Take out the Brooms: The 1953 Phillies Sweep Three Four-Game Series

With the recent four game sweep of the lowly Cincinnati Reds, the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies became the first Phillies team to sweep three four-game series in a season since the 1953 team. This little factoid, gleaned from a recent Phillies TV broadcast, sent the researchers here at The Faith of a Phillies Fan scrambling to the record books for a little 1953 research. In 1953, the Phillies were a good, but not very good team, under manager Steve O'Neill. O'Neill had replaced 1950's pennant winning manager Eddie Sawyer mid-season in 1952. The Phillies played well under O'Neill, and he was brought back for 1953. 

This core of the Phillies team that won the 1950 pennant was still in place. Richie Ashburn and Del Ennis still patrolled the outfield. Granny Hamner and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones were still on the infield. Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, and Jim Konstanty were still the heart of the mound crew. Added to this mix were veterans picked up from other teams like catcher Smoky Burgess, first baseman, Earl Torgeson, second baseman Connie Ryan, right fielder Johnny Wyrostek and starting pitcher Karl Drews. The team looked to be a contender for the pennant.

The team's first four game sweep came April 24-26 at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates would win only 50 games in 1953. The Phillies were 15-7 against them for the season. In the Friday night game on April 26, Jim Konstanty, normally a reliever. but who made 19 starts for the Phillies in 1953, twirled a two-hitter to beat the Bucs, 5-3. Konstanty flirted with a no-hitter until Danny O'Connell singled in the seventh. Ennis contributed a two-run home run to the cause. On Saturday afternoon the Phillies slugged three home runs (Torgeson, Hamner, and Ennis again) as Curt Simmons, who gave up 10 hits and six walks in 7 1/3 innings, managed to win, 7-6. Andy "Swede" Hansen got the save. 

Sunday was Robin Roberts Day at the stadium. Robin was honored for his amazing 28-7 1952 season. After the plaudits and gifts were distributed, Roberts pitched and beat the Pittsburgh ace Bob Friend, 7-5. Ralph Kiner and Eddie Pelligrini touched Roberts for two-run homers in the 8th and 9th respectively to make it close. Ryan went five-for-five for the Phillies including a homerun, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Roberts added two hits of his own, but after one of them, he was picked off first base by Pirate catcher Joe Garagiola. The Phillies completed the sweep of the doubleheader and the series with an 8-1 blowout. Jones had three hits, including a two-run home run off the Buccos' Elroy Face. Drews pitched the complete game for the win. The Phillies were riding an eight-game winning streak and were atop the National League standings in the early going. 

The second four-game series sweep came June 8-10 against the Chicago Cubs, again at the newly renamed Connie Mack Stadium. The Cubs were not as bad a team as the Pirates, but in their third and final season under manager Phil Cavaretta, they would finish in seventh place, with a 65-89-1 record. The Cubs now featured two players who had been playing for the Pirates when the Phillies swept them in April, Ralph Kiner and Joe Garagiola. The Pirates and Cubs had pulled off a multi-player trade just four days before this series began. 

The first game of the series, a Monday day game, saw the Phillies jump out to a 4-0 lead on four unearned runs in the second inning. With two outs and Ennis and Jones on base, Cubs second baseman, Eddie Miksis, dropped a pop fly off the bat of Phillies catcher Stan Lopata. Ennis scored and Jones moved up. The next batter, pitcher Bob Miller, singled to center field, Jones scored and Lopata attempted to move to third on the hit. Frank Baumholtz's throw was wild, and Lopata picked himself up and headed home. Pitcher Paul Minner backed up the play and threw home in an attempt to get Lopata. This throw was also wild. Lopata was safe and Miller was awarded home on the overthrow. That tour of the bases seemed to take something out of Miller and he only lasted 3 2/3 innings. before being replaced by Steve Ridzik. Ridzik picked up the win with 5 1/3 innings of shutout relief. The final was Phils 7, Cubs 3.

The next day the Phillies won a wild, see-saw affair, 10-9. Ennis won the game in walk off fashion with a ninth inning home run against his former Phillie teammate Dutch Leonard. Phillies' rookie Thornton Kipper won his first ever major league game with one inning of scoreless relief. Kipper would win a total of three games in his brief major league career. Wednesday brought a doubleheader, that included a makeup game that had been rained out on May 5. In the first game, Roberts was masterful in shutting down the Cubs, 9-1. The only run Roberts allowed was a Kiner solo home run. Torgeson was the hitting star for the Phillies with three hits and 4 RBIs, including a three-run home run. In the second game, Jim Konstanty won his fifth of the year with the help of relievers Ridzik and Drews, 8-5. Ennis and Ryan homered. The Phillies were 28-18, in third place, four games behind the Milwaukee Braves.

In July the Pirates came to town again and the Phillies feasted again. The Friday night, July 10 game featured 10 errors (six by the Phillies) and nine unearned runs, as the Phillies prevailed, 13-3. Simmons picked up his eighth win of the season. Rookie shortstop, Ted Kazanski, had three hits to raise his season average to .227. Kazanski also made two errors. On July 11, the Phillies rallied from a 4-3 deficit to win, 8-5. The big blow was another Del Ennis home run, this time a three-run dinger off the Pirates Murry Dickson. Ridzik got the win in relief of Konstanty.

The Phillies swept the July 12 doubleheader to complete the second four-game shellacking of the Pirates. In game one, Roberts bested Roy Face, 6-4. Ennis was again the hitting star, banging out three hits, including two home runs and three RBIs. In the nightcap, the Phillies scored six early runs and then hung on to win, 6-5, as Ridzik contributed another strong 5 1/3 inning relief stint for his fifth win of the season. While the Phillies were beating up on these weak teams, however, they were treading water in the standings. At 45-35, they were now in fourth place, 4.5 games behind the surging Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Robin Roberts slides in headfirst to score from first base on an Eddie Waitkus triple.
The catcher is Vic Janowicz. The umpire is Frank Secory.

 

The Phillies finished the 1953 season 83-71-2, good enough for third place in the National League, but 22 games behind the pennant winning Brooklyn Dodgers. The great hopes for the "Whiz Kids" was beginning to fade as teams like the Dodgers fielded Black players like Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, and 1953 Rookie of the Year, Jim Gilliam. The Phillies stood pat, and all white, and paid the price. 

One of the things that stands out as we look over these twelve games as a whole, however, is the importance of Del Ennis to this Phillies lineup. During these twelve games, Ennis hit .367 (18 for 49), with seven home runs, 21 RBIs, and 13 runs scored. Numbers like this show that Ennis was the most important bat in the Phillies lineup in the 1950s. Ennis was to the 1950s Phillies what Dick Allen was in the 60s, Mike Schmidt was in the 70s and 80s, and what Bryce Harper is today. Like Schmidt and Allen, Ennis was booed unmercifully by Phillies fans. The reasons for this are unclear. I looked at the booing of Ennis in this post.

Ennis was, of course, a Philly boy. He went to Olney High School, signed with the Phillies although the New York Yankees offered him more money, served in the army during World War II, played 11 years for the hometown team and settled here after his retirement. Del Ennis is on the Phillies Wall of Fame as he should be, but when his number 14 was retired, it was to honor another great Phillies' 14, Jim Bunning. Del Ennis remains one of the most underrated great Phillie ballplayers of all time. 

Digging Up an Old Scorecard: Baseball Connects Us

This past weekend I attended the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Conference in Baltimore, MD. One of the perks of attending the conference was a ticket to see the Orioles play the Boston Red Sox at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. I had never been to a game at this iconic stadium, the one that set the model for other modern "throwback" ballparks like Citizen's Bank Park, so after a full day of meetings, I planned to go early so I could get a good tour of the park. 

The stadium was just fifteen-minute walk from the conference hotel, so I set out on foot, decked out in Phillies t-shirt and hat and serendipitously passed a pub about two blocks from the stadium. Suddenly realizing I was hungry and thirsty, I dropped inside. The place was crowded and noisy, with seemingly hundreds of Orioles fans in bright orange shirts. After looking around a few minutes, I noticed a seat open at the bar and grabbed it. A voice around the corner of the bar from me said, "Are you lost?" I looked up to see an older man in orange t-shirt smiling at me and pointing to my shirt. I smiled back and said, "No just a Phillies fan here for the SABR conference and excited for my first visit to Camden Yards." The response was, "Oh yeah, I read that that conference was in town. Welcome to Baltimore."

This was Steve. Steve is a huge sports fan, who lives a half hour north of Baltimore. His first sport is hockey (he attends Hershey Bears games), but he also has season tickets to the minor league Harrisburg Senators (Double-A), attends Aberdeen IronBirds (High-A) games, and comes into Baltimore for the occasional Orioles game. I ordered a beer and a crab cake sandwich; Steve ordered a beer and a chicken tenders platter, and we settled into some baseball conversation while we waited for our food.

Steve, it turns out, grew up in New York City on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a regular at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium and occasionally travelled crosstown on the subway to Ebbets Field. Steve had a habit of always keeping score at every game he attended. In fact, he had scorecards with him there on the bar ready for the Orioles/Red Sox game. "You can't buy scorecards at this park anymore. I bring my own."

Steve says, "I remember those Phillies teams of the late 1940s and 1950s. In fact, I saw Richie Ashburn during his rookie season. They had some great players. I remember Granny Hamner, Dick Sisler, Johnny Blatnick." Johnny Blatnick! I am willing to bet that even with a baseball conference in town there were not more than a handful of people in all of Baltimore who knew who Johnny Blatnick was and two of them were sitting here talking in this bar. 

I couldn't contain my enthusiasm. "I can't believe you know about Johnny Blatnick. He had like one good month in his brief Phillies career. In fact, I wrote about it. I write a blog about Phillies history, and I wrote about Johnny's one great month. I thought nobody remembered him."

Steve said, "I'd like to read that." He gave me his phone number and I sent him the link to the article. You can read it here, too, if you'd like.     We polished off our food, drained our beer glasses and decided to walk to the game together. Halfway there, Steve remembered he had left his scorecards on the bar and went back to retrieve them. We said goodbye. Steve's scorecards got quite a workout at that game as the Orioles won, 15-10. The score was 15-9 after five innings until the back end of the bullpen for each team restored some order.

The next day I was on the train returning to Philadelphia, when I got a text from Steve. First, he complimented my article and then he sent me an absolute treasure. When he got home, he dug through his files and found the scorecard he kept of a July 5, 1954, game at the Polo Grounds between the Giants and Phillies. Steve was 14 years old at the time. 

This scorecard is a treasure for many reasons. First of all, the 1954 New York Giants were a great team, who would win the World Series in four straight over the Cleveland Indians. Second of all, the names that appear on the scorecard are sure to stir memories for any long-time baseball fan. For the Giants there were Hall of Famers Willie Mays (batting sixth!) and winning pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, as well as Hank Thompson, Don Mueller, and World Series hero to be, Dusty Rhodes. For the Phillies there was Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, as well as fellow Whiz Kids like Granny Hamner and Willie "Puddin'head" Jones. The obscure Danny Schell was the Phillies' cleanup hitter. Del Ennis was on the shelf with a thigh injury. Here's Steve's 68-year-old scorecard.

The scorecard tells the story of the game itself, of course. The Phillies scored in the first when Schell singled home Jones with two out off Giants starter Ruben Gomez. The Phillies extended their lead in the second, scoring two runs on singles by Earl Torgeson, Ashburn, and Smoky Burgess along with a Gomez error. Mays homered off Phillies starter Murry Dickson in the bottom of the second. In the fourth, Ashburn walked (one of four walks he had in the game) and was gunned down by Willie Mays trying to go first-to-third on another Burgess hit. The crowd roared as Mays grabbed Burgess' looper on one hop in his bare hand and fired to third baseman Thompson to nip the speedy Ashburn. The scorecard notation 8-5, shows, in elegant baseball shorthand, one Hall of Fame centerfielder (Mays) cutting down another (Ashburn) with a great throw. This would be the year that the marvelous Mays won his first MVP award. In the fifth, Rhodes delivered the big blow of the game, a three-run home run that put the Giants ahead for good. Wilhelm pitched three innings of one-hit relief to earn the victory.

A week after this game was played the Phillies new General Manager, Roy Hamey, fired manager Steve O'Neill and replaced him with former St. Louis Cardinal player, Terry Moore. It did no good. The Phillies finished the season 75-79, in fourth place, 22 games behind the pennant winning Giants.  Moore was fired at the end of the year. Ennis' replacement, the rookie Schell, had a good season for the Phillies, appearing in 92 games and hitting .283 with seven home runs. The following year Schell appeared in two games in April, was optioned to the minors, and never returned to the major leagues. 

In the pantheon of the tens of thousands of baseball games played through the years, this was a pretty insignificant game. But this one was made significant because a 14-year-old boy went to the game, kept a scorecard, and 68 years later chose to share it with a new friend. In a time of deep divisions in the country, baseball continues to connect us. It is a national shared experience to treasure.

Updating Don Carman's Baseball Player Clichés for the Age of Analytics

This article originally appeared in Here's the Pitch, the newsletter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA). To subscribe to the daily newsletter and/or to join the organization you can click here.

Don Carman was a left-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Texas Rangers from 1983-1992. During his 10-year career he compiled a modest 53-54 won-lost record and 4.11 ERA. It is not for his prowess on the major league pitching mound that we celebrate Carman today, however. Don Carman was not only a left-handed pitcher, but he was also a left-handed thinker. After a particularly poor 1989 season, where he went 5-15, Carman had grown tired of answering reporters’ questions with the same old worn-out clichés. On June 19^th, 1990, after picking up a win in a Phillies 2-1 victory over the Pirates, Carman tacked a list of 37 of his favorite clichés to his locker and invited the reporters to choose the ones they liked for their stories.

His list contained many baseball chestnuts including the following:

•  I’m just glad to be here. I just want to help the club any way I can.
• We’re going to take the season one game at a time.
• You’re only as good as your last game. (at bat).
• This team seems ready to gel.
• You just can’t pitch behind.
• The catcher and I are on the same wavelength.
•  I did my best, and that’s all I can do.
• I didn’t have my good stuff, but I battled ‘em.
• I was getting my off-speed stuff over, so they couldn’t sit on the fastball.
• I had some great plays made behind me tonight.
• I’m seeing the ball real good.

And my personal favorite: “Hey, that’s the name of the game.”

You can find Carman’s full list here.

Reviewing Carman’s list got me thinking. This list was made in 1990 – thirty-two years ago. Modern baseball players, whose every pitch, at bat, and move on the field is based on the relatively new phenomenon of analytics, really need a new list of clichés. In this world of launch angles and arm slots, I am willing to step into this breech and suggest some new ones. I also offer a simultaneous cliché translation for a the analytically challenged among the readers.

“The hitting coach and I are working on my launch angle.”

Translation: I have hit into five double plays in the last three games because I keep hitting the ball on the ground

“The velo on my fastball is down.”

Translation: Those three homes runs I gave up in the second inning were the result of nothing-burger fastballs down the middle.

“I know my ERA is over 6.00, but if you look at my FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), I am not really pitching that badly.”

            Translation: My team’s defense sucks.

“My exit velocity keeps improving, so I should turn it around soon.”

            Translation: I keep popping up to the second baseman.

“A lot of my pitches tonight were just missing the zone.”

            Translation: My catcher sucks at framing pitches.

“The card in my hat told me I should be playing the guy in right center,

            Translation: It’s not my fault that ball fell in left center for a triple. Talk to the coaches.

“The hitting coach and I are working on my bat-to-ball skills.”

            Translation: I have struck out in 13 of my last 19 at bats.

“The shift giveth and the shift taketh away.”

Translation: If the coaches would let the defense play their regular positions, those four ground balls would have been outs instead of hits.

“I’m working to get a consistent arm slot.”

            Translation: I walked six batters in four innings of work.

“This obsession with shifting is killing my batting average.”

            Translation: I couldn’t hit the ball to left field if my life depended on it.

“They were able to barrel a few on me tonight.”

            Translation: Those four home runs they hit off me averaged 450 feet.

“I really caught that one on the sweet spot.”

            Translation: I hit one of those 450-foot home runs.

“My Whiff% isn’t where it needs to be.”

            Translation: I gave up seven hits in my inning and two-thirds on the mound.

“My O-Swing% is just too high.

            Translation: I keep chasing the low and away breaking ball.

“That’s baseball!”

            Translation: I just gave up five runs on six infield hits. (Pitcher)

                                I went 0-for-4 after hitting four line drives. (Hitter)

 It is heartening in a way that these new analytics can help major league baseball players bring a new level of inanity to hoary old baseball clichés. And if some of us old-timers must listen to them with puzzled expressions and a baseball analytics glossary in our laps, so much the better. Never too late to learn a new skill.

Don Carman, by the way, went back to school after his pitching career ended and got a degree in psychology. He has worked for the past 20+ years helping professional athletes deal with the mental aspect of the game. I suppose it helps that Don was always a little “mental” himself.

 

 

 

           

 

 

The Phillies' Harvey Haddix' Walk Off Win: July 11, 1957

Whenever a major league pitcher approaches a perfect game, the name Harvey Haddix is sure to come up. Haddix still holds the record for the most consecutive perfect innings pitched in a game. On May 26, 1959, while pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Haddix pitched twelve perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves, only to lose the game in the 13th inning on a Joe Adcock smash into the right field bleachers.*  While that one game keeps Haddix in the news, the diminutive left-hander (he was generously listed at 5' 9", 170 pounds) had a very good 14-year major league career that included three All-Star games, a 20-win season, a World Series championship**, and two seasons as a key member of the Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff. Nicknamed "The Kitten" because of his similarity to another smallish lefty, Harry "The Cat" Brecheen, Haddix was also a fine fielder and good hitter.***

Haddix joined the Philles early in the 1956 season in a trade of pitchers. The Phillies sent Herm Wehmeier and Murry Dickson to the St. Louis Cardinals for Haddix and slow-baller Stu Miller. Haddix fit right in behind Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons as the Phillies third starter.  Haddix had won 55 games with the Redbirds in four seasons, and he pitched very well for the Phillies in 1956, compiling a 12-8 record and 3.48 ERA. He was less effective in 1957, but on July 11 of that year, he cranked up a gem for a Phillies team who was surprising everyone by being in contention for the National League pennant. The Phillies came into the game at 42-35 in fourth place, just four games behind the league leading Cardinals. 

On this day, Haddix was assigned to pitch the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. His mound opponent was the Cubs Bob Rush. Haddix had so far compiled a 7-5 record and 4.33 ERA. Rush had been struggling all year and possessed a 1-7 record and 5.14 ERA. The Cubs were in the National League basement with a record of 26-46. A crowd of 25,897, including about 5,000 Scouts from the Valley Forge Boy Scout Jamboree were in attendance for the twin bill.

It was evident from early on that both pitchers were on their game. Through the first three innings, Haddix had given up just a two-out single to centerfielder Jim Bolger. Rush walked Phillies shortstop Chico Fernandez in the third. Haddix popped out to first trying to bunt him along and then, with Richie Ashburn batting, Fernandez stole second base and third base on consecutive pitches. The base running derring-do was to no avail, however, as Ashburn struck out. 

Bolger singled again in the fifth inning, but he was cut down on a strikeout-throw-him-out double play, catcher Stan Lopata to Fernandez. The first extra-base hit of the game came in the sixth, when Cubs second baseman Bobby Morgan doubled with one out. Morgan advanced to third on a fly ball but was stranded when left fielder Lee Walls grounded out. Shortstop Ernie Banks singled with one out in the seventh and Bolger followed with his third single of the game, but Haddix escaped by inducing two easy popups to end the inning. Rush set the Phillies down in order in the seventh and the stands were buzzing as fans realized Rush had yet to allow a hit. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Fernandez ended the no-hitter when he led off with a clean single to right. With his no-hitter gone, Rush said, "I wasn't thinking about a no-hitter. I was just trying to win the game." Fernandez was sacrificed to second by Haddix and stole third, his third steal of the game in four tries. He was stranded at third, however, as Ashburn grounded out and Granny Hamner popped out to the catcher. Both sides went down quietly in the ninth and the game marched into extra-innings, with the two starting pitchers still on the mound. The Cubs had rapped out seven hits to the Phillies one.

In the tenth, Haddix gave up a two-out single to the opposing pitcher, Rush, but nothing else. Lopata led off the bottom of the tenth with a double to centerfield. Third baseman Willie Jones bunted him up to third. With the infield drawn in, Fernandez grounded up the middle, where the ball was snagged by Banks. Lopata hesitated, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out. Fernandez was then doubled up trying to move up to second base on the play.

Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, Haddix took matters into his own hands. Manager Mayo Smith allowed Haddix to bat and he led off the inning with a single.  Ashburn laid down a bunt that he beat out for a hit, Haddix moving to second. Smith, smelling a victory, sent speedy Chuck Harmon in to run for Haddix. Cubs' manager Bob Scheffing called in reliever Turk Lown. Hamner worked Lown to 2-2 and then lined a single to right. Strong-armed right fielder Walt Moryn fired home, but the sliding Harmon just barely beat the throw and the game was over.

In the second game, Phillies rookie Jack Sanford pitched 7 1/3 innings of perfect baseball, before Cubs first baseman Dale Long broke up the perfect game with a single. The Phillies won the game, however, 3-1, and climbed into second place, 2.5 games behind the Cardinals. 

Alas, the magic didn't last, as the Phillies faded over the last two months of the season to finish 77-77 in 5th place. 

Haddix was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Wally Post at the end of the 1957 season. After one decent year in Cincinnati, Haddix was traded to Pittsburgh where he twirled his near-perfect game and helped the Pirates to their 1960 World Championship. His five years with the Pirates were his favorite time in the big leagues. 

Harvey Haddix retired after spending the 1964-65 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. He had a lifetime major league record of 136-113. After retiring from pitching, Haddix spent many years as a pitching coach for several organizations, including on the 1979 "We Are Family" Pirates. A lifelong smoker, who called cigarettes his "best friend," Haddix died of emphysema on January 8, 1994.

*The perfect game was lost in the 13th when Felix Mantilla reached on a Don Hoak error. After Mantilla was bunted to second, Henry Aaron was intentionally walked. Adcock's blast should have made the final score 3-0, but once Mantilla had crossed the plate, Aaron left the base paths to celebrate and Adcock passed him. Aaron was ruled out, Adcock was credited with a double, and the score was officially recorded as 1-0.

**Haddix was the winning pitcher in the famous World Series Game 7, where the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Yankees 10-9 on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run at Forbes Field. Haddix also started and won Game 5.

*** Haddix won three Gold Gloves and hit .309 for the 1957 Phillies. 

You can read Harvey Haddix' SABR biography by Mark Miller here.

Phillies Reliever Ron Reed to the Rescue: 1976-1983

Reliever Ron Reed will be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in ceremonies on August 6th. Reed was perhaps the most underrated player on the great Phillies teams of 1976-1983. Reed's arrival, in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals on December 9, 1975, corresponded with the young Phillies' team ascent to the top of the National League East Division. Reed's departure at age 41 in December 1983, in a trade with the Chicago White Sox for 41-year-old Jerry Koosman, marked the end of the Phillies dominant run. In between, Reed recorded more saves (90), pitched in more games (485), and pitched far more innings (890) than any other Phillies relief pitcher. 

When the Phillies acquired Reed, for perennially underachieving outfielder Mike Anderson, manager Danny Ozark thought he was acquiring another starter for his rotation. Reed had more than 200 starts in his career with Atlanta and St. Louis. The day after the Reed trade, however, the Phillies acquired veteran lefty Jim Kaat from the White Sox and Reed was asked to make the transition to reliever. He and Tug McGraw made up a formidable right/left tandem out of the bullpen for most of the championship years.

The young 6' 6", 215-pound Reed, a three-sport star at LaPorte (Indiana) High School, went to Notre Dame on a basketball scholarship. He averaged 19 points and 14.3 rebounds a game in his college career and in 1965 was drafted in the third round by the NBA's Detroit Pistons. Shortly after signing with the Pistons, he also signed a major league baseball contract with the Milwaukee Braves. He played two seasons for the Pistons and then told his coach, Dave Debusschere, himself a pro baseball/basketball player, that he had decided to focus on baseball. In ten years as a starter with the now Atlanta Braves, Reed went 80-88. His best season was in 1969, when we was 18-10 and led the Braves to the National League West title. Traded to the Cardinals in 1975, he went 9-8, again as a starter.

Reed got off to a rocky start in the Phillies bullpen, and possessed a 5.00 ERA by mid-May, but he settled into his role and pitched terrific ball through the end of the season, recording 14 saves, with an ERA of 2.46. McGraw had 11 saves and a 2.50 ERA. The Phillies won a team record 101 games and the National League East title. They then dropped the National League Championship series to Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine", 3 games to 0. Reed pitched well in the Game 2 loss but was hit hard in the decisive Game 3, after relieving Jim Kaat.

Reed was solid again in 1977 season. He recorded 15 saves and a 2.75 ERA in 60 games and 124.1 innings. During one stretch from the end of April to early June, Reed appeared in 18 games, threw 33 innings and allowed just four earned runs (1.09 ERA). The Phillies again won 101 games, again won the National League East Division, and again lost he National League Championship Series, this time to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1. Reed appeared in three of the four games and pitched very well, allowing just one earned run in his five innings of work.

Reed had arguably his finest season in 1978. In 66 games and 108+ innings, he recorded 17 saves and an excellent 2,24 ERA. He was the Phillies best reliever all season and a real hero in the season's final week. On September 20, the Phillies held a one game division lead over the Pirates. Reed notched his 14th save, throwing a perfect inning behind Randy Lersch as the Phillies won, 4-2. In his next appearance on September 25, Reed threw three one-hit, no run innings at the Expos as the Phillies scored a walk-off win over the Expos in 11 innings. Larry Bowa's single drove home Orlando Gonzales* with the game winner. 

On September 26, Reed pitched in both games of a doubleheader. In the first game, he came to the rescue of Warren Brusstar, who had just loaded the bases on wildness** and given up a run scoring single to the Expos Stan Papi. Reed got former Phillie Tommy Hutton to ground out with the tying run in scoring position. In the second game, Reed threw two innings in relief of surprise starter Tug McGraw. The Phillies lost to the Expos, 3-0. The next night Reed came on again, this time to save a game for Larry Christenson who was struggling to hold a 5-3 lead over the Expos in the ninth. After giving up a single to that same Tommy Hutton, which made the score 5-4, Reed retired two other former Phillies, Dave Cash and Del Unser to seal the victory. 

September 29 brought another doubleheader, this time against the Pittsburgh Pirates, The Phillies were now 3.5 games up on the Pirates. Reed came on to start the ninth inning in relief of McGraw, who had pitched two innings in relief of Dick Ruthven. The score was tied, 4-4. Catcher Ed Ott lofted a high fly ball between centerfielder Garry Maddox and right fielder Bake McBride. These two fine fielders allowed the ball to drop between them and then Maddox threw wildly to third and the slow-footed Ott came all the way around to score the winning run. Steve Carlton lost to Bruce Kison in the nightcap and the Phillies lead was down to 1.5 games.

The penultimate game of the season was on September 30. A Phillies win clinched the division title. A Phillies loss would mean the October 1 game would be winner take all. The Phillies entered the ninth inning with a 10-4 lead and McGraw on the mound. McGraw gave up four singles and three runs, while recording one out. The score was now 10-7 and Dave Parker was on second base. Manager Ozark called on Reed to put out the fire. It was Reed's sixth appearance in six days and his sixth appearance in the Phillies last seven games. After giving up a run-scoring single off Schmidt's glove to former Phillie Bill Robinson, Reed struck out Willie Stargell. "A fastball, a slider, and another fastball. All hard stuff," said Reed. "He was going to have to hit my best stuff. It was him or me in that situation." Phil Garner then rolled out to Bowa at short and the Phillies had clinched the division title. The team mobbed Reed on the mound.

In the 1978 playoffs, the Phillies were again frustrated by the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3 games to 1. Reed pitched in two of the games, pitching four innings and giving up one run. Tug McGraw was on the mound in the final game, when Garry Maddox dropped the fly ball from Dusty Baker that led to the winning run.

Reed won 13 games out of the bullpen in the Phillies disappointing 1979 season, but his ERA climbed to 4.15 and he was not entrusted with as many save situations. The championship year of 1980 saw Reed's struggles continue at the same time that McGraw went on a miraculous run that carried the Phillies all the way to their first championship. After getting lit up in his one appearance against Houston in the National League Championship series, Reed pitched well in his two World Series appearances, saving Carlton's 6-4 win in Game 2. 

For reasons I have not been able to determine, Reed was the only Phillies player to skip the Championship parade down Broad Street. Reed, like a lot of the players, had a stormy relationship with manager Dallas Green, but it is hard to say if that had anything to do with his decision. Reed also had an adversarial relationship with the press, which may have been a contributing factor. ***

Speculation after the 1980 season was that Reed would be traded or released. No deal happened, however, and Reed returned to form in his final three seasons in a Phillies uniform. While not quite the horse he had been from 1976-78, he was steady and reliable throughout. At 40, he was 9-1 with eight saves for the 1983 "Wheeze Kids" pennant winners. He also acquitted himself well in the post season against the Dodgers and Orioles. 

Ron Reed was a key member of the very good Phillies teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Like most relievers he had his ups and downs, but he has more than earned his place on the Wall of Fame. 

* This was the only run that Gonzales scored in his 26 game Phillies career.

** In the ninth, Brusstar got the first two batters out and then struck out Warren Cromartie, but the final pitch was a wild pitch and Cromartie got to first when the pitch eluded catcher Bob Boone.

*** Update: In a television appearance on August 6, 2022, on the occasion of his Wall of Fame induction, Reed recounted that he left the locker room after the World Series with no clear idea of when the parade would be held. He chose to drive all night to his home near Atlanta because his daughter was a little sick. He regretted not being there.