FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Philadelphia Phillies did this from 1976 to 1983: won the NL East five times, were in the expanded postseason in the strike year of 1981, won the franchise's first-ever World Series in 1980, and lost another in 1983.
The press box occupants covering the Phillies surrounding those glory years had an all-time great assignment in sportswriting. That's because they had irascible Paul Owens as general manager (and occasional manager), with the genial, candid Hugh Alexander as the right-hand man.
That was in the truest sense, since Alexander was missing his left hand after it was amputated (with a saw, after two shots of whiskey as an anesthetic) following an oil-drilling accident in Oklahoma in 1937.
Decades later, Owens was "The Pope," due to his facial resemblance to Pope Paul VI, and super-scout Alexander was "Uncle Hughie," due to his grand tale-telling.
Owens had a taste for liquor and had consumed a fair amount one night at the winter meetings. He agreed to trade much of the Phillies' rising talent to Detroit for Bill Freehan, a once-excellent, then aging catcher.
When Alexander heard this later, he told Owens it was a grievous mistake and the Phillies had to escape the deal. Uncle Hughie went at it directly, calling Jim Campbell, the Tigers general manager, and saying:
"That trade don't count. The Pope was drunk."
Chaim Bloom is a 36-year-old Yale graduate and Boston's general manager, dating to Oct. 28. Previously, he was a top executive with Tampa Bay, and we had a half-hour conversation at Tropicana Field in January 2019.
