Philadelphia Baseball History

I was considering what topic to write about for the blog this week.  Then it hit me.  Why not write about Roy Halladay?  The Phillies were set to retire his number this season.  Earlier in the week I saw an interview of Todd Zolecki by Tom McCarthy on YouTube where Zolecki spoke about Doc.  Doc had a very interesting career.  He had a very rocky start, and almost didn't make it.  But he worked hard, and now is a Hall of Fame pitcher.   I'm sure I could write an interesting story about him. So, I started with a Google search.  I wanted to see if I could dig up some older stories, and maybe find an interesting angle to write from.  I was surprised when the whole first page of results was about how he had drugs in his system and was engaging in dangerous trick flying when he died. Wait a minute?  Is that news?  I thought we knew this two years ago , not too long after his death. I checked the dates on all of the news repo...

Another Hall of Fame voting season has passed. Three players were elected by the BBWAA this year: Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Pudge Rodriguez. For a Phillies fan, it is interesting to note that a number of players from the dominant turn of the century teams, including the 2007 World Championship, are becoming eligible. This year, Pat Burrell and Matt Stairs were both on the ballot. But neither received a vote.  In the next three years, however, a number of Phillies players who deserve serious consideration will become eligible. It is possible that a few players who donned the red pinstripes may find themselves in Cooperstown soon.  Next year, two former Phillies, Jim Thome and Scott Rolen, will become eligible. Those, of course, spent most of his career with Cleveland. However, as indicated by his enshrinement in the Phillies Wall of Fame, he was a fan favorite in his time in Philadelphia.  Over the course of his twenty-two year career, Thome hit 612 home runs...