2008 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES WON THE WORLD SERIES?
The Philadelphia Phillies have been around since 1883. That’s a century and a quarter. In fact, the Phillies are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional sports. Founded as the Philadelphia Quakers, they were called, in the convention of the time, not the “Quakers” but the “Philadelphias.” Of course, that was shortened to the “Phillies.” Known as both the Quakers and the Phillies for the first few years of their existence, the current name became official in 1890.
The first year of their existence was not promising. In 1883, they won only 17 of their 98 games. Pitcher John Coleman himself lost 48 games. But things improved when Harry Wright became the manager in the team’s second year. And by 1894, the Phillies’ outfield was manned by three men, Ed Delahanty, Sam Thompson and Billy Hamilton, who all went on to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
And although they were a winning team at that time in their history, long-suffering Phillies phans have gone for long stretches rooting for some pretty bad teams. It wasn’t until 1915 that they won the pennant for the first time. They have won it since in 1950, 1980, 1983, 1993 and 2008. And it wasn’t until 1980 that they won the World Series for the first and only time. The Phillies were the last of the original sixteen MLB teams to win the world championship. In fact, due in part to the long history of the team and in part to their losing ways, the Phillies hold the inauspicious record for having lost more games than any other MLB team. In 2007, they observed their 10,000 loss.
One of their challenges early in their existence was the other team in town. When the American League team, the Athletics, started in Philadelphia in 1901, they enticed a number of good ball players – and, let’s face it, some phans, too – to their side. Later, in the 1930’s, the Phillies fielded some of the best players in baseball to play with some of the worst teams in history. For example, in 1930, the Phillies’ team batting average was .315. Leading the team was future Hall of Famer Chuck Klein, who hit .386 with 40 home runs and 170 RBI’s. But the team ERA of 6.71 caused them to give up 1,199 runs as they went on to lose 102 games that year. Between 1918 and 1948, the team sporting a Phillies jersey finished over .500 only once.
By the late 1970’s, though, things had changed for Philadelphia. After they won the division title in 1976, 1977 and 1978, they went beyond the division title to the pennant and finally won the World Series in 1980, defeating the Kansas City Royals in six games. They made the playoffs again in 1981 and 1983, then dropped back in the standings. They came back to win the National League East Division in 2007, then again in 2008, when they progressed on to the National League pennant and ultimately the World Series.
PHILLIES' RETIRED NUMBERS
Despite the team’s lackluster record, there have been a number of excellent players on the Philadelphia Phillies. And the Phillies have retired numbers or otherwise honored players eight times. Here are the details:
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Philadelphia Phillies Jersey Number
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Position
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Player
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Years Played with Phillies
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Date Retired
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1
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OF
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Richie Ashburn
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1948-59
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1979
|
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14
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RHP
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Jim Bunning
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1964-76, 1970-71
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2001
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20
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3B
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Mike Schmidt
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1972-89
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1990
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32
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LHP
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Steve Carlton
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1972-86
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1989
|
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36
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RHP
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Robin Roberts
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1948-61
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1962
|
|
42
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2B
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Jackie Robinson
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---
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Retired by MLB 1997
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|
“P”
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RHP
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Grover Cleveland Alexander
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1911-17, 1930
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2001
|
|
“P”
|
OF
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Chuck Klein
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1928-33, 1936-39, 1940-44
|
2001
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Grover Cleveland Alexander played in an era before baseball players wore uniforms with numbers on the back. So to honor him, the Phillies designate a jersey with a “P.”
And Chuck Klein wore a number of different numbers when he played for the Phillies, so the team designated a jersey with a “P” to be retired for him, too.
PHILLIES HALL OF FAMERS
Add to these great players some Hall of Famers. Of the number of Hall of Famers who spent some of their careers with the Phillies, nine were inducted into the Hall in a Phillies cap. They are Richie Ashburn, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton, Billy Hamilton, Chuck Klein, Robin Roberts, Mike Schmidt, Sam Thompson and Harry Wright.
