USATSI_12958459 — © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Thomson's Path to Phillies Interim Manager

Philadelphia Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson is not the most famous name in baseball, but he has been working in the sport for nearly forty years.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Jun 3, 2022 5:30 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

Rob Thomson has been named interim manager of the Philadelphia Phillies following the mid-season firing of former manager Joe Girardi.

While Thomson has been with the Phillies for more than four years now – and has been working in baseball for nearly four decades – he's not exactly a famous name. With that in mind, here is a brief overview of Thomson's career in baseball, so Phillies fans can learn a little more about the man who will be running this ball club for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Rob Thomson's Brief Playing Career

Thomson was drafted out of the University of Kansas in 1985. As 32nd-round pick, expectations were not exactly high, and his playing career did not last very long. While he played parts of four seasons in the Detroit Tigers minor league system, Thomson never made it past Class A.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of Thomson's playing career came while he was still an amateur. In 1994, he competed with Team Canada in the Summer Olympics.

Baseball was a "demonstration sport" that year, meaning it was played more like an exhibition and no medals were awarded, but nevertheless, Thomson got to play high level, competitive baseball on the world stage in Dodger Stadium.

Canada did not make it past the preliminary round of the tournament, but they did win one game against Japan, and it was considered quite the upset. Japan would go on to win the tournament.

Thomson and Girardi

While Thomson has been Girardi's right-hand man for many years now, Thomson actually preceded Girardi in both New York and Philadelphia.

Thomson first joined the Yankees organization as a coach in 1990, six years before Girardi became the starting catcher in New York. Thomson worked as a minor league coach for eight years before taking a front office role with the organization.

After serving various roles for the Yankees front office and MLB squad, eventually earning the title of Major League field coordinator, Thomson would receive his first significant MLB coaching position in September 2006, when he briefly filled in for first base coach Tony Peña, who was away on bereavement.

Just a few days later, Girardi was fired by the Florida Marlins just one season after taking the manager job (despite winning the 2006 NL Manager of the Year Award shortly thereafter), and the rest, as they say, is history. Well, for the Yankees anyway.

Girardi became manager of the New York Yankees in October 2007, and a few weeks after that he would name Rob Thomson his new bench coach. Thomson remained on the Yankees' staff throughout Girardi's entire tenure with the club, working as both a bench coach and a third base coach.

Rob Thomson argues with umpires during his tenure as New York Yankees bench coach.
© Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

In 2017, after the Yankees elected not to renew Girardi's contract, Thomson's tenure with the organization finally came to a close. He had been working for New York in some capacity for close to twenty-seven years (that's an important number in New York, I hear).

Thomson Joins the Phillies

Thomson was named Phillies bench coach in 2018, joining the all-new coaching staff put together by rookie manager Gabe Kapler. At the time, many thought Kapler and the Phillies had chosen Thomson because he was so experienced and well-liked around the league – in other words, he had a very different reputation than Kapler himself.

One anonymous report came out early in Kapler's tenure suggesting that Thomson was really the one pulling the strings. While many thought this report to be a gross exaggeration, it served as further proof that many people around the game trusted the experience Thomson over the naïve Kapler.

Though most of Kapler's original coaching staff is long gone (including pitching coach Rick Kranitz and hitting coach John Mallee), Thomson stuck around and was eventually reunited with his old pal Girardi. Just as he did in New York, Thomson worked as a coach throughout Girardi's entire tenure with Philadelphia.

Rob Thomson, Manager

Thomson has never officially held the title of Major League manager before, but that's not to say he has no managerial experience. He has filled in as manager on several occasions, both in New York and Philadelphia. He even managed most of a game for the Phillies just a few weeks ago, after Girardi was ejected in the second inning for arguing with umpire crew chief Bill Miller.

Phillies bench coach Rob Thomson filling in for Gabe Kapler against the New York Mets in 2019.
© Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Thomson also has experience working as a minor league manager, albeit from a very long time ago. In the 1990s, he spent one season as manager for the now defunct Oneonta Yankees.

The truth is, however, that a few games filling in for Girardi and one season managing in Class A ball is not the same as really managing a big league ball club. Thomson will surely be learning as he goes this season.

Thankfully, there may be no one better to learn on the job than Thomson. After more than thirty years of working in baseball, the Canadian-born Thomson surely knows a thing or two about America's favorite pastime.

It's time to see what he can do.