Tony
Perez broke into the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 1964, but it
wasn’t until 1967 that his power started to show. It was a season that he would
hit 26 home runs with 102 RBI. His career would see 9 more seasons of 20+ home
runs, and the first of 7 seasons of 100+ RBI.
He
was a seven time all-star, and won back to World Series Championship with the
Big Red Machine in 1975-1976. His career hitting line was .279/.341/.463 with
379 home runs and 1,652 RBI. In 2000, Perez was elected to the Baseball Hall of
Fame. He is a member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, and the Reds have
retired his #24.
Perez
would have productive seasons with the Montreal Expos, and Boston Red Sox. He
would make a brief stop with the Philadelphia Phillies before retiring with the
Reds in a second stint with the team.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
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pitcher Pat Venditte made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics on
June 5, 2015 pitching two scoreless innings.
Venditte
of this writing has a 2-2 mark in the major leagues with an ERA of 4.97. He has
pitched for the Oakland A’s, Toronto Blue Jays,
and is currently pitching at AAALeighValley
in the Phillies organization.
He
is the first ambidextrous since Tony Mullane, who pitched in the Dead Ball Era.
Greg A. Harris pitched to batters left handed after enjoying a 15 year career
right hand pitcher.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
Richie Asburn was a member of the 1950
Philadelphia “Whiz
Kids” that won the National League pennant. Ashburn would spend the first 12
years of his career in the Phillies uniform, before spend two years with the
Chicago Cubs, and his last with the infamous 1962 New York Mets.
Ashburn hitting line was
.308/.396/.382 with 29 home runs and 586 RBI. He had 2,574 hits and a lifetime
batting average of .308.
He was a two time NL batting champ,
his #1 has been retired by the Phillies, and a member of the Philadelphia
Baseball Wall of Fame. He was elected by the Veteran’s Committee in 1995 to the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dick Allen's rookie season gave Philadelphia fans their first glimpse of power that they hadn't seen since Jimmy Foxx or Chuck Klein. Phillies scout John Ogden stated in an article in the Philadelphia Bulletin on June 1, 1969, that Dick Allen was the only player saw hit the ball as hard as Babe Ruth. Allen would be the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964. He hit 29 home runs with 91 RBI with a slash line of .318/.382/.557. He led the league in with 13 triples, and striking out 138 times. It would be the first of the 9 straight seasons with 20 plus home runs.
In the racially charged 1960's Allen became a source of controversy. He was known as Dick most of his life, but the local media referred to him as Richie, a name Allen felt belonged to a boy, and not a man. He was involved in an incident with teammate Frank Thomas when Thomas hit Allen with a bat. The incident was covered up by the team with threats of fines iif the players spoke of the incident. Thomas was released the next day. He started wearing a battling helmet in field field as he was often showered with thrown objects and racial slurs in his home park in Philadelphia. Allen missed a double header in 1969 when he couldn't get to the ballpark being stuck in traffic. He had spent the day at a race track causing him to be suspended.
Controversy seemed to follow Allen. Before the 1970 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Curt Flood. Flood refused to report, and sued baseball attempting to overthrow the reserve clause. The Cardinals would send first baseman Willie Montanez to the Phillies as compensation. Montanez would end up breaking Allen's rookie record for home runs by hitting 30 in 1971. In St. Louis, he would hit 34 home runs with 101 RBI and slash .279/.377/. 560 Allen spent only one season in St. Louis before being traded to the Los Angeles. His numbers dropped for the Dodgers, by Allen's standards anyway. He hit 23 home runs with 90 RBI with a line of 295/.395/.468. He was traded after the 1971 season to the Chicago White Sox.
Chuck Tanner was the manager of the White Sox at the time, and decided to not move Allen around. Various teams had played him at third base, first base, and outfield. Some feel this contributed to his perceived poor defense, and rash of injuries he had suffered over the years. He rewarded Tanner by leading the American League in home runs (37), RBI (113), on base percentage (.420), slugging percentage (.603) and an outstanding 1.023 OPS. He was named American League Most Valuable Player. A fractured fibula cut short his 1973 season, where he had only 288 plate appearances. 1974 would be the last of the great seasons for Allen. He hit 32 home runs with 88 RBI, his slash line of .301/.375/.563, he slugging percentage led the American League. He feuded with Ron Santo (in his only season with the White Sox) and left the team two weeks before the end of the season.
Allen's contract was sold to the Atlanta Braves for $5,000, he refused to report and retired from the game. The Phillies talked him out of retirement, and we spend two seasons a shadow of his former self, and close out his career with the Oakland A's in 1977.
Allen's career numbers of .292 batting average 351 home runs, and 1,119 RBI make him one of the most prolific hitters in the game that isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He missed (along with Tony Olivia of the Minnesota Twins) being selected for the Hall of Fame by one vote in 2014 by the Golden Era Committee, which votes every three years.
In the 1993 World Series game 6, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter blasts a three-run home run give the Blue Jays the title over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
June 4, 1964. Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Sandy Koufax tosses his third no-hitter. He joins an exclusive club with Bob Feller as the only pitchers with three no-hitters. His third no-hitter come at the expense of the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 at Connie Mack stadium.
May 29, 2010. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay tosses only 20th perfect game in major league history, He wins a 1-0 pitchers duel over the Marlins Josh Johnson. It is the second perfect game in Phillies history with Jim Bunning tossing the first.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May 25, 1951. Willie Mays of the New York Giants makes his debut against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Mays goes 0 for 5 in the 8-5 Giants win, but makes two outstanding catches. And as they say the rest is history.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May 23, 1991. Tommy Greene of the Philadelphia Phillies no-hits the Montreal Expos 2-0. Greene had just become a member of the starting rotation due to a pulled groin muscle of Danny Cox.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
Image courtesy of http://www.baseball-birthdays.com/
May 22, 1914. Right-hander Ben Tincup made his debut for the Philadelphia Phillies becoming the first member of the Cherokee Nation to Major League Baseball. Tincup would have his career interrupted by his service in World War I. He pitched briefly for the Chicago Cubs in 1928. He had a won-loss record of 8-11 with an ERA of 3.10 during his career.
After his active career was over Tincup was a minor league umpire, and manager. He would serve in the major leagues as a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, he also scouted for the Boston Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Tincup died July 5, 1980 at 87 years of age.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May 20, 1962. In a doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs second baseman has eight straight singles. Hubbs would go on to be named Rookie of the Year. Hubbs would tragically die in airplane crash on February 13, 1964 at the age of 22.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May 17, 1979. The Philadelphia Phillies outlast the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field 23-22. The two clubs combine for 11 home runs, which tied a Major League record set previous at Wrigley Field (Reds 67', Mets 77').
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May
15, 1960. Two days after being acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies, Don
Cardwell of the Chicago Cubs no-hits the St. Louis Cardinals. Don Cardwell
became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pitch a no-hitter
in his first appearance for a new team.
He
would finish 8-14 with an ERA of 4.37 for the Cubs that season. He would go
30-44 for the Cubs in his three seasons with the team. He later pitched for the
1969 World Series champion New York Mets. His 5-0 stretch after stumbling to a
3-9 start was instrumental in helping the Mets catch and pass the fading
Chicago Cubs.
Spending
most of his career with second division clubs Cardwell finished career with a won-loss
record of 102-138 and an ERA of 3.92 with 1,211 strikeouts.
Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com,
and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
May 7, 2010. Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies shutout the Atlanta Braves 7-0. Moyer is the first pitcher to toss a shutout in four different decades. He also is the oldest pitcher throw a shutout in major league history surpassing Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves. In his twenty-five year career he tossed only ten shutouts, and finished with a won-loss record of 269-205.
April 29, 1981, Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies strikes out his 3,000th hitter. Tim Wallach is the victim in a 6-2 Phillies win at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. He becomes the sixth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to accomplish the feat, and is the first southpaw to do so.
April 27, 2003, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kevin Millwood no-hits the San Francisco Giants. Millwood will need only 108 pitches to dispose of the Giants. It is the ninth no-hitter in Philadelphia Phillies history. Millwood would finish his career with 169-152 with an ERA 4.11. On June 8, 2012, Millwood would pitch in a combined no-hitter.
On this day April 21, 1966. The Chicago Cubs send pitchers Larry Jackson, and Bob Buhl to the Philadelphia Phillies in return for future Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, outfielder-first baseman John Herrnstein, and outfielder Adolfo Phillips. Jackson and Buhl would combine to go 47-53 for the rest of their careers. Starting in 1967, Jenkins would win 20 plus games a season for six consecutive seasons. He would finish with a record of 284-226 with an ERA of 3.34, striking out 3,192. He was a three time All-Star selection, and won the 1971 Cy Young Award. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. He pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers. His #31 has been retired by the Chicago Cubs, where he ended his career in 1983.
April 18, 1987. Mike Schmidt hammers his 500th career home run. The home run is hit off Don Robinson at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. It is hit in the ninth inning sending the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He becomes the 14th hitter in Major League Baseball history to top the 500 home runs mark.
April 17, 1976. Mike Schmidt crushes four home runs in a come from behind victory at Wrigley Field. The Phillies trailed 13-2, and behind the four home runs of Schmidt rally for an 18-16 win. I was doing my homework at my desk in my room listening to the game in disbelief at the comeback, By games end, I just had my head in hands in shock. Mike Schmidt would hit 38 home runs on the season with 107 RBI, and a season slash line of .262/.393/514,
On this day in baseball history Pete Rose collected his 4,000th hit at Olympic Stadium in Montreal off Philadelphia's Jerry Koosman a double into the rightfield corner. It came 21 years to the date of his first hit in 1963 off of the Pittsburgh Pirates Bob Friend. You can leave us your comments on whether Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame or not.
