Phillies fans of a certain age have a clear memory of right-handed pitcher Dick Ruthven on the mound as the Phillies clinched their trip to the 1980 World Series with an improbable 10-inning, 8-7, victory over the Houston Astros. This Phillies team, which had been the best team in the National League for five straight seasons, finally got over the playoff hump and advanced to the biggest prize of them all. Ruthven, normally a starter, pitched the final two innings of this gut-wrenching game, shutting down the Astros, six up, six down, using almost entirely fastballs. When the final out landed in centerfielder Garry Maddox's glove, Ruthven was mobbed by his teammates on the Astrodome mound.
Ruthven's journey to that moment began when the Sacramento native was the number one draft pick out of California State University, Fresno in the January 1973 secondary-phase draft. The 22-year-old featured a devastating 12-6 curve ball and a fastball that some scouts thought was not fast enough for major league standards. He would prove those scouts wrong.
After impressing in spring training, Ruthven was rushed straight to the major leagues by the pitching starved Phillies. Ruthven took a regular turn as the fifth starter behind Steve Carlton, Jim Lonborg, Wayne Twitchell, and Ken Brett. The Phillies, in their first season under manager Danny Ozark, improved by 12 games over their dismal 1972 mark, but still finished last in the NL East Division, 11 1/2 games behind the first place New York Mets.
The young pitcher with no minor league experience held his own. After a poor outing in his first start on April 17 (1 2/3 innings, five hits, two walks, four earned runs), he bounced back with fine outing on April 22, matching the legendary St. Louis Cardinal right-hander, Bob Gibson, pitch for pitch. Ruthven worked 7 2/3 innings to a no decision, in a game the Phillies eventually won, 2-1, with two out in the ninth on a Mike Schmidt walk-off home run. Ruthven did it without his curve ball, relying mainly on a good, well-located fastball. "Let those scouts tell me his fastball isn't good enough now," challenged Ozark.
Ruthven's first win came in his next outing on April 28, when he outpointed Cincinnati Reds ace Don Gullett, 1-0. He was spectacular in this game, allowing no runs and only one hit, while walking two and striking out 10. Relievers Billy Wilson and Mac Scarce closed out the victory for him. For this game, his curve ball returned. "I got back the curve ball nobody thought I had, or at least they were starting to doubt," said Ruthven. "That's the first time it's felt like a curve ball since the end of spring training."
Over the next two months, Ruthven had a few good outings and a few bad outings, but no victories. He was riding a five-game losing streak, when he faced off against the Cardinals and Gibson again on June 26, pitching six innings as the Phillies romped 10-3. In his next outing on July 1, Ruthven was again matched up against the daunting Gibson, this time at Busch Stadium, St. Louis. Dick responded with one of the greatest games of his career, besting Gibson with a complete game, 1-0 victory. After giving up two hits and three walks over the first four innings, Ruthven retired the final 17 hitters in a row. It was his third victory and first complete game.
Ruthven mostly abandoned his curveball in this game, using his new pitch, the slider, effectively. Phillies pitching coach Ray Ripplemeyer said, "He needed another pitch he could throw for strikes when the curve ball wasn't working." Greg Luzinski drove in the only run of the game with an eighth inning single that scored Bill Robinson, who had singled and moved up on a Denny Doyle sacrifice. For the record, the rookie Ruthven faced the veteran Gibson three times in 1973 and the Phillies emerged 3-0 in those games.
Over the next two years, Ruthven's lack of minor league seasoning seemed to catch up with him. He was a regular, if inconsistent, part of the Phillies rotation in 1974, but by 1975 he was replaced in the rotation by another young phenom, Larry Christenson. Along the way, "Rufus" as his teammates called him, had developed a reputation as a bit of a flake. Fined $50 for getting thrown out of a game by umpire Bruce Froemming, he sent a check to the league office that bounced. He could be surly to teammates while on the mound. Larry Bowa said, "He thinks everybody is on him, when we're just trying to help him. I feel sorry for him, because he has never been in the minor leagues." At the end of spring training 1975, that was corrected. Ruthven started the season at the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.
After going 10-12, 3.18 at Toledo, Ruthven was back with the big club for August and September, but he did not pitch particularly well. The Phillies seemed to lose interest in him and traded Ruthven to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Buskey and Jim Kaat. The White Sox immediately turned around and traded Ruthven to the Atlanta Braves. After a couple of pretty good seasons with a very bad Atlanta team, even making the All-Star team in 1976, Ruthven returned to the Phillies in a June 1978 deal for popular and highly effective reliever, Gene Garber.
Ruthven forced the trade. He liked playing for Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, bur he hated Braves owner, Ted Turner. Ruthven accused Turner of making a pass at his wife and demanded an apology that Turner then turned into a public spectacle. Ruthven also felt hard done in salary negotiations with Atlanta, where his agent, Jim Bunning, was unable to convince an arbitrator that Ruthven deserved more money. At any rate, Cox promised to trade Ruthven, if he could. Ruthven slotted into the Phillies rotation right behind Carlton and Christenson and he was terrific. He had the best sustained stretch of pitching in his career going 13-5, with a 2.99 ERA in 20 starts as the Phillies again captured the NL East Division, He lost his only playoff start to Tommy John and the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0.
Elbow problems cost Ruthven effectiveness and time on the disabled list in 1979, but he rebounded with a fine year in the 1980 championship year. He remained a regular in the Phillies rotation until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for reliever Willie Hernandez in May 1983. He had one good season with the Cubs and was released in 1986.
Dick Ruthven had a 123-127 career won-loss record, 78-65 with the Phillies. Would Ruthven and the Phillies have been better off if the #1 draft pick had spent some time in the minor leagues learning his craft? Probably. Ruthven, himself, said that he was just a thrower in his first stint as a Phillie. After two+ years in Atlanta, he returned to the team as a more mature pitcher and a more mature human being. That grown-up Ruthven was on the mound when the Phillies needed him most that October day in 1980.
Here's a condensed version of that 1980 playoff game that ends with Ruthven on the mound for the Phillies. It was named the 18th greatest game in baseball history.
Pitcher Jack Sanford burst onto the scene with the Phillies in 1957 as an unheralded 28-year-old rookie, who had spent many years laboring in the Phillies minor league system. He pitched a fading group of former Whiz Kids into contention for half of the season, appeared in the All-Star game, and went on to edge out teammate Ed Bouchee as the Rookie-of-the-Year. His record was an excellent 19-8 with a 3.08 ERA that year and he led the league with 188 strikeouts. The following spring, Sanford reported to camp overweight and out of shape, and fell to 10-13 with a 4.44 ERA. The Phillies soured on him and traded him away that winter to the San Francisco Giants for catcher Valmy Thomas and pitcher Ruben Gomez. It would turn out to be one of the most inexplicable trades in Phillies history.
In 1947, the Phillies signed three pitchers who would have a major impact in the major leagues. Eighteen-year-old lefty phenom Curt Simmons was signed for a $65,000 bonus and rushed straight up to the major leagues. College grad, Robin Roberts, signed for $25,000, and after 11 starts in the minors, was promoted to the big leagues in mid-1948. Jack Sanford, the second-best pitcher on his Wellesley (Massachusetts) High School team, received no bonus and was assigned to the Class D Dover (Delaware) Phillies in the Eastern Shore League for $125 a month. Thus began Sanford's long odyssey through the minor leagues.
Lack of control kept Sanford in the minors for seven years. Lack of control of his hard sinking fastball and lack of control of his combustible temper. As he worked his way through the minors, Sanford routinely averaged 6+ walks per nine innings. Slowly, however, he learned to command his blazing fastball and by 1953 he was pitching for the Phillies top farm club, the Triple-A Baltimore Orioles. After a strong season at Baltimore (14-13, 3.69), Sanford was invited to the Phillies major league camp in the spring of 1954. Sanford thought he had pitched well enough to make the big club. When he was farmed out to Syracuse, he had an angry confrontation with the front office. Sanford's temper was, by then, well known by the Phillies brass. His temper affected his pitching ability. According to assistant farm director, Eddie Collins, Jr., if Sanford thought an umpire had missed a call, "He'd blow his top and it would unsettle him so much he would be unable to do what he wanted on the next pitch."*
After a poor season with Syracuse in 1954, Sanford was drafted into the army and was out of professional baseball for almost two years, although he spent most of his time in the service pitching for a camp team. After his discharge in 1956, Sanford, who had been working out with the Phillies by pitching batting practice, was activated and started his first major league game on September 16. He performed well. Against the Chicago Cubs, he pitched seven innings of four hit baseball, while walking eight, and was the winning pitcher, 4-1. Reliever Ron Negray earned a two-inning save. That performance put Sanford on the radar for 1957.
Sanford began the 1957 season in the starting rotation with Robin Roberts, Curt Simons, Harvey Haddix, and another rookie, Don Cardwell. He won his first four starts but was just warming up. On June 1, he shutout the Brooklyn Dodgers, 3-0, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out 11. On June 7, he shut out the Chicago Cubs, 1-0, on just three hits, striking out 13, tying a Phillies record for the time. He ran his scoreless inning streak to 20 innings in his next start on June 13, when he was finally scored upon by the St. Louis Cardinals, but he won that game, 8-1. That 8-1 score matched Sanford's won-loss record to that point, and the Phillies stood at 29-21 in second place, just 1/2 game behind the Milwaukee Braves.
By now, Sanford was the talk of the town and was attracting national attention. In a lengthy feature article by Edgar Williams in Baseball Digest, ** Roy Campanella, who struck out three times in that June 1 shutout by Sanford is quoted as saying, "You just can't throw a ball faster than he did. He threw it right by me. I couldn't get my bat around. What I want to know -- where have they been hiding a fellow like that?" After the Cubs shutout on June 7, manager Bob Scheffing moaned, "Now I know what it means to be Sanford-ized."*** Phillies pitching coach Whit Wyatt compared Sanford's fastball favorably to that of Bob Feller. Wyatt should know from fastballs. After facing Sanford, St. Louis Cardinals star Stan Musial told The Sporting News, "I don't believe I've seen a pitcher be able to ride that high fast one so effectively since Whitlow Wyatt at Brooklyn (fifteen years ago)."**** Former major league pitcher, Bullet Joe Bush, no stranger to the fastball himself said, "He throws aspirin tablets and he's just wild enough to keep everybody loose at the plate."
Sanford continued to pitch well, but the Phillies fell out of contention as their weak hitting began to take a toll on their generally effective pitching staff. The Phillies offense finished at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories and the team ended the season in fifth place with a .500 record, 77-77-2. Phillies teams would not approach .500 again for another five years. Sanford was named Rookie-of-the-Year for his performance. Astoundingly, he boasted a 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio, a figure he had never approached in the minor leagues.
In 1958, the Phillies fell to last place and Sanford pitched poorly. Sanford blamed himself. He told the San Francisco Examiner's Walter Judge, "I reported in Florida at 210 pounds. We had bad weather and I never did get down to my best playing weight. I guess I was a little more relaxed than I was the previous year. I thought I didn't have to push myself as much."**** The Phillies decided that Sanford was a one-year wonder and shipped him off to the San Francisco Giants for catcher Valmy Thomas and pitcher Ruben Gomez.
Gomez was the better-known player in the trade, but, perhaps surprisingly, Phillies general manager Roy Hamey said the trade was made primarily because the Phillies wanted a strong defensive catcher. He was very high on Thomas' defensive ability. The only question was if Thomas could hit. He couldn't. Thomas played a grand total of 64 games for the Phillies, failed to hit his weight, and was benched in favor of veteran Carl Sawatski. Thomas was unceremoniously sold to the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the season. Ruben Gomez was also a complete bust. He pitched to a 3-8 record with a horrendous 6.10 ERA. in 1959. After starting 1960 0-3, he was sold to the Cleveland Indians.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Giants manager Bill Rigney was salivating. "Sanford will be a 20-game winner for us," he said. Eventually, he was. Sanford won 89 games for the Giants over the next seven years and pitched them into the World Series with a spectacular 24-7 season in 1962. Sanford also pitched well in the World Series against the Yankees that year, but emerged with a record of 1-2, dropping game seven when Willie McCovey's smash line drive famously ended up in second baseman Bobby Richardson's glove.
Years after this ill-fated trade, Phillies owner Bob Carpenter called it, "The worst trade I ever made." While there is plenty of competition for that title, Carpenter is probably correct.
Jack Sanford had arm miseries late in his career and eventually was converted to a reliever, a role he did not enjoy. He retired with a record of 137-101 and worked for a time as a pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians, notably helping pitcher "Sudden" Sam McDowell improve the control of his blazing fastball. Sanford later worked as the manager of a golf club. He died in 2000, at age 70, from a brain tumor.
*Warren Corbett, "Jack Sanford," SABR BioProject. ** Edgar Williams, "The Phillies Hot Tot Trio," Baseball Digest, August 1957: 5 *** Scheffing is making a pun here. In those days, a men's shirt that had been "sanforized" had been pre-shrunk and guaranteed not to shrink further. **** Neal Russo, "Cardinals Spike Newk's Jinx, But Not Dodgers' Spell," The Sporting News, July 24, 1957: 6 ***** Walter Judge, "Sanford Pleased by Trade," San Francisco Examiner, December 4, 1958: 47.
When you read through team rosters on baseball history sites like Baseball-Reference.com, generally you will find a player whose position designation is UT. A UT is, of course, a utility player - a player who doesn't start a lot of games, but a player who can play many positions and is good enough to start for a week or two when one of the regulars gets injured. Utility players don't usually get much press, or even fan recognition, but they play a crucial role on any team. Currently, the Phillies have a fine utility player in Johan Camargo. Here is a decade-by-decade rundown of some of the Phillies' great utility players from years past.
Jimmy Walsh (1910 - 1913)
Nicknamed "Runt", the 5' 9", 174-pound Walsh was a player who helped define what a utility player should be. In 1911, he played every position on the field for the Phillies. While primarily an infielder, Runt was willing to play anywhere the manager asked. He volunteered to go behind the plate and caught four games in 1911. That same year he made his one appearance on the mound, pitching 2 2/3 innings and giving up eight hits and four earned runs in a 13-10 Phillies loss to the Boston Rustlers.
Walsh got one of his extended opportunities to play in 1911, when star left fielder Sherry Magee was suspended for attacking an umpire. Walsh filled in capably over 20 games hitting .271 and playing stout outfield defense.
Walsh was known for being an inveterate practical joker. He once pulled off a "snipe hunt" that was so successful that the poor young ballplayer who got left in the woods during the "hunt", James Conley, was known forevermore as "Snipe" Conley.
In 1914, Walsh accepted an offer from his friend and former Phillies' second baseman, Otto Knabe to jump to the Baltimore team in the newly formed Federal League. Knabe said of his recruit, "It may sound strange, but Runt Walsh is too good a ball player to be a regular. By using him where and when I need him most, I can get the most out of him." Such is the lot of the utility player.
Russ Wrightstone (1920-1928)
All observers agreed on one thing about Russ Wrightstone - he could hit. The problem for the right-handed throwing, lefty batting slugger, was finding a position on the field where he could play. Unlike most utility players, Wrightstone was not great at any defensive position. It was his bat that got him to the major leagues and his bat that kept him there for nine years. He was most often used as a third baseman, a position that was not considered an elite defensive position in those days, but also spent considerable time in the outfield and at first base. During his time with the Phillies, he played every position except pitcher and catcher.
Russ was a truly fine hitter. In five of his nine seasons, he hit over .300, topping out at .346 in 1925. In his one season as a regular, 1927, he hit .306 with 74 RBIs in 141 games at first base. The finest offensive game of his career came on July 11, 1926, when Wrightstone went 4-for-6 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs in a game the Phillies won 13-11 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Still, fielding issues kept him from being a full-time player. He once dropped an easy fly ball in left field with two outs in the ninth inning, the bases loaded and the Phillies clinging to a 6-5 lead over the Chicago Cubs. The muff cost the team the ball game. Afterwards, Wrightstone complained, "The ball was too damn high." You can read my full SABR biography of Russ Wrightstone here.
Barney Friberg (1925-1932)
Friberg (also known as Bernie) was primarily a third baseman when the Phillies picked him up on waivers from the Chicago Cubs in July 1925. He soon became a jack-of-all-trades, filling in all over the diamond. His one appearance on the mound occurred on August 25 that year, after the Phillies had fallen behind the St. Louis Cardinals 12-5. Barney pitched four innings, giving up just two runs on four hits and saving the Phillies bullpen in the process.
After poor offensive seasons in 1927 and 28, Barney almost became a full-time pitcher, but an injury to Phillies shortstop Tommy Thevenow, who broke both jaws and shattered his cheekbones in an automobile accident, gave Barney a chance to get regular playing time at shortstop. He responded by hitting .301 and playing decent shortstop. On Monday, May 13, Barney went 4-for-5 with a home run and a walk off two-run double in the bottom of the ninth as the Phillies beat the Cardinals, 10-9. At the end of the season, Phillies manager Burt Shotton declared Barney, "the most valuable player on our team." Friberg even got some votes for National League MVP.
In 1930, Friberg hit .341, while appearing in 105 games at various positions. He was with the Phillies until 1933, when he finished out his major league career with 17 games for the Boston Red Sox. In nearly 800 games in a Phillies uniform, Friberg hit a solid .274. You can read my post about Barney Friberg here.
Putsy Caballero (1944-45, 1947-52)
Whiz Kid Putsy Caballero makes this list if for no other reason than having one of the great names in baseball history. Ralph Joseph Caballero was born in New Orleans, Louisiana where he got his nickname at a young age, because he said, "People just called me Putsy, there was no special reason for it." A fine high school athlete in both basketball and baseball, Putsy was given a scholarship to Louisiana State University, but chose instead to sign with the Phillies. At 16 in 1944, Putsy had the advantage of being too young for the military draft. The Phillies, like all teams, desperate for players during the war years, brought Putsy right up to the major league team at the end of the season. Putsy was the youngest player in major league history to play third base and the youngest position player to appear in the post-World War 1 era.
Caballero spent most of 1945 and all of 1946 in the Phillies farm system, where he roomed with future Hall of Famer and Phillies broadcaster, Richie Ashburn. The two became friends and remained roommates when both were promoted to the Phillies in 1948. Putsy's exploits became fodder for broadcaster Ashburn after Richie had retired. One famous story that Richie told was how one Italian Philadelphia restauranteur who, assuming Caballero was Italian, would not let Putsy pay for a meal. Caballero, who was of French, Irish, and Spanish descent, kept quiet about his ancestry so he and his teammates could get a free dinner.
During his time with the Phillies, Putsy never played much. He was often used as a pinch runner or defensive substitute. His best season was probably 1948, when he appeared in 113 games and hit .245, mostly as a third baseman. Putsy did hang around long enough to be on the pennant winning 1950 team, however. He appeared in three World Series games against the New York Yankees, two as a pinch runner and one as an unsuccessful pinch hitter.
Cookie Rojas (1963-1969)
In November 1962, the Phillies traded problem child pitcher and charter member of the Dalton Gang, Jim Owens, to the Cincinnati Reds for unheralded utility infielder, Cookie Rojas. While it appeared to be a minor deal at the time (Mauch said, "Sometimes you add by subtracting."), Rojas went on to become, arguably, the best utility player in Phillies history and a fan favorite. It may be unfair to even call Rojas a utility man since he was in the starting lineup so often, but his versatility and willingness to play anywhere he was asked to play, endeared him to manager Mauch and earned him the playing time.
After an undistinguished 1963 season, Rojas established himself as a Phillies hero in the fateful 1964 season. In 1964, Rojas played every position on the field except catcher and pitcher. He spent most of his time in the outfield, being used as a right-handed hitting alternative to Tony Gonzalez or Wes Covington. On May 29 at Connie Mack Stadium, Rojas endeared himself to the Phillies fans forever. The young Phillies found themselves, surprisingly, in the pennant hunt, just one game behind the San Francisco Giants. On this day, Jim Bunning and the bullpen managed to blow a five-run lead to the Houston Astros in the eighth inning. Rojas, who already had three hits on the day, tripled to center field over the head of Rusty Staub, to drive home Gus Triandos with the go ahead run. Ed Roebuck shut down the Astros in the ninth and the Phillies had the victory.
Rojas had his best season in 1965 while most of the Phillies slumped after the 1964 tragedy. He hit .303 in 142 games and made the All-Star team. In 1967, Rojas made his only pitching appearance, when he pitched one shutout inning against the Giants in a 12-3 Phillies loss. Traded from the Phillies in the infamous Curt Flood-Dick Allen deal, Rojas had a poor season with the St. Louis Cardinals, before a trade that made him the regular second baseman for the Kansas City Royals and a perennial All-Star. Here is my full article about Rojas.
Terry Harmon (1967-1977)
In the 1960s and 70s the Phillies drafted a number of players out of Ohio University, including the highly touted Mike Schmidt (2nd round 1971) and Larry Hisle (second round 1965). Much less touted, but a player who ended up with a 10-year career with the Phillies was utility man, Terry Harmon (5th round 1965). Harmon was the quintessential bench player for the Phillies, as they continually improved in the 1970s. He never played in more than 87 games (in his rookie year of 1969) and never got more than 221 at bats (in his best year 1972). Harmon was, however, a very steady presence as a late inning defensive replacement at either shortstop or second base, as a pinch runner, and as a fill-in starter when a regular got hurt. In 1972, Harmon platooned at second base with regular Denny Doyle and responded with a fine .284 batting average. Harmon had very little power, hitting just four home runs in his ten years with the Phillies.
Terry's finest game may have been on May 7, 1972 at Veteran's Stadium, when he went 4-for-4 and scored three runs as the Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-3 behind Steve Carlton. After years toiling with poor Phillies teams, Harmon finally made his one and only appearance in a playoff game in 1976, when he appeared as a pinch runner for catcher Bob Boone during Game 3 of the League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Harmon scored the go ahead run on a Dave Cash sacrifice fly, but the Phillies lost the game and the series, 6-5, 3-0.
Greg Gross (1979-1988)
Pinch hitter par excellence Greg Gross is the only lefty thrower in this group of super subs. While most utility players are infielders, who may play a little outfield, Gross was an outfielder who played a little first base. Gross' claim to fame was more his hitting than his defense, but he filled in capably in all three outfield positions and at first. A slap hitter without a lot of power, Gross hit just one home run in his 1819 plate appearances with the Phillies. That home run was a game winning two-run shot off Lance McCullers of the San Diego Padres at Jack Murphy Field on May 27, 1987.
One of Gross' best games for the Phillies came as the team drove to the pennant on August 19, 1983. He went 2-for-4 with a triple, single, sacrifice fly, and three runs batted in, while playing both right and left field as the Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1. Gross may be best remembered for the bunt single he laid down in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series in 1980 as the Phillies came from behind in the eighth inning against Nolan Ryan to tie the score and eventually win the game in 10 innings, in what may be the greatest single Phillies game ever played.
In the tradition of many utility players, Gross even took the mound for the Phillies in a blowout game in 1986. He struck out two (Casey Candaele and Herm Winningham), walked one, and gave up one hit in 2/3 of an inning work. After his playing career, Gross was the hitting coach for the Phillies for several years.
Mariano Duncan (1992-1995)
During his four years with the Phillies Mariano Duncan played every infield position, and perhaps surprisingly, 65 games in left field. Duncan was a key member of the "rowdy team of misfits" that won the National League pennant in 1993. That year Duncan platooned with Mickey Morandini at second base and filled in at shortstop for the struggling Juan Bell, until Kevin Stocker was brought up from the minor leagues.
Duncan's finest moment as a Phillie came that year. On May 9 at Veterans Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phillies trailed by 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth inning after the first two batters made outs, Darren Daulton singled and Wes Chamberlain doubled. Cardinals manager Joe Torre called on reliever Lee Smith to replace starter Bob Tewksbury. Smith walked Milt Thompson to load the bases and bring up Duncan. Mariano blasted Smith's first pitch to the deep left center field seats for a game winning grand slam home run. The Phillies rode the momentum from that victory all the way to the pennant.
Duncan showed that he fit right in with '93 Phillies feistiness, when he charged the Cubs pitcher Ron Castillo on the mound after he was low bridged by a pitch. The benches cleared and after the dust had settled, Duncan was ejected.
Here is Mariano’s grand slam.
Kevin Jordan (1995-2001)
KJ, as he was known to teammates, played his entire seven-year major league career with the Phillies after coming over to the team with pitcher Bobby Munoz in a trade with the Yankees for Terry Mulholland. Jordan was an oft-used pinch hitter with the Phillies and played second, third, and first base. Jordan's finest season with the Phillies was 1999 when he hit .285 in 112 games, filling in capably at third base after Scott Rolen was injured.
On April 28, 1998, KJ had a shining moment in a wild game at Cinergy Field in Cincinnati. With the score tied 8-8 in the 10th inning, Jordan came to the plate with two men on and two men out. He blasted a Stan Belinda pitch out of the park to give the Phillies an 11-8 lead. Reliever Darrin Winston, the last pitcher in the bullpen, preserved the lead for the only save of his major league career. After the game Jordan told reporters, "That was one of those games where you feel every emotion. We were happy, we were sad, we were angry. The game had everything you could possibly see."
The only grand slam of Jordan's career also came as a pinch hitter. The blast came on April 20, 2001at Veteran's Stadium, against the Atlanta Braves. Jordan took Oliver Perez deep with the bases jammed in the seventh inning as the Phillies won, 8-3. That was Jordan's final year in the major leagues. After two seasons in the minor leagues, Jordan finished out his career playing three seasons across the Delaware River with the independent Camden River Sharks.
Tomas Perez (2000-2005)
In his six seasons as a Phillie, Tomas Perez established himself as a fan favorite. He was a man who seemed content in his role as a utility player, a joyous personality, and the man who put himself in charge of post-game victory celebrations. Perez famously led his teammates after a victory by anointing the game's hero with a cream pie to the face, often while the "star of the game" was doing a post-game interview. Tomas was easy to like. He was also a pretty good ballplayer. Primarily a shortstop/second baseman, Perez played all the positions in the infield, made a few appearances in the outfield and one appearance on the mound, pitching 1/3 of an inning against Houston in a 17-3 Astros blowout on May 13, 2002. Perez faced two batters, one of whom reached on an error by Jason Michaels.
Perez reached his offensive peak with the Phillies when he hit .304 in 62 games during the 2003 season. Other seasons he honed closer to being the career .240 hitter he was. On July 24, 2001, Tomas blasted two solo home runs at the Vet as the Phillies crushed the Montreal Expos, 10-2. They were Perez' first two home runs of the year and the only time in his career he hit 2 home runs in a game. Remarkably, Perez hit one home run batting left-handed against Tony Armas and the other home run batting right-handed against lefty Joey Eischen. This matched the feat of Steve Jeltz (1989), later equaled by Jimmy Rollins (2006) as the only Phillies players to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. All three players were playing shortstop at the time they achieved this feat.
Even in pain, Perez could bring a smile to a teammates' face. On August 24, 2001, at the Vet, in the eighth inning, with the Phillies leading the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5, Perez took a mighty hack at a Byung-Hyun Kim slider. The ball broke wickedly and hit Perez in what announcer Harry Kalas called a "sensitive place." While Perez doubled over in pain and disbelief, the camera shot to Doug Glanville in the dugout. Doug could not contain a broad smile. Here's video of the incident.
So, there are ten of the top utility players in Phillies' history. I am sure I have left out some favorites. Who would you add?
This article originally appeared in Here's the Pitch,the newsletter of the Internet Baseball Writers of America Association (IBWAA).
It could easily be argued that the 2021 Atlanta Braves
would have struggled to make the playoffs, let alone win three playoff series
on the way to a World Series title, without a major assist from three other
teams, The Indians, the Marlins, and the Royals, were willing to part with,
respectively, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, and Jorge Soler, for next to nothing
in return. The Braves were reeling from the losses of Marcel Ozuna and Ronald
Acuna, Jr. With the Phillies and Mets vying with them for the top spot in the
National League East, they needed to act quickly. These three mid-season deals
saved their bacon. After helping the Braves to the Division title, Rosario,
Duvall, and Soler then powered them through the playoffs to the title.
A similar scenario played out for the World Champion
New York Giants exactly 100 years ago in 1921. John McGraw’s 1921 Giants team would
never have won the National League pennant, let alone defeat the Babe Ruth led
Yankees in the World Series, without a major assist from just one team: that
infamous doormat of the league, the Philadelphia Phillies. On the field, the
Phillies contributed by losing 15 of the 21 games they played against the
Giants. It is off the field, however, in a series of one-sided trades, that the
Phillies and their parsimonious owner, William F. Baker, made their greatest
contribution. Three key members of the champion Giants, shortstop Dave
Bancroft, second baseman Johnny Rawlings, and outfielder Irish Meusel, came via
trades with the Phillies.
Bancroft was the first of the trio to be traded. The
future Hall of Fame shortstop went to the Giants on June 7, 1920, in a straight
up deal for Art Fletcher and that most valued of commodities for Phils’ owner Baker,
cash. Bancroft was 29 years old and at the peak of his career. As a rookie he
had been a key member of the Phillies’ 1915 pennant winners. Fletcher was a
good player, but at 35 he was very near the end of his career. He did not play
at all for the Phillies in 1921 and returned for his final season in 1922. By
contrast, in 1921, Bancroft was arguably the most valuable player on the Giants,
putting up a team leading 7.4 WAR.
During the 1921 season, Baker showed even more
generosity to manager John McGraw and his Giants. McGraw was looking for an
infielder because rookie Goldie Rapp wasn’t cutting it at third base, hitting
just .215 through the end of June. At that point, the Giants were 4.5 games
behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. On July 1, Baker obliged McGraw by sending him
second baseman Johnny Rawlings and disgruntled outfielder, Casey Stengel, in
return for Rapp, reserve outfielder Lee King, and minor leaguer Lance
Richbourg.
Stengel was injured and played in only 18 games for
the Giants, but the acquisition of Rawlings allowed McGraw to move star
infielder and future Hall of Famer, Frankie Frisch, to third base and install
Rawlings at second where he formed a fine double play partnership with
Bancroft. In Philadelphia, Rapp never did hit and was gone from the major
leagues after 1923. King had minimal impact and was eventually sent back to the
Giants, Richbourg played in only 10 games for the Phillies. He surfaced several
years later as a productive player for the Boston Braves.
Two weeks later and in search of pitching strength,
McGraw pried pitcher Red Causey loose from Baker and the Phillies for a minor
league pitcher, Jesse Winters, and rookie infielder John Monroe. Causey took a
place in the Giants’ bullpen but was hit hard in early outings and appeared in
only nine games.
On July 25, with his team still four games behind the
Pirates, McGraw went to the Philadelphia well once more to get the slugging
outfielder that would put his team over the top in the National League. He
obtained the Phillies best hitter, Irish Meusel, from Baker for Curt Walker,
minor league catcher, Butch Henline, and yes, $30,000 in cash. At the time of
the trade, Meusel was hitting .358 with 12 home runs. Both Walker (who fell ill
and missed the rest of the season shortly after the trade) and Henline turned
into good players, but Meusel was one of the leagues’ premiere sluggers.
A story widely reported in the papers was that Baker
had soured on Meusel. In fact, two days before the trade Baker suspended Meusel
for indifferent play. Apparently as Meusel was walking off the field between
innings a gentleman in the stands razzed him for lack of hustle on a fly ball. Meusel
reportedly replied, “Why should I go hard after that ball?” The heckling fan
was apparently a stockholder in the Phillies, and he reported the exchange to
Baker, who suspended Meusel and then traded him to the Giants.
From the time of the Meusel deal onward, the Giants
steadily ate into the Pirates lead, until they finally overtook the Bucs with a
6-2 victory over the Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) on September 9. In that game
Meusel was 3 for 4 with a double. The Giants eventually won the pennant by four
games. Meusel hit .329 after coming over from the Phillies, Rawlings .269 while
solidifying the infield, and Bancroft hit .318 for the year.
In the best of nine World Series the Giants fell
behind the Yankees two games to zero, after being shut out in the first two
games by Carl Mays and Waite Hoyt. The Giants’ bats got going in the third game
and the Giants won 13-5 behind the hitting of Meusel, Rawlings, and Ross
Youngs. Meusel and Rawlings joined with outfielder George Burns to power the
Giants to a Game 4 win 4-2, behind the pitching of veteran Phil Douglas.
The Yankees took Game 5, 3-1, with Hoyt again the
pitching star. The Giants then won the series by winning the next three games in
a row. In Game 6, Meusel, Bancroft, and High Pockets Kelly were the hitting
stars. In Game 7, Douglas again pitched very well, as Meusel and catcher Frank
Snyder (also having a great series) drove in the only Giant runs in a 2-1
victory. The Giants faced nemesis Waite Hoyt in Game 8. Bancroft scored an
unearned run in the first inning after he walked and scored when shortstop
Roger Peckinpaugh bobbled High Pockets Kelly’s ground ball. Giants’ hurler, Art
Nehf, then shut out the Yankees on four-hits to bring the Giants the
championship.
In the series, Rawlings, Bancroft, and Meusel played
every inning. Meusel led his team with seven RBIs, while hitting .345. Rawlings
hit .333 with three doubles and four RBIs. Bancroft hit poorly in the series,
just .145, but did have three crucial RBIs and played his usual solid defense.
Like the 2021 Atlanta Braves, the 1921 New York Giants
were a team with a chance to win that needed to fill some weaknesses. The
Braves found three teams willing to help them. The Giants only really needed
one, the perpetually cash strapped Philadelphia Phillies, who over the course
of little more than one year, sent their three best players north to help the Giants
become World Series Champs.
Hot Stove League rumors in the fall of 1921 had the
Phillies sending their best pitcher. Lee Meadows, to the Giants. Fortunately
for Phillies’ fans, that deal never came off.
