Philadelphia Baseball History

The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics boasted four future Hall of Famers: Jimmie Foxx, Robert “Lefty” Grove, Al Simmons and Mickey Cochrane. But the most unexpected hero of that season was a thirty-five year old right-handed pitcher with a submarine-style motion, Howard Ehmke.  Born in Silver Creek, New York, Ehmke moved to Los Angeles in 1913. The Los Angeles Angles of the Pacific Coast League signed him to a contract, and then sold his rights to the Washington Senators. Ehmke spurned the Senators in favor of signing with the Buffalo Blues of the upstart Federal League.  But Ehmke’s year with the Blues was disappointing. After the Federal League folded, Ehmke played with the Syracuse Stars, and was sold to the Detroit Tigers. However, the Senators claimed that they still owned the rights to Ehmke. AL President Ban Johnson agreed. The Senators then sold their rights to the Tigers.  Ehmke played six seasons with the Tigers, until he was traded to the Red Sox befor...

Changes made last year to the Baseball Hall of Fame committee system may lead to the enshrinement of more modern players.  Whether that will include Dick Allen is an open question. There are two ways that a baseball player can be elected the Hall of Fame. The first way is by eligible voters who are members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Players become eligible for election five years after retirement. They will remain on the ballot so long as they receive at least 5% of the vote. In a year when a player receives less than 5% of the vote, that player drops off the ballot and can no longer be considered by the BBWAA. The second way player can become elected to the Hall of Fame is through the Hall’s committee system. For most of the Hall’s existence, this was known as the Veterans Committee. The Veterans Committee would consider not only players who were no longer eligible for election by the BBWAA, but would also consider executives, umpires, and ma...

For the Philadelphia sports fan it is easy to be romantic about the Athletics. After all, their five world championships surpass those of all of the professional sports teams that play in Philadelphia today. But let’s not kid ourselves. The A’s we’re not always that good. In fact, during the time between the two major dynasties, and after 1931, the A’s were downright horrible. A lot of that had to do with the way baseball teams were recruited. While Connie Mack was good at recruiting baseball teams in the early 20th century, he proved unable to adapt to modern methods of recruitment. And thus the Philadelphia A’s wallowed in or near the cellar for a good portion of their existence. In 1901, when Ban Johnson was forming the American League to be a competitor to the National League, he courted Connie Mack, then manager of the Milwaukee Brewers of the western league, because of his talent in putting together baseball teams.  Mack could assemble talented teams b...

Last week, Phillies fans acting in disbelief upon hearing a report that the team was considering Ruben Amaro, Jr. for the open Manager's position.  Amaro, currently serving at the First Base Coach of the Boston Red Sox, was drummed out of Philadelphia which much fanfare towards the end of the 2015.  During Amaro's reign with the Phillies as General Manager, the team saw itself go from a feared powerhouse in the National League East, to a perennial last place team.  Amaro largely shouldered the blame. Certainly, during his tenure Amaro was responsible for a number of transactions which were either unpopular at the time, or in retrospect were not beneficial to the team.  For example, Amaro was responsible for tying the Phillies' hands financially with a number of high-priced, long-term contracts, such as those for Ryan Howard and Jonathan Papelbon.  Amaro traded away popular players at questionable times, raising the ire of many fans.  Amaro trade Cli...

Controversial plays happen, particularly in the World Series.  Not all of them are as clear-cut as the blown call in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 6 of the 1985 World Series, where Royals Jorge Orta was called safe at first.  Had replay review existed back then, Orta would have been called out, and the Cardinals would have captured another World Championship.  Instead, the Royals staged a comeback in that inning, and then took game 7 to win their first World Championship. But other plays are not so clear-cut, and spark debate among sports fans for decades.  Had replay review existed, would it have changed the outcome of the entire World Series?  Some of those plays, though controversial at the time, have faded into the background of baseball history. One such play occurred in game 5 of the 1980 World Series.  Rookie phenom, and Pitcher of the Month for September, Marty Bystrom took the mound against the Royals.  Bystr...

After finally watching the slow-motion video replay from Friday night’s controversial play in the Indians win over the Yankees, I do not believe that a replay review would necessarily have gone the Yankees’ way. The reason is in the standard needed to overturn the call in the field. That standard is clear and convincing evidence. To review, it was the bottom of the sixth inning. The Yankees were ahead by a score of 8 to 3. Lonnie Chisenhall came to the plate, with two men on base and two out.  The count was no balls and two strikes. Yankees pitcher Chad Green throws high and inside. The umpire signals that the ball has hit Chisenhall’s hand. Catcher Gary Sanchez, who caught the ball, immediately points to the dugout to signal his belief that manager Joe Girardi should request a replay review. If the call were overturned, the result would have been a foul tip strike out and the inning would have been over. Instead, of course, the inning continued any grand slam home ...

10.  Pat Neshek’s 18 Inning Scoreless Streak Let’s face it. There wasn’t much to cheer about in the beginning of the season. The Phillies were just plain awful. But one thing that did stand out was the pitching of reliever Pat Neshek. While the rest of the bullpen faltered, Neshek was solid. When the Phils needed a hold, they could count on Neshek to keep the score from getting worse. At one point, Neshek had an 18 Inning scoreless streak, that was broken on July 2nd. By the All-Star break, Neshek had an amazing 1.27 ERA. Alas, by the end of July, Neshek was no longer a Phillie, netting three prospects in a trade with the Rockies.  9. Odubel Herrera Robs . . . Odubel Herrera is an odd bird. His fans argue that his statistics prove he is a Gold Glove center fielder. His critics say that the statistics fail to account for some fundamental mistakes he makes while covering the outfield. Take, for example, Herrera’s misplay of a line drive on September 8th in Washi...