www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Matt Tustison Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Carol Castro Cover Design Craig Hinton Photo Credits Tom Gannam AP Images cover Photo by Ronald C Modra Sports Imagery Getty Images title David J Phillip AP Images 4 7 8 43 bottom Rogers Photo Archive Getty Images 10 14 42 top Mark Rucker Transcendental Graphics Getty Images 13 File AP Images 16 42 middle AP Images 19 20 31 34 Tony Tomsic Getty Images 22 42 bottom Photo by Focus on Sport Getty Images 25 27 28 43 top Ed Reinke AP Images 33 43 middle Ed Betz AP Images 37 Dick Druckman AP Images 38 Rob Carr AP Images 40 George Gojkovich Getty Images 44 Matt Slocum AP Images 47 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933084 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jackson Dave 1970 Philadelphia Phillies by Dave Jackson p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-480-0 1 Philadelphia Phillies Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 P45J34 2015 796 357'640974811 dc23 2014933084
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 The Long Wait 4 Chapter 2 Baseball Comes to Broad Street 10 Chapter 3 Whiz Kids and Near Miss 16 Chapter 4 Phinally 22 Chapter 5 Wheeze Kids and Throwbacks 28 Chapter 6 Homegrown Champions 34 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 THE LONG WAIT
L ong-suffering Philadelphia fans were ready to celebrate Their city had not won a professional sports title since 1983 25 years earlier But their base ball team the Phillies was one victory away from defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series As the teams took the field on October 27 2008 for Game 5 of the Series Philadelphia fans believed their team was only a few hours away from clinch ing the title and sending the city into a frenzy And when the Phillies scored two runs in the first inning the elusive championship seemed to be within reach But then it started to rain A light rain began early in the game It only got worse By the sixth inning Tampa Bay had tied the score at 2 2 and the field was so covered with pud dles that the teams could not Catcher Carlos Ruiz left and relief pitcher Brad Lidge celebrate after Catcher Carlos Ruiz left and relief pitcher Brad Lidge celebrate after Philadelphia beat Tampa Bay 4 3 in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series The Philadelphia beat Tampa Bay 4 3 in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series The Phillies earned their second Series title ever Phillies earned their second Series title ever t THE LONG WAIT 5
