Fregosi took a long sip from his coffee mug. He smiled at the craziness of it all.
Let's see, 10 years as a big-league manager adds up to how many cigarettes and how much caffeine? Three years of watching Mitch Williams's trapeze act equals how many sleepless nights?
"Sometimes it amazes me that so many people want these (managing) jobs," Fregosi said. "It ain't easy."
For Fregosi, this job is especially difficult because it takes him away
from his family. His wife, Joni, and children, Nicole, 4, and Robert, 2, stay home in Tarpon Springs, Fla., during the baseball season.
Rather than rent an apartment, the 51-year-old Fregosi lives alone in a hotel room not far from Veterans Stadium. He calls home twice, sometimes three times a day. He has a family portrait hanging on his office wall.
It can be a painfully lonely life, even for the manager of baseball's hottest team.
So Fregosi spends most of his time at the ballpark. When the Phillies have a night game, Fregosi is in his office by noon. While he waits for his coaches and players to arrive, he passes the time by answering his mail and watching afternoon ballgames on the clubhouse TV.
After each home game, Fregosi sits in his office for hours, relaxing with his stocking feet propped on the desk, talking with his coaches and players. He is almost always the last one to leave the clubhouse, sometimes hanging around until 1 or 2 a.m.
Then it is back to the hotel for room service and, if he is lucky, a West Coast game on TV.
"It's not such a bad deal," Fregosi said. "I've been in baseball for 30 years, so I'm used to living in hotel rooms. Besides, it's only for seven months. I'm back home the rest of the year.
"I didn't want to uproot my family when I took this job. They love it in Florida and my daughter is in dance school, all that stuff. The hardest part is being away from them.
