{"id":508,"date":"2026-05-16T23:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-05-16T23:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:03:20","slug":"a-day-off-for-phillies-manager-don-mattingly-allows-dusty-and-john-wathan-to-join-a-select-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"A day off for Phillies manager Don Mattingly allows Dusty and John Wathan to join a select club"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>PITTSBURGH \u2014 Dusty Wathan arrived at PNC Park on Saturday thinking about how to help the Phillies get back to .500 for the first time in over a month and not much else, not even the exclusive club he joined simply by showing up for work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=506\">Maggie Flaherty\u2019s goal in overtime gives Victoire commanding 2-0 lead over Charge in WPHL final<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The longtime Phillies coach filled in as manager for the middle game of Philadelphia\u2019s weekend visit to Pittsburgh while Don Mattingly attended his son Trevor\u2019s graduation from Purdue University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When Wathan headed out to home plate to exchange lineup cards before the first pitch, he and his father, John, joined a select group of fathers and sons who have both managed in the majors.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty neat thing,\u201d Wathan said in his typically understated manner before the game. \u201cI mean, obviously not what I expected to be doing here. . . . But it\u2019s about the players.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s something he learned while growing up watching his dad win a World Series ring during a decade-long career catching for the Royals. John Wathan went into coaching after retiring after the 1985 season, posting a 326-320 record while managing the Royals and the Angels between 1987 and 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Dusty\u2019s baseball journey has been decidedly lower-profile. He played over 900 games in the minors \u2014 as a catcher, naturally \u2014 and made a handful of appearances in the majors for the Royals in 2002. He retired in 2007 and immediately went into coaching, managing at every level of Philadelphia\u2019s farm system before joining the Phillies as a third base coach in late 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Don Mattingly settles into unexpected role as an interim manager, and the Phillies are better for having him<\/div>\n<p><span>All things being equal, Wathan was just fine at third base, only shifting to the dugout when the Phillies fired Rob Thomson and Mattingly asked Wathan to join him on the bench.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI tell everybody [coaching third] is the closest thing to playing when you\u2019re done playing,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s a lot of fun out there. You can impact the game in the middle of the game as opposed to strategically before the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Don\u2019t get Wathan wrong. He enjoys his new role. It also gets him out of going out and occasionally warming up the pitchers, a side gig that he joked he\u2019s moving on from because at 52 his eyes aren\u2019t as great as they used to be and he\u2019s \u201cstarting to get a little scared out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wathan misses being at third, but added he\u2019s \u201cin a good spot\u201d as he tries to help Mattingly navigate the Phillies out of an early season malaise that cost the popular Thomson his job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=504\">Pingree boys\u2019 lacrosse emerges from defensive battle with back-to-back NESLL championships<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A CAREER-HIGH 13 STRIKEOUTS FOR CRISTOPHER S\u00c1NCHEZ! pic.twitter.com\/dbG0otlQ1G<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 16, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Philadelphia has responded to the change. The Phillies are 14-4 since Mattingly took over following a 13-strikeout complete game from Cristopher S\u00e1nchez in a 6-0 win on Saturday afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Though Philadelphia is surging, Mattingly knew he couldn\u2019t afford to miss his son receiving a PhD in engineering. Mattingly\u2019s baseball schedule meant he missed Taylor\u2019s undergraduate and postgraduate ceremonies. The one scheduled for Saturday would be Mattingly\u2019s last shot, so he approached Wathan with the idea of filling in a week or so ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wathan \u2014 the winningest manager in the history of Philadelphia\u2019s Double-A affiliate in Reading, Pa. \u2014 shrugged and said sure. His preparation when he arrived at the ballpark wasn\u2019t much different than any other day, and he made a point to redirect the conversation toward the players whenever possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, it\u2019s not every day you join the likes of Bob and Aaron Boone, Buddy and David Bell, and Felipe Alou and Luis Rojas as fathers and sons who have managed in the majors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Wathans talked about it a few days ago and texted about it, but nobody flew in for the occasion. It was just another day at work. Besides, Mattingly will be back on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Trevor Story placed on 10-day injured list with sports hernia<\/div>\n<p><span>Asked if his mind ever drifts to thinking about what it would be like to be a full-time manager in the majors, Wathan shrugs. He went through the interview process for a couple of job openings. It didn\u2019t work out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI don\u2019t think you can worry about that stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cStuff happens for a reason, and you\u2019re in the right place at the right time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The right place for Wathan on Saturday was in the manager\u2019s seat. The right place on Sunday will be back in his usual spot at Mattingly\u2019s side. Regardless of where he sits, the goal is the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s not about me at all,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get wins. We\u2019re just trying to stack wins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=502\">No shoes, no problem: Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol buys tickets for fans to recreate shirtless revelry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dusty Wathan stepped in on Saturday to manage the Phillies on Saturday and with his father John became the fourth father and son tandem to manage in the majors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A day off for Phillies manager Don Mattingly allows Dusty and John Wathan to join a select club - 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