Four months ago, Ed Wade got the call to the Wall.
The former Philadelphia Phillies general manager, retired from a 42 year-career in professional baseball, was enjoying his time providing “limo service” for his grandchildren and serving with the Knights of Columbus in Mary, Mother of Mercy Parish, Glassboro.
He was picking up sticks in his backyard one afternoon when he decided to go inside and check his phone. He noticed a new e-mail from John Middleton, Phillies’ managing partner. The message: Wade would be inducted into the Phillies’ Wall of Fame on Aug. 1, along with shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
The two would join Phillies luminaries such as Robin Roberts, Mike Schmidt, Roy Halladay and Charlie Manuel in being immortalized in the Left Field Plaza of Citizens Bank Park, behind the scoreboard.
In a press release announcing the inductions, Middleton noted Wade’s “game-changing” contributions, developing “most of our core players from the teams that won five straight NL East championship titles from 2007 to 2011, including the 2008 World Series champions.”
In disbelief upon hearing the news, Wade recalled that he “brought the phone into the other room where [wife] Roxanne was, and I started to cry.”
“This was something I never even dreamed of.”
‘Get Good and Stay Good’
Born in Carbondale, Pa., 150 miles from Philadelphia, Wade grew up in a Catholic household and attended Catholic schools. He was – literally – surrounded by religion, he explained.
“If you stood on the front porch of our house, to the right was Saint Rose of Lima elementary school, and the convent right behind it. If you looked to the left, there was Saint Rose of Lima Church, and the rectory,” he recalled, noting that he was an altar boy for Sunday Masses.
Wade attended Temple University, graduating in 1977 with a degree in journalism. Growing up with a dream to play centerfield for the New York Yankees, he played baseball for the Temple Owls for his first two and a half years of college before leaving the diamond to focus on being a sportswriter.
As a college student, he interned with several Pennsylvania media outlets: the Scranton Times, Williamsport Sun-Gazette, the Philadelphia Bulletin and the Philadelphia Bureau of the Associated Press. He also had an internship with the Phillies’ Public Relations Department, starting in February 1977, the day after his 21st birthday.
In addition to responding to fan mail and printing out press releases, he had two memorable encounters: sharing his space with Dave Raymond, the first friend of the beloved Phillie Phanatic, and meeting Roxanne Fanfrillo, a young woman who was part of the team’s Hot Pants Patrol.
Last January, he and Roxanne celebrated 44 years of marriage.
Later in 1977, Wade was hired as a public relations assistant with the Houston Astros, later becoming the team’s public relations director. From 1981 to 1986, he was public relations director for the Pittsburgh Pirates; he moved on to a consulting service firm that worked with baseball teams.
In 1989, he rejoined the Phillies as assistant to the general manager, Lee Thomas. In 1995, Wade was promoted to assistant general manager, and in 1998 he became general manager, responsible for decisions on the ballclub roster and front office/coaching personnel.
Under his leadership, with a pledge to “Get Good and Stay Good,” the team developed and signed key players such as Rollins, Jim Thome, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Billy Wagner. He also hired Charlie Manuel, the Phillies’ winningest manager.
During his tenure, Wade stressed consistency at all levels – coaches, managers, trainers, instructors, scouts – in evaluating and developing talent. “That was the thing I did best, having everybody on the same wavelength, and listening to the people, the scouts who were actually seeing the players,” he said.
After being dismissed from the team in 2005, he became a scout with the San Diego Padres. He returned to the Astros in 2007 as general manager, but his fingerprints remained in Philadelphia.
Moments after the Phillies won the Commissioners’ Trophy in 2008, Pat Gillick, then-general manager who replaced Wade, acknowledged his predecessor and called the Phillies “Ed Wade’s team.”
Of Gillick’s comment, Wade said, “for a guy of his stature, a Hall of Fame general manager, to make that kind of remark – giving credit to me – I thought that would be the apex of any kind of pat on the back.”
Until Middleton’s e-mail and Aug. 1.
‘God’s Shining Light’
On that Friday evening, before the Phillies’ home game against the Detroit Tigers, Wade was presented with a ring and jacket, and a plaque was unveiled. He thanked his family for their love, support and patience, and the fans, “the people I really work for.” Wade also was grateful for those who helped him along the way – from the public relations personnel in his intern days, to the scouts and coaches while he was a general manager.
“This honor is the work of all the people over the course of a very long career who were always there to support, have ideas and initiate what we were trying to do,” he said.
Wade returned to the Phillies as a scout in 2011, where he remained until retiring after the 2017 season.
Today, he spends his time with his wife, three children and four grandchildren. He serves as chancellor for the Knights of Columbus Pitman Council 627. He also has been a presenter at the annual ManUp South Jersey Spirituality Conference in the Diocese of Camden, encouraging men to “see God’s shining light” in their own lives.
In recalling his accomplishments, Wade sees a heavenly hand. “There had to have been someone shining down on me.”
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