Fitz to Philly

The Philadelphia Phillies' brand-new owner Bill Cox (TIME, July 5) last week fired one manager and hired another. Observers were far from certain why he dumped the successful 46-year-old boy wonder "Bucky" Harris for the barrel-chested old Brooklynite Freddy Fitzsimmons. But they were dead sure that he had done it badly.

The newspapers knew Harris had been fired before Harris found out about it. Twenty-four Phillies got up a strike petition demanded that Cox reinstate Harris--so that Harris could quit before he was fired. Cox apologized saying that the bounce had not reflected on Harris' "ability as a baseball manager." Harris very decently told his ex-players to do it for Fitz. They did, breaking the eleven-game winning streak (longest in either league) of the world champion St. Louis Cards.

While the shouting died, the mystery remained (the seventh-place Phillies under Harris--his first year--had already won 39 games, had won only 42 all last year). Sour rumor said that Brooklyn's Branch Rickey was really running Philadelphia's Bill Cox, that Rickey was lining up Bucky Harris against a day when Rickey could get rid of Brooklyn's noisy manager Leo Durocher.

FFF Is FFFF. One thing was certain. Bucky Harris might be a loss to the Phillies but any team with do-or-die Fat Freddy Fitzsimmons as manager will not be a pushover. A product of the late John J. McGraw's careful supervision, Fitz has fooled the sportswriters, who kept saying he was through, every year since 1935. Each season--as his big-league total rose to 18--knuckle-baller Fitz rocked into his half-spin, his "butterfly" ball fluttered, cajoled and deceived .300 hitters. An easygoing storehouse of baseball knowledge, Fitz should be an immeasurable asset to the Phillies' personnel.

His popularity reached unexampled heights in 1940 when, on a special "F/3 night" celebrating his 200 victories, he received, among other gifts, an automobile, a radio, a rifle, a set of pipes, several valises and banks of flowers from Brooklyn admirers and sportswriters. Brooklyn fans hailed him as a 4F--First Family of Flatbush Fellow.

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