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All-Century Roster: Phillies
By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor
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For an organization that's been around longer than the century, the
Philadelphia Phillies don't have an overwhelmingly successful past.
 | | | Lenny Dykstra's hellbent style of play took the Phillies to the NL pennant in '93.(Allsport) | |
The team was overshadowed by its city rival, the Athletics, for most of
the first 30 years of the century and didn't develop into a consistent
contender until the late 1970s when the team's finest pitcher ever, Steve
Carlton, and finest position player, Mike Schmidt, made them a NL East
power. The Phillies won division titles in 1976, '77 and '78 but didn't break through and win the franchise's first World Series until 1980. Tug McGraw threw the final pitch of the Series as Philadelphia beat Kansas City four games to two. McGraw's arms thrust in the air is the most enduring image of Phillies success in the century.
There are other unsuccessful remembrances that the notoriously
hard-to-please Philadelphia sports fans won't forget. The Phillies have
finished last in their league or division 31 times, almost once every three
seasons. Philadelphia lost four consecutive one-run games and the 1915
World Series to the Red Sox. Three more one-run losses started the 1950
Series, which the Yankees took. Losing the 1993 World Series to Toronto on
Joe Carter's Game 6 home run wasn't especially pleasant either.
Since then, it's been all kinds of trouble as the Phils have fallen well
behind the dominant Atlanta Braves in the East hierarchy.
Lineup
| Spud Davis, Catcher, 1928-33, '38-39
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| Davis was a .308 career hitter who hit .321 in his seasons as a Phillie.
That's the sixth-best career batting average in Phillies history. He hit
.336 with 14 homers and 70 RBI in 1932 and a career-best .349 in 1933. For
a good portion of his career he was considered to be the second-best
catcher in the NL behind Gabby Hartnett. He was a quality fielding catcher
who led the NL twice in fielding percentage. Catching 87 games in 1939 he
did not make an error. |
| Pete Rose, 1B, 1979-83 |
| Of Rose's 10 200-hit seasons, only one came in Philadelphia (1979) but he
was an All-Star selection in four of his five seasons with the Phillies,
led the NL in hits and batting average in strike-shortened 1981 and was a
key member of the 1980 World Series winners. |
| Dave Cash, 2B, 1974-76 |
| In three All-Star seasons at second for the Phillies, Cash averaged 203
hits. His 213 hits led the NL in 1975.
His Phillies years were the best in his dozen-year career that included
1,571 hits and a .283 average. |
| Larry Bowa, SS, 1970-81 |
| Bowa had 1,739 hits as a Phillie, fifth most in club history. He was a
five-time All-Star who led the NL in fielding six times and won two Gold
Gloves. Bowa had minimal power but stole 318 bases in his career, which
wrapped up with the Cubs and Mets. |
| Mike Schmidt, 3B, 1972-89 |
| Without question, Schmidt is the greatest Phillie ever. He's arguably the
best third baseman in baseball history. Schmidt was a three-time NL MVP
(1980, '81, '86) and ranks seventh on the career home run list with 548. He
led the NL in HRs a record eight times (only Babe Ruth led his league more
often). He won 10 Gold Gloves, second to Brooks Robinson's 16 and is one of
just 12 players to hit four home runs in one game. |
| Chuck Klein, OF, 1928-33, '36-39, '40-44 |
| Klein hit .360 as a rookie and set a NL record with 43 home runs in his
second season. In his third season he set the still-standing NL record for
runs with 158. Though he won the Triple Crown in 1933 (.368, 38, 120), his
best offensive season was 1930 when along with the 158 runs he hit .386,
drove in 170 and hit 40 homers. He also had 44 outfield assists. In 1932 he
pulled off the rare feat of leading the league in homers (38) and steals
(20). His career faded fast but in 1936 he hit four homers in a game at
Pittsburgh's spacious Forbes Field. His skills diminished so quickly that
he wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame until the Veterans Committee voted
him in in 1980. |
| Richie Ashburn, OF, 1948-59 |
| Ashburn is another who waited plenty long before enshrinement in
Cooperstown. The Veterans Committee added him in 1995. Ashburn led the NL
in batting in 1955 (.338) and 1958 (.350), had a career .308 average and
led the league in on-base percentage four times and walks four times. |
| Del Ennis, OF, 1946-56 |
| Ennis is found in the top five of most of the Phillies career batting
records. His 259 homers are second to Schmidt and his 1,812 hits are
fourth-best. He was a three-time All-Star and 1946 Rookie of the Year. He
finished fourth in 1950 MVP voting after his .311-31-126 season. |
Pitchers
| Steve Carlton, SP, 1972-86 |
| When Carlton refined his outstanding slider in 1972, he immediately became
the top left-handed pitcher in the game. Fifteen years later he had
cemented himself as one of the top pitchers in history. He was the
first to win four Cy Young Awards (1972, '77, '80, '82) and is second to Nolan Ryan in career strikeouts. |
| Robin Roberts, SP, 1948-61 |
| Roberts allowed plenty of long balls in his career but he pitched around
them effectively winning 286 games, 234 as a Phillie. In his first eight
seasons he won 160 games. Roberts had six consecutive 20-win seasons from
1950-55 and led the league in wins from 52-55. He allowed 505 home runs in
his 4,688 2/3 innings. |
| Curt Schilling, SP, 1992-99 |
| Schilling's stardom didn't emerge until he'd bounced through the Orioles
and Astros organizations. He went 30-18 in his first two seasons with the
Phillies before having injury troubles until 1997. He went 47-31 from
1997-99 and had 319 strikeouts in 1997 and 300 in 1998 becoming just the
fifth pitcher ever with consecutive 300-strikeout seasons. |
| Grover Cleveland Alexander, SP, 1911-17, '30 |
| "Pete" went 190-98 his first Phillies stint, becoming one of the greatest
pitchers in history and winning 30 games in 1915, 1916 and 1917. In 1916,
16 of his 33 wins were shutouts. He led the NL in strikeouts six times and
ERA four times. In each of his 30-win seasons he had an ERA under 1.85. He
won 373 games in his career with a 2.56 ERA. World War I interrupted his
career and though he had several fine seasons with the Cubs and Cardinals
after his return, they weren't as outstanding as his Phillies years. |
| Chris Short, SP, 1959-72 |
| Short's 132 wins are fourth most in club history. If back problems hadn't
set in he might have climbed higher. He had seasons of 20, 19, 18 and 17
wins and was a two-time All-Star. In 1965, the left-hander struck out 18
Mets in 15 innings before the game was called without a run being scored.
It was the second game of a doubleheader and had reached the then NL curfew
of 1 a.m. |
| Jim Konstanty, RP, 1948-54 |
| Konstanty's career wasn't particularly overwhelming as a whole but his 1950
season was phenomenal and earned him the rare honor of winning the league
MVP award as a relief pitcher. He went 16-7 with 22 saves and a 2.66 ERA in
74 games in 1950. His 18 first-place votes gave him the MVP easily ahead of
Stan Musial. |
| Bench |
| Bob Boone, Darren Daulton, Greg Luzinski, Sherry Magee, Dick Allen,
Johnny Callison, Scott Rolen, Cy Williams, Juan Samuel, Mike Lieberthal |
| Best season |
 | | | Steve Carlton led the 1980 Phillies to their first World Series title.(Allsport) | |
The 1980 Phillies had all the ingredients of an outstanding
team and mixed them properly in winning the franchise's only World Series. Mike Schmidt won the first of his three MVPs, Steve Carlton was the Cy Young Award winner, Garry Maddox provided Gold Glove defense in center field, Tug McGraw was an outstanding late-inning reliever, Pete Rose provided the hustle and toughness, Bob Boone was a steady catcher and Manny
Trillo and Larry Bowa were a strong double-play tandem. The team won the NL
East with 91 wins and beat the Royals in six games to win the World Series. |
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| Worst season |
| The 1945 group was nearly opposite. No pitcher won even nine
games. Vince DiMaggio was the most productive hitter with 19 homers, 84 RBI
and a .257 average. And the team lost 108 games. |
| Best individual season, player |
| The 1981 season was interrupted by a strike,
limiting Mike Schmidt to 102 games. If not he might have had his career
highs in just about every offensive category. Schmidt made an MVP bang
anyway in 102 games. He led the NL with an outstanding combination of a
.644 slugging percentage and a .439 on-base percentage, batting a
career-best .316 (4th in the NL) and leading the league in runs (78),
homers (31) and RBI (91). If those numbers were projected over 162 games he
would have set career highs with 144 RBI, 123 runs and 49 homers. |
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| Best individual season, pitcher |
| Forget the 10 losses in Steve Carlton's
1972 season. It was nearly impossible for him not to lose that many games
for a team that scored 200 fewer runs than the league leader and lost 97
games. Consider instead, how Carlton won six more games (27) than any other
pitcher in the league when the Phillies won just 59 all season. Carlton
led the league with a 1.97 ERA, 3461/3 innings, 30 complete games and 310
strikeouts. The first of his four Cy Youngs followed, unanimously. |
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