Top 50 Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia is one of the great sports cities of the United States and as such the Phillies have one of the strongest fan bases in baseball.  That being said, the success on the field has not matched the fervor of their fans.

Beginning in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers, the soon to be named Phillies had some very good players come through there in their early years (Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson, and Ed Delahanty to name a few) but overall they were not particularly good.  In 1915, they would go to their first World Series though they would fail to win it and shortly afterward fall into an abyss of mediocrity.

The Phillies had only one winning season from 1918 to 1948.  Generally if looked at the bottom of the standing of the National League the chances were good that they were there.  In turned around briefly in the early 1950s when a crop of young talent known as “The Whiz Kids” took them to the 1950 World Series, though they lost again, but they went back to the bottom and more notably was on the wrong side of history as they were the last team to integrate.

After more years of poor performances, the Phils climbed back up the standings in the 1970s and they finally won their first World Series in 1980.  They would return to the Fall Classic in ’82 (they lost) and would lose again in 1993.  In 2008 they would win their second World Series.

For a team that has been around well over 100 years there are not as many elite players as there should be, but considering that they have had far more losing seasons than winning ones, this is not that much of a surprise.

Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades. 

This list is updated up until the end of the 2024 Season.