NEW YORK, NY – MAY 15: Joe Girardi #28 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout in the second inning against the New York Mets on May 15, 2014 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Yankees defeated the Mets 1-0. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
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The Philadelphia Phillies have undergone significant changes since the conclusion of the 2025 season, from a managerial shakeup to another trade deadline searching for answers. But next month, one familiar face from both Phillies and New York Yankees history will be back at Citizens Bank Park in a different capacity.
Although his tenure in Philadelphia ended before the club’s run to the World Series in 2022, Joe Girardi remains one of the most accomplished baseball figures to have managed both iconic franchises. Now, the former Yankees catcher and National League Manager of the Year is set to make a managerial return of sorts to the city where he last managed in the majors.
“Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced that former Phillies All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino and former Phillies manager Joe Girardi will serve as managers for Team East and Team West, respectively, at the 2026 Perfect Game DICK’S All-American Classic, taking place on Sunday, August 16, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa,” according to a press release sent to Forbes on Wednesday. “Girardi managed the Phillies from 2020-22 after previously leading the New York Yankees to a World Series championship in 2009. During his 15-year Major League playing career, Girardi was a three-time World Series champion and earned a reputation as one of the game’s premier defensive catchers.”
New York Yankees’ 4-Time Champion Joe Girardi Returns To Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park
Girardi’s appearance at Citizens Bank Park comes several years after his managerial stint with the Phillies ended, but it also arrives amid continued speculation that he could eventually return to a major league dugout.
“He’s open to managing again, a job he did for 14 seasons,” Scott Lauber reported for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He won a World Series in 2009 with the Yankees against the Phils, was the National League Manager of the Year in 2006 with the Marlins, and guided the Phillies for two-plus seasons before being fired early in the 2022 season.”
That resume includes four World Series championships overall — three as a catcher with the Yankees and another as New York’s manager in 2009 — cementing his legacy as one of the franchise’s most successful figures of the modern era.
Philadelphia Phillies Have Changed Since New York Yankees Legend Joe Girardi Left
Though Girardi brought a veteran presence to the Phillies’ dugout and helped the team navigate an uncertain period during the COVID epidemic, his tenure in Philadelphia did not see the same kind of success he enjoyed elsewhere. And the Phillies have been cycling through replacements with their own ties to the Yankees.
“The Phillies fell short again in 2021 before Girardi was fired in June of 2022 after a slow start,” Lauber added. “Rob Thomson, Girardi’s bench coach, took over and guided the Phillies to the World Series. The Phillies fired Thomson in April and replaced him with Don Mattingly.”
The organizational changes have continued, but Girardi’s upcoming managerial return to Citizens Bank Park offers fans another opportunity to see a former skipper whose career spans championship success in New York and a memorable, if ultimately brief, chapter in Philadelphia.
While the Perfect Game All-American Classic won’t mark a return to the major league dugout, it does place the former Yankees and Phillies manager back on one of baseball’s biggest stages. And with Girardi publicly expressing interest in managing again, it may not be the last time he’s seen in a professional baseball uniform.