PHILLIES FRANCHISE HISTORY
MILESTONES
First Game: Providence 4, Philadelphia 3 (May 1, 1883)
Cy Young Winners:
Steve Carlton, LH, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1982
John Denny, RH, 1983
Steve Bedrosian, RH, 1987
N.L. MVPS:
Chuck Klein, OF, 1932
Jim Konstanty, P, 1950
Mike Schmidt, 3B, 1980, 1981, 1986
Rookies of the Year:
Jack Sanford, P, 1957
Dick Allen, 3B, 1964
Scott Rolen, 3B, 1997
Retired Uniforms:
No. 1, Richie Ashburn, OF
No. 20, Mike Schmidt, 3B
No. 32, Steve Carlton, P
No. 36, Robin Roberts, P
League Champions:
1915, Lost to Red Sox
1950, Lost to Yankees
1980, Defeated Royals
1983, Lost to Orioles
1993, Lost to Blue Jays
World Series Champions: 1980, Kansas City, 6 games
THE STORY
It took the Phillies 32 years to win their first pennant and 97 to
win their first world championship. They have finished last in
their league or division 28 times—one season in four. In the
nine years from 1975 through 1983, though, they were one of
the most formidable teams in baseball.
Alfred J. Reach, a sporting goods entrepreneur and former
player, and Colonel John Rogers, a Philadelphia lawyer and
politician, organized the Phillies in 1883 to bring Philadelphia
back into the National League after a six-year absence. In their
first season, the Phillies won only 17 of 98 decisions to finish
an eighth-place last, as far out of seventh as the seventh-place
team was from first. As bad as the Phillies have sometimes
been since, their 1883 winning percentage of .173 remains their
very worst.
Reach hired the respected Harry Wright to manage the Phillies
in 1884, and while Wright failed to lead them to a pennant in
his 10 years at the helm, he did make them respectable. His
fourth-place 1886 team, in fact, compiled a winning percentage
of .623 that remained the club's best for 90 years. In 1887 the
Phillies, with three pitchers winning more than 20 games,
finished second, just 3˝ games behind Detroit—their closest
finish until their first pennant 28 years later.
The Phillies remained in the upper division 12 of the next 14
years. For the five years from 1891 through 1895 they fielded
an outfield of Ed Delahanty, Billy Hamilton, and Sam
Thompson—Hall of Famers who rank among the top hitters of
all time. In the three heavy-hitting seasons that followed the
lengthening of the pitching distance to its present
60-feet-6-inches in 1893, Delahanty, Hamilton, and
Thompson—with help from players like catcher Jack Clements
(.394 in 1895) and utility outfielder Tuck Turner (.416 in
1894)—sparked the Phillies to three team batting titles with
batting averages of over .300. In 1894 the big three joined
Turner in batting over .400 and the team hit .349—still the
major league club record.
In 1899, with Delahanty's .410 leading the way, the Phillies
once again topped .300 to lead the league. Though the team
finished third, they won 94 games, a club high they would not
surpass for 77 years. President Reach sold his interest in the
club after a dispute with co-owner Rogers, and Rogers lost star
second baseman Larry Lajoie in a salary dispute to the Athletics
(Philadelphia's new entry in the rival American League). But
the Phillies chased front-runner Pittsburgh through much of
1901. Though they slumped in August, they recovered to finish
second.
It was the end of an era. Delahanty deserted to the AL the next
season, and the Phillies dropped to seventh. Rogers sold the
club to a syndicate. By 1904 the team was in last place, losing
100 games for the first time.
They rose into the first division the next season, but didn't
mount a serious pennant run until 1911, when the pitching of
rookie Grover Cleveland Alexander kept them in the thick of
the race into midseason. Two years later they enjoyed first
place through most of June before fading to a distant second.
One-Two NL Sluggers
In 1915 Alexander brought his ERA down by more than a run
per game to a league and career best of 1.22, hurling 12
shutouts among his 31 wins. Right fielder Gavvy Cravath and
first baseman Fred Luderus finished one-two among NL
sluggers, and Cravath won home run and RBI crowns. For half
a season all eight clubs were in the thick of a tight race, with the
Cubs and Phillies at the top of the heap. But in July the Cubs
folded, and in August and September the Phillies took off to
outdistance the late-surging Boston Braves by seven games for
their first pennant.
The World Series was a Phillies heartbreak. Four of the five
games were decided by a single run—but the runs belonged to
the Boston Red Sox, who swept four after the Phillies had
taken the opener.
Alexander shut out a record-tying 16 opponents the following
year, winning a career-high 33, and teammate Eppa Rixey had
his first big year with 22 wins. Through most of the season, the
club trailed the leading Dodgers, but caught them in September,
only to fall away again in the final week.
After Alexander's 30 wins had brought the Phillies another
second-place finish in 1917, the club dealt him to Chicago and
embarked on 31 years of wandering in the desert. After 14
losing seasons (8 of them in last place), they climbed to fourth,
two games above .500, in 1932, but dropped back the next year
into the second division (including nine last-place finishes) for
16 more years.
Several outstanding players spent time in Philadelphia during
these years: Dave Bancroft (a rookie in their pennant season),
Cy Williams, Freddy Leach, Chuck Klein, Lefty O'Doul, and
Dick Bartell. Of these, only Williams and Klein retired as
Phillies. The financially strapped management traded away the
ohers at the height of their careers in deals that included cash
as well as players. Even Klein—perhaps the greatest of them
all—was sold twice before returning a third time to Philadelphia
to end his career.
The Phillies in 1930 produced a season that ranks among the
most extraordinary of all time. With Klein and O'Doul leading
the way at .386 and .383, every regular hit at least .280 to give
the Phillies a team batting average of .315. But Phillie pitchers
yielded a record 1199 runs while compiling the worst big league
ERA ever—6.71. The club lost 102 games and finished last.
Shibe Park
The Phillies' move in 1938 out of tiny, antiquated Baker Bowl
into the Athletics' Shibe Park did nothing for attendance—or
for performance, as the team strung together a club-record five
consecutive last-place finishes from 1938 to 1942, in which
they averaged 107 losses per season and finished between 43
and 62˝ games out of first.
In February 1943 the league took control of the debt-ridden
club and sold it to a group headed by New York sportsman
William D. Cox. Cox didn't last long; before the year was out
he was barred from baseball for betting on the Phillies. His
controlling interest was sold to Robert M. Carpenter, who
installed his son, Robert Jr., as president. The younger
Carpenter hired former pitcher Herb Pennock as general
manager with instructions to build a farm system, and a new
era began in the club's history.
Outfielder Del Ennis had come up to hit .313 in 1946, but
Pennock died (in January 1948) before he could see the full
fruits of his labor. First baseman Dick Sisler would be
purchased in March; rookie outfielder Richie Ashburn would
lead Phillie batters in 1948 with a .333 batting average. Willie
Jones wouldn't nail down third base for another year, and
rookie pitchers Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons wouldn't
overawe the opposition for a couple of seasons yet. But the
team that would be dubbed the "Whiz Kids" was gathering.
Triple A manager Eddie Sawyer was brought up in late July.
In 1949, the loss of first baseman Eddie Waitkus (shot in the
chest by a crazed fan) and midseason complacency threatened
to strand the Phillies in the second division. But Sawyer fired
up his players in a special team meeting, and the Phillies rallied
to finish third with the club's best record in 32 years.
With new red-pinstripe uniforms and a recovered Eddie
Waitkus, the 1950 Phillies pulled away from a tightly bunched
first division in July and August, but late in September fell to
within two games of onrushing Brooklyn. The Dodgers took
the first game of a season-ending two-game series to narrow the
gap to one. But in the finale the Phillies' Sisler homered to
break a tenth-inning tie. When Brooklyn failed to score in the
bottom of the tenth, the Whiz Kids had their pennant.
Curt Simmons, who was called up for military service in
September after winning 17 games, missed the World Series.
As in 1915, the result for Philadelphia was frustration and
heartbreak, as the Phillies were swept by the Yankees—in the
first three games by a single run.
Roberts's pitching kept the Phillies in the first division for four
of the next five years, but the team made no serious run at
another pennant. And when Roberts began to lose his
effectiveness the team sank farther, to fifth for two years, then
to four years in the cellar, culminating in 1961 with the longest
big league losing streak of the century: 23 games.
Mauch's Phillies
The club stuck with new manager Gene Mauch, and the 1962
Phillies edged above .500 for the first time in nine years
(though finishing seventh in a league newly expanded to 10
teams). In 1963 they moved up to fourth with a strong second
half. In 1964, with the acquisition of pitcher Jim Bunning from
Detroit and infielder Dick Allen's productive rookie season,
Mauch's Phillies moved way out in front in August. But they
blew their lead with 10 straight losses in late September while
Cincinnati was winning nine and St. Louis eight in a row. Only
victories in their final two games salvaged a second-place tie.
The Phillies produced winning seasons the next three years but
never challenged the leaders. With Mauch replaced as manager
during the 1968 campaign, the team embarked on seven straight
losing seasons, including three years at the bottom of the NL
East.
Pitcher Steve Carlton, acquired from St. Louis in an off-season
trade, accounted for nearly half the Phillies' 59 wins in 1972.
His 27 victories for the league's worst team gave the club a ray
of hope for the future and earned Carlton the Cy Young
Award. Carlton lost a league-high 20 games the next year, but
as he regained his form over the next three seasons, so too the
Phillies gradually rose to the top of the division.
In 1974 sophomore third baseman Mike Schmidt burst to the
forefront of the league's power hitters. The Phillies dropped out
of contention in August, but wound up third, their best finish
since the league split into divisions in 1969. The next year
outfielder Greg Luzinski joined Schmidt among the league's top
sluggers, and the club rose to second, with their first winning
season since 1967.
The Phillies had entered their golden age—nine straight winning
seasons (a club record), including five division titles, two
pennants, and their first world championship. In 1976 they
enjoyed their finest regular season ever. With Schmidt and
Luzinski providing the power, Carlton returning to the ranks of
20-game winners and Jim Lonborg climaxing a long comeback
with 18 wins, the Phillies took the division lead in May and
pulled away, recovering from a late-season dive to finish well
ahead of Pittsburgh. Their 101 wins,.623 winning percentage,
and nine-game margin of victory remain club records.
The Phillies were swept by Cincinnati in the LCS, but came
back the next season to duplicate their record 101 wins for
another comfortable first-place finish. Carlton won 23 (and his
second Cy Young Award), and Luzinski enjoyed the best
season of his career, driving in 130 runs. After defeating Los
Angeles in the NLCS opener, though, the Phillies lost the
pennant with three straight losses.
A Division Title
In 1978, even though Schmidt and Carlton had off years, the
Phillies led much of the season and captured the division title a
third straight time. But it was a tight race, and they barely
survived a late-season Pittsburgh surge to finish 1˝ games in
front. For the third time, their triumph in the East was followed
by defeat in the LCS—for the second time at the hands of Los
Angeles in four games.
Danny Ozark, in his seventh year as Phillies manager, was
replaced by Dallas Green late in a disappointing 1979 season
that saw the club stumble after a strong start before rallying in
September to finish fourth. But Schmidt was back in top form,
and Pete Rose had arrived via free agency to add his bat and
hustle.
In a three-way race in 1980 that remained close through
August, the Phillies hung tight without being able to move into
the lead. But as Pittsburgh folded in late August and early
September, the Phillies edged in front briefly, then battled back
and forth with Montreal. Tied with the Expos as the clubs met
in Montreal for the season's final three games, Philadelphia
took the first 2-1, then the second in 11 innings, to clinch their
fourth division title in five years. Schmidt, in perhaps his finest
season, drove in 121 runs and was named National League
MVP; Carlton, with 24 wins, won his third Cy Young Award;
and veteran reliever Tug McGraw enjoyed his best season in
years.
In an LCS in which four of the five games went into extra
innings, the Phillies prevailed over Houston, capturing their first
pennant since the Whiz Kids era 30 years earlier. And in the
World Series, fortune finally smiled on the team as they
overcame Kansas City in six games.
The Phillies won the first half of the strike-divided 1981
season. In the special intradivision playoff against Montreal,
Philadelphia fought back to tie the series after losing the first
two games, only to lose the finale.
The Carpenter family—citing the prohibitive cost of running a
major league club—sold the team. Manager Dallas Green also
left and was replaced by Pat Corrales, who kept the club in the
thick of the 1982 race until the final month, when the Phillies
slipped 3˝ games back, to second. And Steve Carlton did it
again: his 23 wins earned him a record fourth Cy Young
trophy.
Mike Schmidt again dominated the Phillies offense in 1983, but
Carlton yielded to John Denny as the team's pitching ace.
Newly acquired reliever Al Holland emerged as one of the
league's best. After General Manager Paul Owens took over for
Corrales as manager in midseason, the Phillies came alive and
took the division title by six games. Carlton dominated the LCS
with an 0.66 ERA and two wins as the Phillies won their fourth
pennant. But their golden age ended with the World Series,
when Baltimore triumphed in five games.
Fourth Place in 1984
The Phillies dropped to .500 and fourth place in 1984, and
suffered a losing fifth-place season in 1985. They rebounded to
second in 1986 (but 21˝ games behind New York), then
dropped back below .500 in 1987. Mike Schmidt continued to
power the offense—the only member of the 1980 world
champions still a Phillie. Despite an impressive lineup of players
in 1988, the Phils collapsed, finishing in the division cellar for
the first time in 15 years.
Unable to recover from a shoulder injury, Mike Schmidt retired
in May 1989, and despite several midseason trades the Phillies
again finished last in the NL East. In 1990, though, the flaming
start of one of the players acquired in mid-1989—outfielder
Len Dykstra, who was batting above .400 as late as June—lit
the Phillies' competitive fire. But as Dykstra cooled off to mere
excellence, the Phillies fell out of contention and finished 18
games back, tied for fourth.
A 13-game winning streak in July-August 1991 came too late to
propel the Phillies into the thick of the race, and although they
rose to third place in the season's final week, they finished 20
games out. In 1992 they played at the bottom of the NL East
much of the season and finished there for the third time in five
years.
Strengthened by the signing of several free agents and sustained
by solid performances throughout the roster, in 1993 the
Phillies reversed course. Led by Dykstra's peak season at the
plate, the team grabbed the division lead at the start of the year
and never let go, fending off Montreal's late-season surge to
take the NL East title by three games. In the LCS they won
their fifth NL pennant, defeating Atlanta in six games, but in the
World Series they blew a pair of late-inning leads and fell in six
games to repeat champion Toronto.
Plagued by illness and injury, the Phillies never caught fire in
1994, finishing a distant fourth in the NL East. In 1995 they
finished tied for second (but 21 games back).
In a season where the Phillies went 67-95, there were few
bright spots. Exceptions were the stellar play of catcher Benito
Santiago, who slammed a career-high 30 home runs and led the
club with 85 RBI, and closer Rickey Bottalico who saved 34
games for a team that won only 67. Battling with the odds after
shoulder surgery, Curt Shilling led the NL in complete games
with eight.
In 1997, Phillies 3b Scott Rolen won the NL Rookie of the Year
Award, and Curt Schilling became the all-time NL right-handed
strikeout king, but the Phillies tied the Chicago Cubs for the
worst record in the NL. They also recorded their lowest atten-
dance in 25 years. 1997 saw the trade of C Darren Daulton to
the Florida Marlins. By the beginning of the the 1998 season,
they traded away both Mickey Morandini and Kevin Stocker,
as yet another rebuliding program had begun.
Before the 2001 season the Phillies replaced manager Terry Francona
with former Phillies player and coach Larry Bowa. The Phillies
responded by missing the division title by two games. Bowa was named
manager of the year. 2002 saw All-Star 3b Scott Rolen traded to
the St. Louis Cardinals as the Phillies slipped in the standings
following a dismal first half of the season.
Information taken from Total Baseball IV: The Official
Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball and the 1997 Official
Major League Baseball Fact Book, published by the Sporting
News.
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