Owens' entire Major League career was spent with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was the general manager and principal architect of the 1980 Phillies, who won the third National League pennant and became the first World Series champion in franchise history — breaking a 97-year streak of futility dating to the team's founding in. Owens was general manager of the Phillies from June 3,, through the end of, and twice added the title of field manager to his job description. In, he took the managerial reins of the Phillies in mid-season and led them to their fourth pennant, but lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series.
Playing career
Nicknamed "The Pope" because of his resemblance to Pope Paul VI, Owens was born in Salamanca, New York, and attended St. Bonaventure University. Owens' professional playing career began in 1951 at the relatively advanced age of 27. Prior to 1951, Owens had spent the first several years of his baseball career with the Salamanca Merchants in what was then the Suburban League, the localTown Team Baseball circuit. Owens played exclusively at the lower ends of the minor leagues, with his active career largely centered in his native western New York. A first baseman who batted and threw right-handed, he twice batted.407 with the Olean Oilers of the Class DPONY League and set a league record by hitting safely in 38 consecutive games in 1951. During his relatively brief playing career, Owens compiled a lifetime average of.374.
Managerial and front office career
In 1955, Owens was named Olean's playing manager; the following year, the Oilers became a Phillies' affiliate and Owens moved into their organization. In 1958–59, he managed Class CBakersfield of the California League. In 1960 he became a scout, and, in, director of the entire Philadelphia farm system. On June 3, 1972, he replaced John Quinn as the Phillies' general manager. Then, five weeks later, on July 10, Owens fired manager Frank Lucchesi and assumed that job as well, to get a closer look at the last-place Phillies' on-field struggles. He then returned to the front office and proceeded to turn the Phils into pennant contenders within three seasons. His farm system, one of the most productive in the game at the time, bore fruit—yielding players such as Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa and Dick Ruthven. In addition, Owens aggressively swung trades to add missing pieces such as relief pitcherTug McGraw and outfielders Garry Maddox and Bake McBride. The Phils won the NL East in ––—each time falling short in the National League Championship Series.
Owens thought he added the final piece in when he signed free agentPete Rose, but the Phils stumbled and finished fourth. In 1980, under manager Dallas Green, the Phillies beat Houston in an intense NLCS and then defeated the Kansas City Royals for the team's first world championship. On July 18,, Owens again decided to don a uniform and run the Phillies from the dugout as well as from the front office. He fired manager Pat Corrales—even though Philadelphia was in first place at the time, albeit just one game over.500—and led the club to 47 wins in 77 games. They then defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the NLCS to win the Phillies' fourth pennant. During the World Series, the Phils lost to Baltimore in five games. Owens returned to managing in, but the results were disappointing. The Phillies played only.500 ball and finished fourth, 15½ games behind the division champ Chicago Cubs.
Life-long Phillie
Owens was relieved of both his GM and managing jobs during the off-season, but remained with the Phillies as a senior advisor and special scout until his death, in 2003, at age 79 in Woodbury, New Jersey. For the 2004 season, the Phillies wore a patch on their right shoulder featuring a banner reading "Pope" in honor of Owens, and a shamrock in honor of former relief pitcher Tug McGraw, who had also died that winter. His career managing record was 161–158.
