Philadelphia Baseball History

In a season marred with over ninety losses, a heroic pitching performance stood out for the Phillies. But the man who through a no-hitter for an otherwise dismal team did not return the following season. Instead, he was dealt in a trade that turned around the franchise.  No, I'm not talking about Cole Hammels and the 2015 Phillies. This is the story of Rick Wise and the 1971 Phillies.  When you look closely, there are a lot of similarities between the Phillies of the early 1970s and today's Phillies. 1971 marked the first of three seasons in a row when the Phillies lost more than ninety games. Likewise, the Phils lost more than ninety games in each season from 2015 through 2017.  But even in the early 1970s there was hope. After obtaining Steve Carlton in the Rick Wise trade, the Phillies began to inject new life into the major league team from its farm system. Larry Bowa debuted in 1969. He was followed by the Bull, Greg Luzinski, in 1971, and Bob Boone and M...

Watching the game last night, one couldn't help but think that Yu Darvish, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season, was putting on an audition for the 2018 Phillies. By the time Darvish left in the sixth inning, he had allowed only four hits, one walk and one unearned run. He struck out seven, including his 200th of the season.  Despite his short outing, he looked good.  A pitcher like Darvish just may be what the Phillies need in 2018.  For the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and the first half of the 2017 season, a major weakness for the Phillies was a lack of offense. But the second half of 2017 saw the promotion of young hitters, such as Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro and Rhys Hoskins. Joining players such as Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr, the Phillies have shown that their young guns can hit and score runs. So much so that the conventional wisdom among Phillies fans is that the team should look for quality pitching in this off-season. The injection of one o...