25 Philadelphia Phillies We Wish We Could Still Watch Today
February 29, 2012 by Greg Pinto
Filed under Fan News
It’s not a bad time to be a Philadelphia Phillies fan.
You’ve seen five straight National League East titles, three trips to the National League Championship Series, two trips to the World Series and one victory in the Fall Classic, all in the last five seasons.
You’ve seen some of the Phillies’ all-time greats, like Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, build their careers right before your eyes.
In fact, the greatest Phillie of all-time, Mike Schmidt, who played on a couple of excellent teams, believes this is the greatest era of Phillies baseball.
“The environment around Phillies baseball right now, I don’t see how it could have ever been better. A full stadium every night, sold out. The pitching staff they have right now is maybe one of the greatest ever in the history of the sport. A team full of potential All-Star players—almost all of them have been All-Stars at one point,” Schmidt said. (David Hale of The News Journal.)
But all of us who have ever strolled through Citizens Bank Park and took the time to walk through Memory Lane and take a gander at the Phillies’ Wall of Fame know that we missed a lot of great baseball before our time.
We missed Pete Alexander win his league-leading 33rd game back in 1916. In 1899, none of us witnessed Ed Delahanty hit .410. When Chuck Klein won the MVP award in 1932, none of us saw it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We’ve seen a lot of great baseball, but we’ve missed so much more. Which players do you wish you were alive to see in their prime?
For news, rumors, analysis and game recaps during spring training, check out Greg’s blog: The Phillies Phactor!