Ed Delahanty was a highly touted player in the late 1880’s (yes they did think longterm in baseball back then) and after a few years and a quick jump to the Player’s League and back, a refocused dedication to the sport saw him live up to those projections.

Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938 Grover Cleveland “Old Pete” Alexander might be a bit of a surprise to be ranked so high when he only played eight seasons for Philadelphia, and realistically, we are only really talking about seven of them, as the eight was his final season in Baseball at age 43 where he was not very productive.  However, as we look at the first seven years of Alexander’s professional career you will see a worthy top five entrant on this list of the greatest Philadelphia Phillies of all-time.

Steve Carlton did so much in his Hall of Fame career as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies that it is easy to forget that he already brought a decent resume before he became a member of the Phillies.  His run with St. Louis saw him win a World Series, go to three All-Star Games and he already was a 20 Game winner.  That is good, but with Philadelphia, he became a superstar.

In the first half of the 1950’s, Robin Roberts made a case as the National League’s top pitcher, and had the Cy Young Award existed then, Roberts very well could have won five in a row, whether or not sabremetircs were thought of back then!