Glew: Thomson receives contract extension from Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.) has signed a one-year contract extension with the club through the 2025 campaign. Photo: Philadelphia Phillies/Twitter
December 5, 2023
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
After managing the Philadelphia Phillies to the National League Championship Series in back-to-back seasons, Rob Thomson has signed a one-year contract extension with the club through the 2025 campaign.
In 2023, the Corunna, Ont., native piloted the Phillies to a 90-72 regular season record and another National League Division Series victory over the Atlanta Braves before his club bowed out to the Arizona Diamondbacks in seven games in the NLCS.
This strong showing came on the heels of Thomson managing the Phillies to a National League pennant in 2022 before they lost to the Houston Astros in six games in the World Series.
The financial details of Thomson’s extension were not disclosed, but his contract had been set to expire after the 2024 season.
According to the MLB Network, Thomson, who turned 60 in August, is only the second big league manager (to Mike Matheny with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012-13) to have guided a team to a League Championship Series in each of their first two seasons.
Earlier in 2023, he became the first Canadian to manage in the All-Star Game and the first to earn a win when the National League defeated the American League 3-2 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Born in 1963 in Sarnia, Ont., Thomson grew up in nearby Corunna. A standout player for the Intercounty Baseball League’s Stratford Hillers in the early ’80s, Thomson was recruited by Dick Groch, later a famous New York Yankees scout, to play for St. Clair Community College. He suited up there for one year before transferring to the University of Kansas.
In 1984, Thomson was part of the Canadian squad that competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when baseball was a demonstration sport. The following year, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 32nd round of the MLB draft.
The Canuck catcher/third baseman would advance as high as the class-A level before shifting his focus to coaching in 1988. He served as a minor league coach in the Tigers’ system for two seasons before joining the New York Yankees in 1990. Over the next 28 seasons, the hard-working Canadian evolved into one of the most respected coaches in the professional ranks. After serving in several capacities in the Bombers’ organization, including minor league coach, manager, field coordinator and director of player development, he joined the Yankees’ big league staff as a special assignment instructor in 2004.
Four years later, he was hired as Yankees bench coach and that season, he managed three games in Joe Girardi’s absence to become the first Canadian to manage a major league contest since George Gibson (London, Ont.) with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934.
From 2009 to 2014, Thomson was the Yankees’ third base coach, and he played an important role on the Bombers’ 2009 World Series-winning club. He returned to the bench coach role in 2015 and worked in that capacity through 2017. Thomson had also organized spring training for the Yankees since 1998 and secured five World Series rings during his lengthy tenure with the franchise.'
In December 2017, Thomson was hired by the Phillies to be their bench coach and on June 3, 2022, he replaced Joe Girardi as the team’s manager. With that, he became the first full-time Canadian big league manager since Gibson with the Pirates in 1934.
For his efforts, Thomson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. In November, he was inducted into the Baseball Ontario Hall of Fame.