Phillies and the Hall: Not This Year, Not Even for a While...

Perhaps you remember the exciting years of 1994 and 1995 when both Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt were voted into the Hall of Fame (along with Richie Ashburn who was selected by the Veterans Committee in 1995). It's certainly a rare feat to have two players chosen to enter the Hall of Fame in such a short period of time (not counting Ashburn, for this sake of this discussion), and quite an honor at that.

But looking at the results since then, the Phillies have hardly even had anybody make the ballot, which says a lot about just how lame the Phils were in the late 80s and 90s, when the players of those years began retiring.

For instance, this year there is only one player eligible out of 25 possible nominees who ever even played for the Phightin's, and that's the one and only Dale Murphy, who pretty much ended his storied career here as a fizzled veteran from 1990-92 (and played 26 games with the Rockies the following year). Ever since Schmidt was elected, there has rarely been an appearance by an ex-Phillie on the ballot. Take a look for your self at the Hall of Fame's website, and do a search by year (even though it's annoyingly tedious and painful the way it's designed.)

So in my estimation, we'll have to wait quite a while to have another one-time Phillie even make the Hall of Fame ballot. I'd suppose Curt Schilling, Jim Thome, and Benito Santiago (another fizzled veteran) are our best shots for the near future. Other than that, I'm guessing it'll be a long dry spell until we get a Phillie HOFer in there.

Unless, perhaps, Midre Cummings or Calvin Maduro get a surprise call.

On the bright side, however, well down the road we should hopefully be well-represented by Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and Chase Utley. Scott Rolen, the begrudging Phil, will certainly make the ballot, as will Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal and perhaps a few others whom I can't think of at this point in time. But that's still a while yet until any of them make it.

But hey, we're Phils fans. We're as patient as they come.

*sigh*