The Philadelphia Phillies have been around since 1883. There’s been a lot of good and a lot of bad, as there always is with baseball teams. With the Philadelphia ball club, perhaps there is more bad than good as they’ve lost more than any other franchise in professional sports. But in light of the team’s 10,000 victory on Tuesday, we take a look at a few milestone victories the Phillies have had in the past, to remind ourselves of where this team was and what it has become.
1st win: May 14, 1883 @ Chicago White Stockings. Final score: 12-1. Season record: 1-8 (.111). Lifetime record: 1-8 (.111).
The Philadelphia Quakers lost eight in a row to start their inaugural season. Their first win of the season came two weeks after Opening Day.
The Quakers would finish the season 17-81-1, making them the worst team in the National League. Their most valuable player according to Baseball Reference that season, was Emil Gross (1.7 WAR), who went on to become “an extensive property owner in Chicago.”
1000th win: July 27, 1898 vs Washington Senators. Final score: 5-1. Season record: 39-42 (.470). Lifetime record: 1000-966-35 (.500).
The 1000th win of the Phillies franchise would come in 1898, after a doubleheader sweep of the Washington Senators, who would go on to lose 101 games that season. The game was a continuation of a rain-delayed contest from the day prior.
The Phillies were almost a winning ballclub at this point in their young career, thanks to 10 of 11 winning seasons from 1885 to 1895. They would finish the year with a record above .500, going 78-71-1. The most valuable Phillie that season was Ed Delahanty (6.2 bWAR), who was in the middle of a Hall of Fame career that tragically ended with him falling into the Niagara Falls five years later after the conductor of the train he was on kicked him off for being drunk and disorderly.
2000th win: April 13, 1912 @ Boston Braves. Final score: 14-2. Season record: 1-2 (.333). Lifetime record: 2000-1955-62 (.498).
Unlike their first and 1000th win, we do have the box score from this game. Tom Seaton went all nine innings and got the complete-game win, not a rare occurrence back in those days, allowing only five hits and one walk that day. Seaton also drove in two runs on two hits. John Titus, the right fielder that day, went 3-for-5 with a homer and a double.
The most valuable Phillie that season was Pete Alexander (6.3 bWAR), who was later portrayed by Ronald Reagan in the 1952 film The Winning Team.
3000th win: September 14, 1926 vs. Chicago Cubs. Final score: 5-4. Season record: 53-81 (.396). Lifetime record: 3000-3178-80 (.479).
The Phillies’ 3000th win came in the Roaring Twenties. While America was doing well, the Philadelphia ball club was not. Their last winning season was in 1917, the year the United States joined the Great War (Alexander would serve as a sergeant in France, where he was exposed to German mustard gas. He would go on to pitch 13 more seasons after suffering permanent damage on the Western Front).
The winning pitcher that day was Hal Carlson, who went the distance. He was also the Phillies’ most valuable player that year and the sole bright spot on a 93-loss team. As a 34-year-old, Carlson was worth 8.7 bWAR en route to an 11th place finish on the MVP ballot. Unfortunately, Carlson died while playing for the Cubs. He was 38.
4000th win: September 4, 1944 vs. New York Giants. Final score: 14-8. Season record: 50-78 (.391). Lifetime record: 4000-4918-98 (.444).
As World War II raged on, the season was not going as planned for the Philadelphia Phillies/Blue Jays. They were 28 games under .500 on September 4. The long-waited 4000th victory would come almost 20 years after the 3000th.
The Philadelphia team had five consecutive 100-loss seasons from 1938 to 1942 and their last winning season was 1932. The last time the Phillies won, the younger Roosevelt was not yet President and the U.S. was deep in the Great Depression.
After losing the first game of the doubleheader against the Giants, the Phillies came back and beat the New York team after putting ten runs on the board in the eighth. Philadelphia batters had reached base 24 times that day.
The most valuable Phillie in 1944 was centerfielder Buster Adams, who went on to win the 1946 World Series with Cardinals, before retiring as a Phillie in 1947.
5000th win: June 29, 1958 vs St. Louis Cardinals. Final score: 5-4. Season record: 31-35(.470). Lifetime record: 5000-6010-108 (.450).
The Whiz Kids Phillies never did win anything, perhaps because the owner wasn’t willing to integrate his ballclub. The all-white Phillies would not finish above third place after 1950. The Phils would finish last in the National League for four consecutive seasons from 1958 to 1961.
Philadelphia walked St. Louis off in the bottom of the 13th inning on a Harry Anderson RBI double. Reliever Jack Meyer tossed three innings of no-run ball to give his team the chance to win the game. It wasn’t an exciting game, but Philly fans were probably used to it. After all, they are the only baseball team in town after the A’s moved west three years ago.
The most valuable Phillie in 1958 was Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, who made the All-Star team that year, as well as putting up 7 bWAR.
6000th win: September 26, 1971 @ Chicago Cubs. Final score: 5-1. Season record: 66-94 (.413). Lifetime record: 6000-7176-111 (.450).
The 1971 Phillies were a last place team in the NL East. The greatest Philadelphia Phillie ever, Mike Schmidt, was playing for the Reading Phillies and batting .211 with a .652 OPS. Steve Carlton was playing in St. Louis for what would be his last season there.
Ken Reynolds tossed a complete game for the Phillies on September 26, 1971. His career bWAR in the big leagues was -0.7. Roger Freed, the starting left fielder of the day, went 3-for-4 with a homer and a double, had a career bWAR of 1.0.
The most valuable player for the Phillies in 1971 was Rick Wise, who tossed a no hitter in June, while also hitting two homers in that game. Wise would be traded to St. Louis a year later for Steve Carlton.
7000th win: September 28, 1983 @ Chicago Cubs. Final score: 13-6. Season record: 88-71 (.553). Lifetime record: 7000-8058-113 (.461).
The Phillies would go on to lose in the World Series to the Orioles. 1983 would be the last time they made the playoffs until 1993 and they would only have one more winning season in the ten years between playoff appearances.
Schmidt hit a home run off of Dick Ruthven, who was traded to the Cubs from the Phillies earlier that year, and Bo Diaz hit two more off of the former Phils All-Star. The Phillies blasted the 5th-place Cubs with 19 hits en route to a 13-6 rout. They clinched the NL East title from this victory.
The most valuable Phillie that year was John Denny (7.5 bWAR), narrowly beating out Schmidt (6.9 bWAR). Denny won the Cy Young award that year.
Embed from Getty Images8000th win: July 29, 1997 @ San Diego Padres. Final score: 6-5. Season record: 32-72 (.308). Lifetime record: 8000-9204-115 (.462).
The Phillies were 40 games below .500 when they won their 8000th victory. That about tells you what you need to know about the 1997 Philadelphia Phillies.
Current Phillies radio analyst Kevin Stocker went yard in San Diego. He also had three RBIs. Another current analyst, Ricky Bottalico, earned the save in that game. He went two innings and allowed two runs.
The most valuable Phillie in 1997 was Curt Schilling (6.3 bWAR).
9000th win: July 25, 2009 vs. St. Louis Cardinals. Final score: 14-6. Season record: 55-40 (.579). Lifetime record: 9000-10167-115 (.467).
Everybody knows what the Phillies did from 2007-2011, so it bears no repeating. They were good in 2009.
Jimmy Rollins hit a grand slam in the sixth inning. Shane Victorino went 4-for-4 with a homer of his own. The Phillies offense scored 14 runs on 14 hits. Here’s the Phillies Nation recap of that game, if you’re feeling nostalgic.
The most valuable Phillie that year was Chase Utley (8.2 fWAR), who should be in the Hall of Fame.
It might be hard to believe, but the time it took to get the Phillies from 9000 to 10000 wins is the third shortest time frame to the next 1000 in franchise history.
Time between the Phillies:
- 1st and 1000th win: 15 years, 2 months, 13 days.
- 1000th and 2000th win: 13 years, 8 months, 17 days.
- 2000th and 3000th win: 14 years, 5 months, 1 day.
- 3000th and 4000th win: 17 years, 11 months, 21 days.
- 4000th and 5000th win: 13 years, 9 months, 25 days.
- 5000th and 6000th win: 13 years, 2 months, 28 days.
- 6000th and 7000th win: 12 years, 2 days.
- 7000th and 8000th win: 13 years, 10 months, 1 day.
- 8000th and 9000th win: 11 years, 11 months, 26 days.
- 9000th and 10000th win: 13 years, 22 days.
It took the Phillies 140 seasons and 11,163 losses to get to 10,000 wins, but they are now the ninth team to reach the milestone. It took 13 years and 22 days to get from 9,000 to 10,000. How long do you think it’ll take for them to get to 11,000?
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