"The game's in Charlottesville - 45, 50 miles from Buena Vista. But he insisted on playing. He went to the funeral in the morning and he made it to the ballgame that afternoon. He not only made it - he hit a big home run.
"And after he hit it," Kurtz said, "you want to know what he said to me? He said, 'I did that for my dad but, more important, I did it for my mother.' "
His mother, June Manuel, died yesterday at the age of 87. Manuel worked as usual, managing the Phillies to an 8-5 win in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Last Sunday, sitting in his office at Miller Park in Milwaukee after the Phillies clinched the NL Division Series, Manuel looked down at his vibrating cell phone. "It's my mother," he said. "I'll call her back in a minute."
On Tuesday, she suffered a heart attack. Yesterday, just hours before the game, Manuel received the word that she had died. That he stayed to do his job surprised no one who knew him. That he will deal with this in his own way and likely leave everyone feeling that they have not been shortchanged is also the operating assumption - because that is just the man's personality. Oh, and his history.
"He was not only a loving son for his mother," Kurtz said. "He was also her protector. I'll never forget when he signed his first professional contract with the Minnesota Twins and he got the bonus check. I took him down to the bank and he put half of the money in his checking account and half of the money in his mother's account. That was the relationship. He protected her.
"They are a large family, 11 children. They have stuck together. Charlie assumed the role when his father died. Charlie stepped up to the plate there. He assumed the leadership role. He knew what he had to do."
