As of July 1, 2007 the Phillies are the oldest continuous one city franchise in all of sports. And although they've had various nicknames in their history, they are also the oldest continuous one-nickname team in all of sports. And sometime this month, they will become the first team in all of sports to lose ten thousand games.
10,000 games. Based on a 162 game season, that's over 61 no win seasons. In 124 years of their existence, the Phils have been to the playoffs only nine times, to the World Series five times, winning it once in 1980.
From the "Whiz Kids" to the Wheaze Kids, from the Phold of 1964 to the World Series win in '80 and the heartbreaker in '93, the Phightin's have had their ups and downs. (OK, mostly downs) But as a Phils fan I have a lot of great memories. There was Pete Rose backing up Bob Boone when he bobbled that fly ball. There was Tug McGraw striking out Willie Wilson to win the Series. There was Mike Schmidt blasting four home runs in a game against the Cubs. (In fact, his whole career as a Phillie was a highlight for me) There was Steve Carlton who I idolized and I would always try to catch the games he pitched. There was Willie Montanez who would flip his glove hand when he made an out at first. There was Jim Eisenreich who always seemed to get a clutch hit. There was Larry Bowa and Dave Cash, who I loved to watch turn double-plays. There was the Bull, Greg Luzinski.
You had the Morons of 1993. John Kruk, Darren Daulton, Curt Schilling, Lenny Dykstra and Mitch Williams. They were nerve wracking to watch and fun to follow. (I had read recently about a guy who told his son at a recent card show that Williams was at to stay away from him. That Williams was a bum and a loser. For the record, Mitch Williams didn't lose the Series in'93. The team did that. Mitch was the go to guy in the bullpen all season and it made perfect sense to put him in the game at that time. And all the threats and crap he got just shows who the real morons were that year. And continue to be)
Right now the current Phillies are in 3rd place. Respectable, but I don't think they'll be making the playoffs this year. They have a real good core of young players in Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Rowand, Shane Victorino and Cole Hamels (Who is a hero not just for his pitching). But outside of a couple of guys, they don't have the pitching to get them through the season, let alone any playoffs. If the Phils can develop some good pitchers in the farm system and not rely on some expensive free agent years past his prime, the future looks pretty good. But with this being the Phillies, disappointment is always lurking around the corner.
God I love baseball.
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