Glory Days T he Phillies played their first season in 1883 By then the game of baseball had already been popular in Philadelphia for two generations A team called the Athletics first brought professional baseball to the city in the 1860s The Athletics went out of business in 1876 For several years baseball fans in Philadelphia did not have a major-league team to root for They were happy when the Phillies joined the National League NL During the 1890s the Phillies had some awesome teams and truly great players Billy Hamilton Ed Delahanty and Sam Thompson formed an excellent outfield Hamilton was baseball’s greatest leadoff hitter Delahanty was the game’s most exciting slugger Thompson had a strong bat and an even stronger throwing arm 6
Other stars of those early clubs were catcher Jack Clements infielder Napoleon Lajoie and pitcher Charlie Ferguson In the early 1900s John Titus Roy Thomas and Sherry Magee gave the Phillies another excellent outfield It was not until 1915 however that the team won its first pennant That club was led by a young pitching ace named Grover Cleveland Alexander Alexander Erskine Mayer and Eppa Rixey kept games close for Philadelphia’s hitting stars including Gavvy Cravath Dave Bancroft and Fred Luderus The Phillies fell on hard times during the 1920s 1930s and 1940s They had some great hitters including Cy Williams and Chuck Klein But the team played in a small ballpark and their pitchers could not tame opposing hitters Finally in 1950 the Phillies assembled a group of good young pitchers Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons were two of the NL’s best starting pitchers Jim Konstanty was the league’s top relief pitcher With the help of young hitters Richie Ashburn Del Ennis Granny Hamner and Willie Puddin Head Jones the Phillies won their LEFT Billy Hamilton ABOVE Grover Cleveland Alexander 7
second pennant This group went down in baseball history as the Whiz Kids More ups and downs followed including the heartbreaking 1964 season That year the Phillies were in first place by a wide margin with 12 games to play Unfortunately they lost 10 in a row and finished tied for second Philadelphia fans were cheering again by the late 1970s The Phillies had a great team led by hitting stars Mike Schmidt Greg Luzinski Bob Boone Larry Bowa and Garry Maddox Their best pitcher was Steve Carlton After Pete Rose joined the Phillies they claimed pennants in 1980 and 1983 and won their first World Series in 1980 In 1993 the Phillies returned to the World Series with a group of tough lovable players Darren Daulton John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra were the team leaders along with pitching stars Curt Schilling and Mitch Wild Thing Williams Although the Phillies fell just short of a second championship the team captured the spirit of Philadelphia and set the stage for all of the exciting baseball to come LEFT Mike Schmidt Pete Rose and Larry Bowa were the leaders of the 1980 Phillies ABOVE Steve Carlton 9
