Podcast: Phillies GM Sam Fuld talks about New Hampshire roots

Durham, N.H., native Sam Fuld has been the Philadelphia Phillies GM since 2020. (Getty Images)

The latest guest on The Base Path Podcast is a New Hampshire native who is now the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies — Phillips Exeter alumnus Sam Fuld.

Fuld, a 42-year-old Durham, N.H. native, was the catalyst for one of the top prep school teams in New England history, the 1999 Phillips Exeter team. He went on to continue his baseball career at Stanford before having a 10-year career in professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Oakland Athletics.

After accepting the Philadelphia GM position in 2020, Fuld led the Phils to the Word Series in 2022 and the National League Championship Series in 2023.

Fuld has twice been a candidate to return to New England as a part of the Boston Red Sox organization. He interviewed for the manager vacancy in 2020 when the Red Sox eventually hired Alex Cora. This past offseason, he was a top candidate for the head of baseball operations vacancy after Chaim Bloom was fired, but Fuld declined an interview request.

“The managerial opportunity was three years ago, when there was some uncertainty in the Phillies organization,” Fuld said. “(Dave Dombrowski) had not yet come aboard. There’s certainly an appeal geographically to me that Boston provides; my parents are still in Durham, N.H., in the house that I grew up in. That felt like an opportunity, given the circumstances, that was too good to pass up. It was a great process for me to go through to the very end. I’m glad I got that opportunity.

“This offseason was a totally different circumstance. I’ve really laid down roots here in Philadelphia. I love the direction that we’re headed. I love the people that I get to work with, and I love the role I’m in. Certainly, if you had told a 10-year-old me that I’d be turning down an opportunity like that, I probably would have said you’re crazy. I think it speaks to the situation that I’m in here, both professionally and personally. My family and I love being Philadelphians.”

Fuld’s playing career exceeded even his own expectations, as the 5-foot-9 outfielder always hoped to log one big league at-bat. He appeared in 598 career games in the big leagues while tallying 308 hits and 12 home runs.

“My goal as a kid was to just try to play at the highest level,” Fuld said. “To be honest with you, I certainly exceeded any expectations I had as a kid. I always felt like I was a bit of an underdog, coming from not exactly a baseball hotbed of Durham, New Hampshire. Knowing that I was going to be undersized and having some odds stacked against me, I think, gave me some good perspective on the odds of reaching the highest level.”

Listen to the entire podcast with Sam Fuld.

The New England Baseball Journal podcast is brought to you by the University of Nebraska High School.

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