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

Around this time last year, I noted in this post about how the Phils were lacking in the Hall of Fame department as a result of the dreary teams of the late 80s and 90s.

Guess what.

The drought continues.

Last year the only player on the ballot who even wore Phillies pinstripes at some point in time was the GIDP-master Dale Murphy. An incredible hitter in his heyday, by the time he played in Philly, he was a shell of the player he once was. But he's still a borderline Cooperstown candidate simply because of his solid body of work from earlier in his career.

Besides Murphy, two more players wore Phils pinstripes at the tail end of their careers and now are on the HOF ballot: outfielder Ron Gant (like Murphy, another longtime Brave) and pitcher Dan Plesac.

To give you an idea of how long these three former stars donned Phils laundry versus how long they played in the MLB, the three of these players combined to play a total of 497 games as Phillies out of a total of 5076 games during their collective careers. That's about 9.7% of their careers played here. At the tail end, no less.

So the moral of the story, I reckon, is if you want to have a good career but not quite good enough to make the Hall of Fame, finish up your career in Philly. Or something like that.

Now, in order to give us Phils fans something to root for during the off-season, we must find a way to convince the baseball writers to get Desi Relaford on the ballot...

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*

Phillies' Alumni Checklist

So the Phils tanked another game tonight and pretty much initiated the process of letting the wheels fall off in their annual playoff collapse. So I thought I'd reminisce a moment and think about some of the great alumni of Phils' years past.

It just so happens that at the last Phils game I attended, I, along with every other fan, received a free pack of cards to celebrate the Phils' alumni that would be honored before the game. The first card is the "Phillies Alumni Checklist" and has a list of these players, in this order:

• Robin Roberts: Hall of Famer; great start to the list
  
• Tony Taylor: played 19 years in the Majors, had a respectable career
• Dick Allen: had a great career for the Phils and with several other teams; borderline Hall of Fame potential
• Dallas Green: coached the Phils to the 1980 World Series championship; classic "baseball guy"
• Mike Schmidt: Hall of Famer, say no more
• Steve Carlton: Hall of Famer, a little wacky, but unbelievable career
• Garry Maddox: enjoyed a successful 11 years in a Phils uniform, good all around guy
• Greg Luzinski: "The Bull" was a memorable character who could hit the ball to China
• Dave Hollins: umm, okay, he had his moments, but isn't there any other alumni they could drag out to this event?
• Rico Brogna: Rico Brogna? Rico Brogna! The Phils have been around for 125+ years and he was the best they could do for an alumni ceremony? He seems like a nice guy and put together a few decent at-bats and has a great name and all, but... wow.

OK, so much for reminiscing. How much longer till Eagles' season starts??