Manager of The 'Whiz Kids'
In 1944, Sawyer left the Yankees to join the Phillies' farm system. He managed the Utica Blue Sox of the Class A Eastern League from 1944–1947 and was in his first season with the Phils' top farm club, the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Triple-A International League, when he was promoted to replace Ben Chapman as the Phillies manager on July 26, 1948.
Concurrently, the Phillies were being transfused with young blood, bringing to the majors many of the players who would become the Whiz Kids: Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis, Granny Hamner, Willie Jones, Curt Simmons, Bubba Church and others. Sawyer, a patient man accustomed to working with young players, was an ideal choice to mold the Phillies into a cohesive outfit. He masterfully blended the youngsters with veterans such as Jim Konstanty, Dick Sisler, Andy Seminick and Eddie Waitkus.
In 1949, the Phillies enjoyed their first winning season since 1932, winning 81 games and finishing third. In 1950, with the NL pennant up for grabs — the 1949 champion Brooklyn Dodgers suffered from pitching troubles and the outbreak of the Korean War had disrupted major league rosters — the Phillies charged into the league lead, Despite a late-September tailspin, partially caused by the loss of Simmons to military service, they held off Brooklyn in the season's final game as Sisler's tenth-inning home run sealed a 4-1 victory. With 91 victories against 63 losses, the Phillies had won their first pennant since 1915. However, in the 1950 World Series they were no match for the Yankees, who swept them in four low-scoring games. After the season, Sawyer was named "manager of the year" in the Associated Press' poll of sports writers and sports casters.
The 1950 season would be Sawyer's last winning season as a manager. The 1951 Phillies lost 18 games from their previous year's standard and fell to fifth, and in 1952, with the team in sixth place and seven games below .500, Sawyer was replaced as skipper on June 27 by Steve O'Neill.
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Famous quotes containing the words manager of and/or manager:
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)