Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 2004 to the present, the Phillies have played their home games at Citizens Bank Park in the South Philadelphia section of the city. The organization is tied with the San Francisco Giants as the fifth-oldest team in the majors, behind the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.
The "Phillies" name originates as a shortened version of the "Philadelphias", as the convention at the time was to call the team by their home city. They are nicknamed "the Fightins' ", or "The Phils". It is a convention in 'Phillies' culture to substitute "F" with "Ph" in various terms or names.
One of the 19th century "Classic Eight" National League franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers. The "Phillies" name was adopted in 1884, and the names "Quakers" and "Phillies" would coexist and continue until 1889. The team attempted to change names in 1943 to the Philadelphia Blue Jays to change the team's image, but it only lasted two years. At the outset of the 20th century, the team made its home in the Baker Bowl. After much fighting to get out of their lease and the badly aging stadium, they moved into Connie Mack Stadium (then Shibe Park) in 1938, home of their American League rivals, the Philadelphia Athletics. The A's would move in 1954 to Kansas City, Missouri, eventually moving to Oakland to become today's Oakland Athletics.
The Phillies have won one World Series Championship in their history, against the Kansas City Royals in 1980. In addition to their 1980 World Series victory, the Phillies have made four other World Series appearances, losing in 1915 to the Boston Red Sox, in 1950 to the New York Yankees, in 1983 to the Baltimore Orioles, and in 1993 to the Toronto Blue Jays.
On September 30, 2007, the Phillies won the NL East Division for the first time since 1993, overcoming the New York Mets who led the division for most of the season, on the season's last day.
Of the sixteen original American and National League teams (i.e, those in existence prior to the 1961-1962 expansion of the two leagues), the Phillies were the last team to win their first World Series, with their 1980 defeat of the favored Kansas City Royals in six games being their only World Series championship. Due in part to the age of the club, the Phillies became the first team in the four major sports to surpass 10,000 losses in franchise history in 2007.

1994-2005
With the 1994 players' strike, most of the Phillies' fan base was greatly offended, and since then the team had little success either on the field or at the gate for a decade. Both were negatively affected by the realignment of the Atlanta Braves into the National League East in 1994, as the Braves won the division every year until 2006, often by wide margins. Despite the relative lack of success, many current baseball stars rose to prominence during this era in Phillies history, including Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu, Randy Wolf, Plácido Polanco, and perhaps most notably Schilling. In addition, the nucleus of the current Phillies club (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollies, Brett Myers, and Cole Hamels) was developed during this era.
Former Phillie Larry Bowa was hired as manager for the 2001 season, and led the Phillies to an 86-76 record, first winning season since the 1993 World Series year. They spent most of the first half of the season in first place, and traded first place with the Braves for most of the second half. In the end, they finished two games out of first--the Braves' tightest division race in years. Bowa was named National League Manager of the Year. The Phillies continued to contend for the next few years under Bowa, with the only blemish being an 80-81 season in 2002.
The opening of the new Citizens Bank Park brought fans new hope, and the team was expected to win the NL East. However, they finished a distant second, and Bowa was fired with two games to go in the season.
Charlie Manuel took over as manager for 2005, and kept the Phillies in contention throughout the season; they were only eliminated from wild card contention on the next-to-last day. However, it was not enough to save the job of general manager Ed Wade; he was fired after his eighth season. Soon after, the Phillies hired Pat Gillick, who, ironically, was the general manager of the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays' Championship teams.

2006
Continuing what he had begun in the off-season, Gillick engaged in a flurry of trades in an effort to transform the character of the team and to obtain financial flexibility for what he termed "retooling." On July 26, 2006, the Phillies traded backup catcher Sal Fasano to the New York Yankees for minor league infielder Hector Made. Two days later, the Phillies traded third baseman David Bell, who was due to become a free agent during the off-season, to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league pitcher Wilfredo Laureano. The team responded well to the changes. All-Star second baseman Chase Utley was free to bat third, and Ryan Howard batted cleanup; more importantly, they assumed a team leadership role along with shortstop Jimmy Rollins. On August 18, Gillick acquired veteran left-hander Jamie Moyer, a native of the Philadelphia suburb of Souderton, Pennsylvania, for the starting rotation. Immediately afterwards, and following a win over the Washington Nationals on August 29, the Phillies record stood at 66-65, trailing the San Diego Padres by a mere half game in the wild-card race. By September 24, the Phillies had captured and lost the wild-card lead and were tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers. With identical 82-74 records, both teams took to the road for the final six games, the Phillies to Washington and Florida, the Dodgers to Colorado and San Francisco. On September 30, both the Dodgers and Padres won their respective games and as a result, the Phillies were eliminated from playoff contention while two games behind with only one left to play.
Ryan Howard was named the National League's Most Valuable Player, narrowly edging the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols to claim the top honor in the National League.

2007: 10,000 losses and an incredible regular-season finish
The special assistant to the General Manager and long-time Phils coach, John Vukovich, died of brain cancer on March 8, 2007, and was honored on August 10, 2007 by the Phillies organization, which installed a plaque bearing Vukovich's name and accomplishments on the "Wall of Fame" in the Ashburn Alley outfield concourse at Citizens Bank Park. For the 2007 season, the Phillies are also wearing a black circular patch on their right uniform sleeves bearing the letters "VUK" in white.
The Phillies began the 2007 season with a 5-3 home loss on April 2 to the Atlanta Braves after 10 innings. After the first fifteen games, the Phillies limped to a 4-11 record, but then found a five game winning streak to put them back into contention in the National League East. After 40 games, the Phillies finally reached the .500 mark at 20-20.
Heading into the All-Star break the Phillies split their win/loss record at 44-44, hampered by the loss of starting pitchers Freddy Garcia and Jon Lieber due to injuries that sidelined them for the remainder of the season. They found a bright spot in young pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who rose from the Phillies' AA team in Reading, Pennsylvania to the Phils starting rotation in 2007.
Three Phillies were named to the 2007 All Star Game in San Francisco, CA. Chase Utley was the starting second baseman for the National League squad and center fielder Aaron Rowand was named as a backup (his first All Star appearance). Starting pitcher Cole Hamels also appeared in his first All Star Game.
On July 15, 2007, the Phillies lost their 10,000th game, 10-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies became the first North American professional sports franchise to lose 10,000 games.
On September 21, Jimmy Rollins became the first player in major league history to collect 200 hits, 15 triples, 25 home runs, and 25 stolen bases in the same season. Rollins also became the 4th player to have at least 20 home runs, 20 triples, 20 doubles, and 20 stolen bases in a season on September 30, securing the feat on the last day of the season with a sixth inning RBI triple.
On September 12, the Phillies were seven games behind the New York Mets in the National League East, and it appeared as if their division hopes were dashed. However, the Mets suffered an epic collapse on the likes of the "Phold of 1964," going 4-11 over the next fifteen games while the Phillies parried with a strong 12-3 record. The Phillies had defeated the Mets in eight consecutive encounters (between July 1, 2007 and September 16, 2007) and ultimately overtook the Mets by one game on September 28. The Phillies fell back into a first-place tie the following day with a Mets win and a Phillies loss, with only one game remaining in the regular season to decide the champion of the National League Eastern Division.
The Mets would lose their final game of the season. Only minutes later, the Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals, clinching the division for the Phillies for the first time in 14 years. The Phillies won the final game behind 44-year old Jamie Moyer, who in 1980 skipped a day of high school to attend that year's Phillies championship parade down Philadelphia's Broad Street.
After their historic comeback, they were swept in three games by the Colorado Rockies after losing 2-1 in Game 3 on October 6, 2007. It was the first time since 1976 that the Phils were swept in a postseason series.
On November 20, 2007, Jimmy Rollins was named National League MVP, edging out Colorado Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday by 17 votes, making this one of the closest contests since the voting format was adopted in 1938. Along with Ryan Howard, they are the first baseball club with back-to-back MVP winners since the San Francisco Giants's Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

2007-08 offseason: Philly favorites
Even though their sweep from the playoffs was a disappointment, the Phillies started on their quest for October baseball in 2008 by trading OF Michael Bourn, RHP Geoff Geary, and 3B Michael Costanzo (since traded to the Baltimore Orioles) to the Houston Astros for RHP Brad Lidge and IF Eric Bruntlett. They also re-signed LHP J.C. Romero to a three-year deal, in addition to bringing back manager Charlie Manuel and the rest of the coaching staff.
The Phillies signed OF Geoff Jenkins to a two-year deal, to be the left-handed part of a platoon with right-handed OF Jayson Werth. They also signed OF So Taguchi to a one-year deal, as a pinch hitter/backup outfielder. With these new outfielders coming into town, the Phillies sold OF Chris Roberson to the Baltimore Orioles. Most recently, the Phillies acquired free-agent 3B Pedro Feliz, formerly of the San Francisco Giants, inking him to a two-year contract worth $8.5 million. These additions relegated IF/OF Greg Dobbs to a utility role, where he excelled last season as the team's primary left-handed pinch hitter. On February 21, 2008 an arbitrator ruled in Ryan Howard's favor, giving him a $10 million salary for the 2008 season.
Major League Baseball's website also recently named the Phillies as the favorites for the National League East championship for 2008. Meanwhile, in the wake of the 2007 season and Carlos Beltran's calling out of the 2008 Phillies' team, the Mets-Phillies rivalry now stands as one of the most intense in baseball.

Team Uniform
The current team colors, uniform, and logo date to 1992. The main team colors are red and white, with blue serving as a prominent accent. The team name is written in red with a blue star serving as the dot over the "i"s, and blue piping is often found in Phillies branded apparel and materials. The team's home uniform is white with red pinstripes, lettering and numbering. The road uniform is traditional grey with red lettering/numbering. Both bear a script-lettered "Phillies" logo, with the aforementioned star dotting the "i"s across the chest, and the player name and number on the back. Hats are red with a single stylized "P", though for interleague play the cap sports a blue visor with a blue star in the middle of the letter "P". The script "Phillies" and the red trim are similar to the style worn by the team during 1950 to 1969.
During the 2008 season, the Phillies will wear an alternate, cream-colored jersey during home day games in tribute to their 125th anniversary. The uniforms are similar to those worn from 1946 through 1949, featuring no pinstripes and red lettering bordered with blue piping. The accompanying cap is blue with a red bill and a red stylized "P." The uniforms were announced on November 29, 2007, where Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, pitcher Cole Hamels and Hall of Famer Robin Roberts modeled the new uniforms.
From 1970 to 1991, the Phillies sported colors, uniforms, and a logo that were noticeably different from what had come before, or since, but that were widely embraced by even traditionally minded fans. A darker red/burgundy was adopted as the main team color, with a classic pinstripe style for home uniforms. Blue was almost entirely dropped as part of the team's official color scheme, except in one area; a pale blue (as opposed to traditional grey) was used as the base-color for away game uniforms. Yet the most important aspect of the 1970 uniform change was the adoption of one of the more distinctive logos in sports; a Phillies "P" that, thanks to its unique shape and "baseball stitched" center swirl, remains instantly recognizable and admired, long after its regular use has ended. It was while wearing this uniform/logo/color motif that the club achieved its most enduring success, including a World Series title in 1980 and another World Series appearance in 1983. Its continued popularity with fans is evident, as even today Phillies home games can contain anywhere from a quarter to a third of the crowd sporting caps, shirts, and/or jackets emblazoned with the iconic "P" and burgundy color scheme. Occasionally the team plays in throwback uniforms that resemble the style.
For one game in 1979, the Phillies front office modified the uniform into an all-burgundy version with white trimmings, to be worn for Saturday games. They were called "Saturday Night Specials". The immediate reaction of the media, fans, and players alike was negative, with many describing the despised uniforms as pajama-like. As such, the idea was hastily abandoned.
Another uniform controversy arose in 1994 when the Phillies introduced blue caps on Opening Day which were to be worn for home day games only. The caps were unpopular with the players, who considered them bad luck after two losses. The caps were dumped after being used on the field for a month.
Currently, during spring training (except for the 1992 to 1996 seasons, when they were still wearing leftover 70-91 inspired gear) the Phillies wear solid red practice jerseys with pinstriped pants for Grapefruit League home games, and solid blue batting practice jerseys with gray pants for away games.
The Phillies are one of six MLB teams that do not display the name of their city, state or region on their road jerseys, joining the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and, starting in the 2008 season, the Tampa Bay Rays. Additionally, the Phillies are one of only two teams (along with the New York Yankees) to have never worn their batting practice jerseys during a regular season game.

Fan support
Phillies fans have earned a reputation over the years for their generally rowdy behavior. In the 1960s, radio announcers for visiting teams would frequently report on the numerous fights breaking out in Connie Mack Stadium. Immediately after the final game at the old park, many fans ran onto the field and/or dislodged and took parts of the ballpark home with them. Later, at Veterans Stadium, the notorious 700 Level gained a reputation for its "hostile taunting, fighting, public urination and general strangeness."
Memorable incidents include fans throwing batteries at Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Burt Hooton during a poor showing in Game 3 of the 1977 NL Championship series, often attributed to the crowd's taunting. In addition, J.D. Drew, the Phillies' No. 1 overall draft pick in 1997, never signed with the Phillies following a contract dispute with the team. Instead, he re-entered the draft the next year and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. Phillies fans were angered over this disrespect and pelted Drew with batteries. Many sports writers have noted the passionate presence of Phillies fans, including Allen Barra, who wrote: "The biggest roar I ever heard out of Philadelphia fans was in 1980 when Tug McGraw, in the victory parade after the World Series, told New York fans they could 'take this championship and shove it.'"

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