Gillick, Amaro Added to Phillies Winter Banquet Guest List

Philadelphia Phillies Senior Advisor to the President/General Manager Pat Gillick and General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. will be joining the guest list for the 2015 Phillies Winter Banquet presented by the Reading Eagle at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Tuesday, January 20th at 6:30 p.m. In addition to Amaro and Gillick, Phillies Director of Player Development Joe Jordan and Assistant Director of Player Development Steve Noworyta have been added to the banquet, which will be emceed by Phillies radio play-by-play announcer Scott Franzke.

Other previously announced guests include manager Ryne Sandberg, reliever Ken Giles, and outfielders Ben Revere and Domonic Brown. The event will also feature the crowning of 2015 King of Baseballtown Kevin Devera, who is the Director of the Olivet RBI Baseball program.

Seating and table reservations for the annual event benefitting Baseballtown Charities are available now by calling 610-370-BALL, logging on Fightins.com, or by stopping by the Fightins Ticket Office located at FirstEnergy Stadium. Individual tickets for annual event cost $65 and table reservations of 10 people for the banquet cost $500. Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Gillick has been senior advisor to the president/general manager for seven seasons. Gillick previously served as the team's senior vice president and general manager from 2006 to 2008, building the Phillies into back-to-back National League Eastern Division Champions (2007-08) and 2008 World Champions. Gillick was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Expansion Committee on Dec 6, 2010 and inducted in 2011 with Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven. Prior to his time with the Phillies, Gillick also served as the general manager of the Blue Jays (1978-94), Orioles (1996-98), and Mariners (2000-03).

Amaro took over for Gillick as general manager and senior vice president of the Phillies in November of 2008. Under his tenure, the Phillies have won three NL East division titles, one NL pennant, and the best record in baseball in both 2010 and 2011 (97-65 and 102-60, respectively). Before 2010, the Phillies had never posted the best record over the course of a major league season. In his six-season tenure leading the Phillies, Amaro was named Executive of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association (PSWA). The Phillies were also honored as both the Team of the Year by the PSWA and Organization of the Year by Baseball America that same season.

Jordan is entering his fourth season as the director of player development with the Phillies after spending seven years as the director of scouting with the Baltimore Orioles. Among the players he selected with Baltimore were left-handed pitcher Brian Matusz, catcher Matt Wieters, and outfielder Nolan Reimold. A former minor leaguer with the San Francisco Giants, Jordan has also spent time in the majors as Midwest supervisor and national cross-checker with the Florida Marlins (2002-04) and as a scout and Midwest supervisor for the Montreal Expos (1997-2001).

Noworyta joined the Phillies on October 26, 1988 after 16 seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization. He oversees Phillies affiliates in the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, South Atlantic, Eastern, and International Leagues.

Franzke has been with the Phillies since the 2006 season, where he debuted as the pre- and post-game host for Phillies radio broadcasts and radio play-by-play in the middle innings. In 2007, he took over as the main play-by-play commentator for Phillies radio broadcasts, working with Larry Andersen. The duo won the Philadelphia A.I.R. (Achievement in Radio) Best Live Sports Event Coverage award in 2007 and 2008. He was also the winner of the 2010 Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year Award, given by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Proceeds from the event benefit Baseballtown Charities, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded to keep baseball alive in Reading through programs that honor the city's rich baseball history and secure its future by giving more kids the opportunity to play and learn from the game's life lessons. Since being founded in 2006, the organization constructed Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer's Park, a $900,000 youth ballpark that sits on the grounds of Lauer's Park Elementary, in 2006 and added $90,000 in renovations to Baer Park in 2013. 

The Fightin Phils will kick off their home schedule on Thursday, April 17th when the team hosts the Richmond Flying Squirrels at FirstEnergy Stadium. Season tickets, mini-plans, and group tickets for 2015 can be purchased online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person by visiting the Fightins Ticket Office at FirstEnergy Stadium.