100 Greatest Phillies: 94 – Granny Hamner

Granny Hamner
Shortstop
1944-1959

Career w/Phillies: .263 AVG / 103 HR / 705 RBI / 35 SB

Playing 16 seasons with the Phillies, Hamner is one of the more decorated names in Phillie history, but alas, he wasn’t really a great player most of the time. He became a full-time player in 1948, and broke out in 1950 with 11 HR and 82 RBI. He locked up a couple more nice seasons until 1955, when he broke down toward an early retirement. With some power, Hamner hit over 100 homers in his Phillies career, but only hit above .280 once in a full season. Traded by the Phillies for Humberto Gonzalez in 1959, Hamner soon retired, before dying in Philadelphia in 1993.

Comment: It seems like low placement for Hamner, but I finally decided on this spot because he just never stood out as a good player (though he received plenty of MVP votes). At best, he was mediocre, both at the plate and on the field. He deserves praise, however, for being a leader in the early 1950s.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.