcher’s mound thousands of times wearing those cherry red pinstripes with the No. 41 on his back. But seeing Charlie Manuel throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, 2024, to his friend Larry Bowa was different.
And as Citizens Bank Park stood as one to greet the winningest manager in Phillies history and one of only two men to lead the franchise to a World Championship, it made you appreciate the grind that it took for the then-80-year-old manager to get back to the place he loved so much just six months after suffering a stroke that temporarily cost him the ability to speak.
But if you know the story of Charlie Manuel, you would never have doubted his ability to return to baseball and his role with the Phillies as special advisor to the general manager. His tenacity, good humor and always positive outlook are among the reasons he has been named the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association’s Most Courageous Sportsperson for 2025 and will be honored by the organization at its 120th Awards Banquet on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Cherry Hill, NJ. The event, as always, in open to the public and tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Manuel, who turned 81 on Saturday, Jan. 4, has survived heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery. There was a blocked and infected colon scare during the winter of 2019. When he was with the Cleveland organization as a hitting coach, he once stayed active in the dugout with a colostomy bag hidden under his blue Starter jacket.
But the stroke that happened in Sept., 2023, when undergoing a cardiac catheterization temporarily took away movement on Manuel’s left side and left him with an inability to verbally communicate.
Taking place shortly before the Phillies postseason run to the 2023 National League Championship Series, Manuel was left to sit, watch and not be able to share his true thoughts as a spectator because the words didn’t come to him.
“I couldn’t curse,” Manuel told Matt Gelb in an interview with The Athletic in January, 2024.
Baseball, however, would be the motivating presence for him to get through rehabilitation near his home in Winter Haven, FL. The physical drills to build up strength returned quicker with speech therapy helping to get him through the toughest aspects of communication. The clear goal was simple: to return to his spring training spot around the batting cage in Clearwater.
Manuel did just that and then returned north with the team for that special Opening Day moment. If you walk past him in the back of the press box during the season, you will see him, his wife Missy, and Bowa sitting in the last row box attached to the media cafeteria, talking baseball and different elements on the game.
It is Charlie, back in his happy place. The place that has always felt like home. The place that made him work so damn hard to get back to the game he loved.