Once batboy, Amaro now Phillies’ GM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — With the enviable task of repeating as World Series champions ahead of them, the Phillies turned to a former bat boy to take over as their general manager.

Ruben Amaro Jr. signed a three-year contract Monday to become general manager of the Phillies a quarter-century after he was handing lumber to Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton as a starry-eyed teenager.

Amaro just completed his 10th season as assistant Phillies GM and replaces the retiring Pat Gillick, who will remain with the team as an adviser.

The team announced the move five days after beating the Tampa Bay Rays its second title in franchise history.

“Pat, you’ve made it a little tough for me, a tough act to follow,” Amaro told Gillick at a news conference.

The 43-year-old Amaro, whose father Ruben Amaro Sr. was a Phillies shortstop from 1960-65 and first base coach for the club, recalled being around Schmidt, reliever Tug McGraw and shortstop Larry Bowa as a bat boy from 1980-83 — in 1980 the Phillies won the only other championship in their 126-year history.

He later spent parts of eight seasons as a major league player, including a stint with the 1993 Phillies team that lost to Toronto in the World Series.