History of the Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies franchise also has the second-longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in American professional sports, 16 straight from 1933 to 1948;[1] the record stood until 2009, when it was broken by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The standout players of the franchise in the era were Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson, and Ed Delahanty, who in 1896 set the major-league record (since tied by several others) with 4 home runs in a single game.
[11] The Phillies won their first pennant in 1915 thanks to the pitching of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the batting prowess of Gavvy Cravath, who set the major-league single-season record for home runs with 24.
"[citation needed] The team's primary stars during the 1920s and 1930s were outfielders Cy Williams, Lefty O'Doul, and Chuck Klein, who captured the vaunted Triple Crown in 1933.
Unfortunately, Philadelphia's cozy Baker Bowl proved to be a fertile hitting ground for Phillies opponents as well, and in 1930, the team surrendered 1199 runs, a major-league record still standing today.
The entire right field grandstand collapsed in 1926, forcing the Phillies to move to the A's Shibe Park (five blocks west on Lehigh Avenue from Baker Bowl) for 1927.
The story was initially challenged by a 1998 article in the Society for American Baseball Research's The National Pastime, arguing that Philadelphia's black press made no mention of a sale to Veeck.
[16] Joseph Thomas Moore wrote in his biography of Doby, "Bill Veeck planned to buy the Philadelphia Phillies with the as yet unannounced intention of breaking that color line.
The student council of Johns Hopkins University, whose varsity teams are also known as the Blue Jays, vehemently protested Carpenter's decision,[21] claiming that the change dishonored their school due to the Phillies' losing history.
The Phillies quickly developed a solid core of young players, known as the "Whiz Kids", that included future Hall of Famers Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts.
On the last day of the season, the Phillies hung onto a one-game lead when Dick Sisler's dramatic tenth-inning, three-run home run against the Dodgers clinched the team's first pennant in 35 years.
In 1961, as a first step to finding a new park, he sold Connie Mack Stadium to a consortium of New York investors, taking a million-dollar loss on his purchase of just seven years earlier.
With such players as Carlton, third baseman Mike Schmidt, shortstop Larry Bowa, and outfielder Greg Luzinski, the Phillies won three straight division titles (1976–78).
In a memorable NLCS, with 4 of the 5 games needing extra innings, they fell behind 2–1 but battled back to squeeze past the Astros on a tenth-inning game-winning hit by center fielder Garry Maddox, and the city celebrated its first pennant in 30 years.
On August 15, 1990, Terry Mulholland lost a perfect game in the seventh inning when a San Francisco Giants' batter reached base on a throwing error.
Each member of the rotation posted at least 10 wins, while the bullpen was led by elder statesman Larry Andersen and closer Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, who notched 43 saves and a 3.34 ERA.
In addition, the nucleus of the 2008 World Series-winning club (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Brett Myers, and Cole Hamels) was developed during this era.
The following year, in their last season at Veterans Stadium, the Phillies were expected to contend for the World Series after adding such players as Jim Thome, Kevin Millwood, and David Bell to go along with the emerging nucleus of Rollins, Burrell, Wolf, and Vicente Padilla.
However, Burrell and Bell slumped miserably at the plate, and the Phillies' inconsistent bullpen led to the team finishing 86–76 and in third place behind the Braves and eventual World Series-winning Florida Marlins.
Despite another late-season disappointment, 2005 saw the Phillies core shift away from veterans such as Thome, Polanco, Abreu, and Wolf to younger home-grown stars such as Rollins, Utley, Brett Myers and Ryan Howard.
Continuing what he had begun in the off-season, Gillick engaged in a flurry of trades in an effort to transform the character of the team and to obtain financial flexibility for what he termed "retooling".
Two days later, the Phillies traded third baseman David Bell, who was due to become a free agent during the off-season, to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league pitcher Wilfredo Laureano.
Immediately afterwards, and following a win over the Washington Nationals on August 29, the Phillies' record stood at 66–65, trailing the San Diego Padres by a mere half game in the wild-card race.
Heading into the All-Star break, the Phillies split their win–loss record at 44–44, hampered by the loss of starting pitchers Freddy García and Jon Lieber due to injuries that sidelined them for the remainder of the season.
Along with Ryan Howard's 2006 win, they became the first baseball club with back-to-back MVP winners since the San Francisco Giants's Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
Though team speed was hampered by the loss of Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins to the disabled list, the latter for the first time in his career, the Phillies still pushed forward to a 15–13 record.
Expected to be primarily a platoon player coming into the season, Werth showed flashes of the form that once made him such a highly regarded prospect with the Dodgers.
On August 16, after a two-day delay because of inclement weather, the Phillies, led by Steve Carlton and Jimmy Rollins, and hosted by Phillies public address announcer Dan Baker, unveiled a 7 feet (210 cm) tall bronze statue of Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas in the left field side of the Ashburn Alley outfield concourse at Citizens Bank Park, between the Harry the K's restaurant and the center field statue of Kalas' best friend, Richie Ashburn.
In the 2011–2012 off-season, the Phillies re-signed Jim Thome and signed closer Jonathan Papelbon and Laynce Nix, as well as obtaining Ty Wigginton via a trade with the Colorado Rockies.
They went on to win the National League pennant, beating St. Louis, Atlanta, and San Diego in succession in the playoffs, largely based on excellent pitching starts by Zack Wheeler and hitting by Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper.
