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! 

Before we started this list, we were pretty sure that Mike Schmidt was going to land at number one on our list of the 50 all-time Philadelphia Phillies.  As you can see, that is where he is ranked but as we poured through statistic after statistic, Schmidt was not just our number once choice, it was not even remotely close.

Sherry Magee was one of the top hitters of the dead-ball era in the National League.  Essentially if there was an offensive category during the time that McGee was playing in Philadelphia, you would more than likely see his name in the leaderboard.

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.

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.

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.

Throughout the first decade of the 2000’s, it could be argued that Jimmy Rollins was the heart of the Philadelphia Phillies…or was he the motor?

Luckily for Sherry Magee there was no YouTube in 1911, otherwise, all that would ever be replayed of him would be time he decked an umpire with one punch following a called third strike.  Of course he played in the 1900s and 1910’s so it isn’t like there is any footage on YouTube of him at all.

For the record, we love outspoken athletes. They may not always be popular with fans (and other players), but they sure make for far better sound bites than “we gotta go out there and give 100 percent” or other such statements from the “Athlete’s Guide to Dealing with the Media”. Ironically, Schilling is now part of the media, but remains as outspoken as ever.

Schilling attracted attention with his arm, too. Although he has only 216 career Major League victories, he has a career WAR of 69.7, which ranks him in the top thirty all-time for Pitchers. He was a strikeout machine who also rarely walked batters, as shown by his number two career ranking in Strikeouts to Walks Ratio.   Schilling also rose to the occasion even more in the postseason, where he posted an 11- 2 record, a World Series and NLCS MVP, three rings, and a WHIP under one. 

Curt Schilling’s famous bloody sock from the 2004 Hall of Fame is already in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Logic dictates that there is a solid chance that he will join his famous hosiery, though that would have to come from the Veterans Committee, as his political views and media feuds kept him out via the voters.