Hall of Fame-worthy team executives
By Bill Felber
Paul Owens
If one man can be said to have saved the Philadelphia Phillies franchise, that man is Paul Owens.
Owens was a career minor leaguer who worked his way through various lower-level positions in the Phillies’ front office, eventually leading to his appointment as director of the farm system. Midway through a 1972 season in which the Phillies went 59-97 – their worst record since 1945 – he was named general manager.
A few weeks later Owens daringly appointed himself as field manager, saying he needed to do so in order to properly evaluate the team’s talent. He stepped down from his field duties at season’s end.
Under Owens’ guidance, the Phillies improved quickly and steadily. In 1974 they were 80-82, rising to 86 wins in 1975 and a 101-win division title in 1976.
From 1976 through 1983, the Phillies were probably the National League’s most consistent winners. They won the NL East five times, ran up a .559 winning percentage for those eight seasons, won the century-old franchise’s first World Series in 1980, and returned to the Series in 1983, losing to Baltimore.
The 1976 and 1977 teams Owens constructed remain today the franchise’s only two 100-game winners.
In the middle of the 1983 season, with the Phillies lingering at .500, Owens again fired his manager and appointed himself to take over. The Phils won 47 of their final 77 games and eliminated the Dodgers in a four-game NLCS to advance to the Series.
His team’s six playoff appearances in eight seasons remains a franchise record for success over that period of seasons.
Like Soden a century earlier, Owens has never gotten a whiff of Hall of Fame support.