Philadelphia Baseball History

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...

After going 71-91 in the 2016, the Phillies were hoping that they were on the road to improvement. The team finished better than its 63-99 record in 2015, and were not even in last place in its division. The fans got an opportunity to see some of its promised young talent during the season.  Surely, the Phillies could show that they were on their way to rebuilding a contending team. In the off season, Manager Peter Mackanin expressed his hope that the Phillies could finish at .500 in the 2017 season.  He pushed General Manager Matt Klentak to go after more hitters, and shore up what had been a dismal offense in 2016.  Klentak seemed to respond, signing professional hitter Howie Kendrick and left handed hitter Michael Saunders. In addition to trying to strengthen the offense, Klentak went after veteran pitching, re-signing Jeremy Hellickson, who posted fairly solid numbers on a losing team in 2016, and obtaining Clay Buchholz, who had had some good years with Boston. ...

In last night's game with the Braves, Phillies outfielde, Tyler Goeddel went 1 for 4 with a single. While his sixth hit of the season was encouraging, his other three at-bats, despite being outs, were equally encouraging. That is because he put the ball in play all three times.  Goeddel came into the game last night having only played in 17 other games, and striking out 11 times. Early in the season, Goeddel was only being used in games against left-handers, which severely limited his playing time.  More recently, Pete Mackannin has given Goeddel more playing time, including the last game against the Marlins, where Goeddel had a double and 2 RBIs. Goeddel is hitting .167, and for a team that is having its offensive struggles with outfielders, it may seem strange to say he needs more playing time. But the Phillies picked up Goeddel in this winter's Rule 5 draft, and he is still a player in development.  In the Rule 5 draft, any team can pick any player from another team's ...