25 Most Underrated Players in Philadelphia Phillies History
January 30, 2012 by Greg Pinto
Filed under Fan News
With close to 130 years of existence under your belt, giving each and every player his fair share of respect is a challenging thing to do. As the game progresses and more advanced statistics come to light, it becomes even more challenging. Now we’re faced with the reality that some of the game’s all-time “greats” were actually no more than all-time “goods,” and players that often go unmentioned should be looked upon with greater awe.
The Philadelphia Phillies have watched thousands of players don their uniform. We hear stories about the great ones all the time. Mike Schmidt was probably the greatest third baseman to ever play the game, and Steve Carlton was one of history’s best lefties. Robin Roberts strung together one of the most successful stretches of pitching in baseball history, while Pete Alexander was purely untouchable.
Those all-time greats provide the horsepower, but some of the organization’s most underrated players steered the bus. Baseball is the ultimate team sport. You can’t win with just one man, whether or not he’s a pitcher who throws a shut out or a slugger who launches three home-runs. Without each other, there’s not much to be done.
In a lot of winning seasons, it is that group of underrated players who often do unmentioned and unrecognized, but without them, history would look very different for the Phillies. It’s time to give them the proper respect.
For the sake of this article, the word “underrated” will be easily defined. I’ll take a look at each player’s statistics (and intangibles, if that’s your thing) and assess their value to the club against the attention they received for it. Who’s value went unnoticed, though invaluable?
*All statistics refer specifically to the player’s Phillies’ career, unless otherwise stated.
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