Bill Conlin: Sandberg back where he belongs with Phillies

NEARLY 29 YEARS after one of the biggest heists in major league baseball history, Ryne Sandberg has returned to the scene of the crime.

Or at least to the Phillies' payroll . . .

The first-ballot Hall of Famer, who had both 40 home-run and 50 stolen-base seasons, a 10-time National League All-Star with nine Gold Gloves and seven Silver Slugger awards, will manage the Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs next season.

That would seem to move the 2010 Pacific Coast League manager of the year into the on-deck circle as Charlie Manuel's eventual replacement.

The man considered by many baseball men to be the greatest second baseman of the modern era appeared to be the logical successor to resigned Cubs manager Lou Piniella. New owner Tom Ricketts - rhymes with tickets - permitted general manager Jim Hendry to give the job to interim skipper Mike Quade. Quade does not rhyme with "cheaper," but you get the idea.

The Phillies are the winners here, big time. The Sandberg hire came a day after Ricketts outraged the population of Illinois by asking for $300 million in state funds to rehab Wrigley Field. Or else, what?

Well, Ricketts has hinted that a bolt to the suburbs could be an option. Schaumburg Cubs? Quade, by the way, never played higher than Double A, which puts him in perfect position to emulate the managing careers of Walter Alston, Earl Weaver and Jim Leyland, to name a few men with more World Series rings than big-league at-bats.

Paul Owens was the Phillies' GM during the turbulence that followed the 1981 sale of the ballclub by the Carpenter family to the Bill Giles group. Manager Dallas Green dropped a bomb the day the Phillies were eliminated by the Expos in a division series created by a 50-day players strike. Green announced he had accepted a job as Cubs' GM.

He had asked Giles for a promotion from field manager to GM, with Owens holding the title of president and Giles atop the masthead as owner and CEO. Giles turned Green down. Bill soon assumed most of the GM responsibilities while chairing a front-office committee I christened the "Gang of Six."

Meanwhile, Giles faced his first offseason at the helm. It didn't take long for a crisis to emerge. Veteran shortstop Larry Bowa became embroiled in a rancorous contract dispute with Giles. Bowa charged publicly that the new owner had reneged on a handshake extension agreement. Giles said he had not agreed to anything. Bowa called his new boss, "a bleeping liar." Giles instructed Owens to trade him.