Former Phillies part-owner, team president, and general manager Bill Giles passed away on Friday at age 92.  Giles has served as the honorary president of the National League since 2001, but is best remembered for his long association with the Phillies.

“Bill was the heart and soul of the organization for over two decades,” Phillies legend Mike Schmidt said in a statement.  “He was a close personal friend to so many of us.  He will always be a big part of Phillies history.  Prayers go to the Giles family in this time of mourning.”

Giles’ father Warren was also president of the NL from from 1951-69, and a former GM and team president of the Reds (Warren Giles’ legacy carries on today since the Warren Giles Trophy is awarded to the winner of the NLCS).  The younger Giles followed in his father’s footsteps in the Reds organization before moving onto the expansion Houston Colt .45s — now the Astros — in 1962 as the new franchise’s traveling secretary and publicist.

That latter role was an underlying part of Giles’ career, as he was known for spearheading countless creative promotions to bring fans to the ballpark.  The most enduring of Giles’ fan-friendly ideas came after he was hired as the Phillies’ VP of business operations in 1969, as about a decade into his tenure, Giles helped conceive of the Phillie Phanatic.  Longtime broadcaster Harry Kalas was also hired away from Houston by Giles in 1971.

Of course, nothing attracts fans like a winning team, and the Phillies finally started to deliver some consistent on-field success in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.  The era was highlighted by the franchise’s first World Series title in 1980, and MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes that Giles played a key role in bringing Pete Rose to that championship roster.  Rose signed with the Phillies on a four-year, $3.2MM free agent deal prior to the 1979 campaign, with Giles convincing local outlet WPHL-TV to spend an extra $200K in broadcast rights to help the team afford Rose’s contract.  As per Zolecki, Giles also helped lure Rose to Philadelphia by appealing to Rose’s “ego and sense of history,” as Giles observed that signing with an AL team would hurt Rose’s chances of being the NL’s all-time leader in hits and other statistical categories.

Already a major voice in the organization, Giles was part of an ownership group that bought the Phillies in 1981, and he became the team president that year.  Giles continued in this role until 1997, and he was also the Phillies’ general manager from 1984-87.  After David Montgomery became team president in 1997, Giles was later named the Phillies’ chairman, and chairman emeritus in 2015.  Giles also helped the Phillies’ push for a new baseball-only ballpark, resulting in the opening of Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Giles’ family, friends, and loved ones.