In the 1890s, Billy Hamilton was regarded as the greatest base stealer the game of baseball had ever seen.  Realistically, when you look at what “Sliding” Billy Hamilton has done, he is still among the game’s great at that feat.

At present, Jimmy Rollins is the all-time leader in Hits (2,306) for the Philadelphia Phillies, which might surprise you considering how many great players the franchise has had over their century-plus in the league.  This is certainly a testament to just how good Rollins was.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Chuck Klein probably should not have debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies, as he was the property of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Klein was turning heads with Fort Wayne of the Central League and was likely to be called up.   The only thing was that the Redbirds also owned the Dayton club in the same league, which was against the rules of MLB and then Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis forced St. Louis to sell the team and its players.  Philadelphia was the highest bidder for Klein. 

Chase Utley put together a very impressive career with the Philadelphia Phillies, but did so in such a non-descript way that we have to wonder just how many people outside of Philadelphia knew just how good Utley was.