When the Mets and Phillies come to Turner Field next season, they'll be under the leadership new managers.

The New York Mets are bringing Willie Randolph across town from the Bronx to be their 18th manager.

Philadelphia reached into their own organization to name their manager, former Cleveland Indians' skipper, Charlie Manuel.

The selection of Manuel is embraced by former Minnesota Twins manager Cal Ermer. Manuel once coached under Ermer - former Lookouts' manager, now a scout with the Twins. Ermer points out that Manuel was instrumental in the development of Jim Thome in Cleveland. Thome and Manuel formed a special bond when the new Phils manager served as the Indians hitting coach before taking over as manager in Cleveland in 2000.

Willie Randolph

The Mets have scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference today (Thursday) at which it will formally announce the hiring of Randolph, who served as the bench coach for the New York Yankees this past season under Joe Torre.

Randolph spent eleven years overall on Torre's staff and has accumulated six World Series rings over his playing and coaching career.

The 50-year-old former second baseman spent the bulk of his playing days with the Yankees, but also played with the Mets in 1992, his final season as a player.

Randolph beat out Texas hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo and former Astros and Angels skipper Terry Collins after all three interviewed for a second time Tuesday with Mets GM Omar Minaya. Neither Randolph or Jaramillo has any managerial experience in the majors.

Randolph will be the first African-American manager in New York history alongside baseball's only Hispanic GM, Omar Minaya.

After breaking into the league with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1975, Randolph compiled a .276 career average with 54 home runs, 1239 runs scored, 687 RBI and 271 stolen bases in 2202 games.

Charlie Manuel

The Philadelphia Phillies will introduce Charlie Manuel as their 50th manager today (Thursday). The 60-year-old Manuel was one of eight candidates interviewed for the job.

Jim Leyland, who owns a World Series ring, Don Baylor, Buddy Bell, former Phillies manager Jim Fregosi, Terry Pendleton, Grady Little and John Russell also met with general manager Ed Wade, who decided to go with Manuel.

Manuel is known as a laid-back type of manager, a sharp contrast to previous manager Larry Bowa. He is also familiar with the Phillies after serving as a special assistant to Wade since 2003, the same year first baseman Jim Thome signed with the team.

In 2 1/2 seasons as manager of the Indians, Manuel was 220-190, but never won a postseason series.

Manuel, who played in the majors for Minnesota and Los Angeles from 1969-75, takes over one of sports losingest franchises. The Phillies have won just one world championship since joining the National League in 1883 and have not reached the postseason since falling to the Blue Jays in the 1993 World Series. The team has played well below the .500 mark (8,584 - 9,711) all-time in the regular season.

The Phillies finished the season at 86-76, but were a disappointing 10 games behind the Braves in the NL East. Bowa was fired with two games left in the 2004 season, ending his four-year run as the team's skipper.

Philadelphia moved into a new ballpark this season and was picked by many to end Atlanta's divisional title run. The Phillies held a one-game lead over the Braves at the All-Star break, but Atlanta got hot in August and Philadelphia suffered through a seven-game losing streak during the middle of the month and never recovered.
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Adapted from articles on the Sports Network website.

Jim Thome, waiting to hit this past summer at Turner Field, is likely to welcome the selection of his former mentor at Cleveland. Click to enlarge photo.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt