Philadelphia Phillies Team History

In 1884, Harry Wright, the former manager of baseball’s first openly professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was recruited as manager in hopes of reversing the team’s fortunes. Also in 1884, the team changed its name to the “Philadelphias”, as it was common for baseball teams in that era to be named after their cities for instance, the “Bostons” and “New Yorks”. However, as “Philadelphias” was somewhat hard to fit in newspaper headlines, some writers still continued to call them the “Quakers” while others began shortening the name to “Phillies.” At some point in the 1880s, the team accepted the shorter nickname “Phillies” as an official nickname. “Quakers” continued to be used interchangeably with “Phillies” until 1890, when the team officially became known as the “Phillies.” This name is the longest continually used nickname in professional sports by a team in the same city.

By the late 1950s, Carpenter decided that the Phillies needed a new home. As mentioned above, he never wanted to buy Connie Mack Stadium in the first place, and was now convinced there was no way he could make money playing there. The stadium didn’t have nearly enough parking, and the neighborhood around it had already gone to seed. To that end, he sold the park to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman in 1964, taking a million-dollar loss on his purchase of just 10 years earlier. The Phillies remained at the old stadium until 1970. In the last game played there, the Phillies avoided last place by beating the Expos 2–1.

The Phillies opened the new Veterans Stadium in 1971, with hopes of a new beginning. In their first season there, pitcher Rick Wise hurled a no-hitter. On September 18, 1971, Wise pitched another near-perfect game, in which he gave up a home run to the Chicago Cubs’ leadoff batter in the second inning, but then did not allow another baserunner until the 12th inning, with two outs. He had been perfect for 10 2⁄3 retiring 32 consecutive batters—the record for most consecutive outs in a game by a winning pitcher. That same season, Harry Kalas joined the Phillies broadcasting team. In 1972, the Phillies were the worst team in baseball, but newly acquired Steve Carlton won nearly half their games (27 of 59 team wins). In that same year, Bob Carpenter retired and passed the team ownership to his son Ruly.

The 1980 World Series matched the Philadelphia Phillies against the Kansas City Royals, with the Phillies winning in six games to capture the first of two World Series titles in franchise history to date. The series concluded after Game 6, which ended with Tug McGraw striking out Willie Wilson at 11:29 pm on October 21, 1980. Wilson set a World Series record by striking out twelve times (after getting 230 hits in the regular season) in the six-game set.

Citizens Bank Park is a 43,651 seat baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, and home of the Philadelphia Phillies. It is commonly referred to by locals simply as “The Bank” or “CBP”. Citizens Bank Park opened on April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular season baseball game on April 12 of the same year, with the Phillies losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 4–1. The ballpark was built to replace the now-demolished Veterans Stadium (a football/baseball multipurpose facility), and features natural grass and dirt playing field and also features a number of Philadelphia-style food stands, including several which serve cheesesteaks, hoagies, and other regional specialties. The ballpark lies on the northeast corner of the Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Wells Fargo Center, and Xfinity Live!

The 2008 World Series was the 104th World Series between the American and National Leagues for the championship of Major League Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies, as champions of the National League, and the Tampa Bay Rays, as American League champions, competed to win four games out of a possible seven.