The Philadelphia Phillies became an organization in 1883. They became the Phillies in 1890 and have kept the name since. The club has two World Series titles with the recent one coming in 2008. Philadelphia has six retired numbers including Jackie Robinson‘s number 42. Dick Allen‘s number 15 is set to be retired by the Phillies on September 3 of this year. Here is an all-time starting lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies.
1. Richie Ashburn, Center Field (1948-1959)
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1995
Uniform Number 1 Retired by the Phillies in 1979
Ashburn made his debut with the Phillies in 1948 and stayed with the club through 1959. His career slash line there is .311/.394/.388. The center fielder had three seasons with over 200 hits. His single-season best came in 1951 when he had 221 hits. Ashburn made the All-Star game and finished seventh in the MVP voting that year, hitting 31 doubles and 63 RBIs.
2. Bobby Abreu, Right Field (1998-2006)
Abreu played in nine seasons with Philadelphia. Except for his last season with the club, he played in at least 151 games each season he was with the Phillies. Abreu had over a .900 OPS in six of his nine seasons in Philly. His single-season best was .971 in 2004 when he hit 30 homers, 47 doubles and had 105 RBIs.
3. Mike Schmidt, Third Base (1972-1989)
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1995
Uniform Number 20 Retired by the Phillies in 1990
Schmidt spent his whole MLB career with the Phillies. At the time of writing, he is in 16 place on the all-time home runs list with 548 of them. He hit at least 35 home runs in 11 seasons, along with at least 25 doubles in 11 seasons. Schmidt won MVP in back-to-back seasons in 1980 and 1981. He also won 10 Gold Glove and six Silver Slugger awards.
4. Ryan Howard, First Base (2004-2016)
Howard’s 13-year career was all spent with Philadelphia. He won Rookie of the Year in 2005. The first basemen won MVP the next season when he slashed .313/.425/.659 in 159 games. He hit a whopping 58 home runs that year, as well as 149 RBIs and 25 two-baggers. Howard also had some solid Postseason at-bats. He slashed .286/.375/.762 in the 2008 World Series
5. Chase Utley, Second Base (2003-2015)
Utley is another Phillie to have spent at least 10 seasons on the team. He slashed .282/.366/.481 throughout his 13 seasons there. He had a streak from 2005-2009 where his OPS was at least .905 each year. In 2006, he had career highs in runs scored (131), hits (203) and home runs (32). Although the Phillies lost the 2009 World Series, Utley had five home runs and eight RBIs in the series.
6. Greg Luzinski, Left Field (1970-1980)
Luzinski is a four-time All-Star and a two-time runner-up for the MVP award in his career. One of those two seasons was 1977. That year, Luzinski had career highs in runs scored (99), home runs (39) and RBIs (130). In his 11 seasons with Philadelphia, he hit 223 long balls, 253 doubles and had 811 RBIs.
7. Darren Daulton, Catcher (1983, 1985-1997)
Daulton caught in 965 games with the Phillies, and played in 1,109 regular season games with the club. He made three career All-Star games. Two of them were in back-to-back years in 1992 and 1993. He had at least 105 RBIs, 24 home runs and 32 doubles in both of those seasons. Daulton won a Silver Slugger award in 1992 as well.
8. Jimmy Rollins, Shortstop (2000-2014)
Rollins is a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger winner. He also won NL MVP in 2007. That season, Rollins had 88 extra-base hits including 20 triples, along with 139 runs scored and 212 hits. He also won his first Gold Glove and only Silver Slugger that year. Rollins ended his Phillies career with a slash line of .267/.327/.424.
9. Steve Carlton, Starting Pitcher (1972-1986)
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1994
Uniform Number 32 Retired by the Phillies in 1989
Carlton was on the Phillies for parts of 15 seasons throughout his 24-year career. The southpaw had a career 3.09 ERA with the Phillies in 3,697 1/3 innings pitched. He is also a four-time Cy Young winner, all with Philadelphia. In his first season with Philly, Carlton posted a 1.97 ERA in a single-season high 346 1/3 innings pitched.
Relief Pitcher- Tug McGraw (1975-1984)
McGraw spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Mets before spending his last 10 with the Phillies. McGraw had a solid season on the bump in 1980. That year, he posted a 1.46 ERA in 92 1/3 innings pitched. The Phillies won the World Series that year. Carlton pitched 7 2/3 innings in that series with a 1.17 ERA.
Feature Image Courtesy of FOX43.
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