Christmas came early to the Delaware Valley in 2010. Late in the evening on December 13 of that year, news broke that the Phillies pulled off the most stunning move in the offseason; they signed the indefatigable southpaw Cliff Lee, who just a year prior had been shipped away by the Phillies to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for three prospects. While Lee’s tenure in Philadelphia had been short-lived, the impact he had on Phillies fans would endure.
After coming to Philadelphia in the summer of 2009 via a midseason trade with the Cleveland Indians, Lee wasted no time asserting himself as the ace—of a rotation that already featured all-star and World Series MVP-winning pitcher Cole Hamels—and ingratiating himself to a fan base known for its blue-collar persona. Cliff Lee epitomized blue-collar: when his number was called every fifth day, he attacked hitters with a workmanlike approach, wasting little time between pitches as he ruthlessly attacked the zone with an array of offspeed offerings that made a fastball that peaked in the mid-90s seem all the more potent.
Lee helped propel the Phillies into the playoffs that season, pitching his way to a 7-4 record with a 3.39 ERA. That solid finish paled in comparison to Lee’s performance in the postseason. In the NLDS against the Rockies, Lee started and earned the win in Game 1, hurling a complete game and surrendering only one run. In the clinching Game 5, Lee tossed over seven innings, surrendering one earned run in the process and leading the Phils to a 5-4 victory. In the NLCS against the Dodgers, Lee took the hill in a pivotal Game 3 with the series tied and never looked back, fanning ten hitters through eight innings without conceding a single run. After beating the Dodgers in five and winning their second National League pennant in as many years, the Phillies moved on to play the Yankees in the World Series. Lee got the nod to start Game 1.
Lee almost did not make the start. After securing a taxi to deliver him to Yankee Stadium, that taxi ran into impenetrable New York traffic. Jettisoning the cab, Lee jumped on the subway and made it to the game just in time. If the ride caused Lee any stress, it did not show that night in the Bronx. Straddling the mound in front of over 50,000 rabid New York fans, and facing Yankees ace CC Sabathia, Lee homed in on the task at hand with the cool demeanor and joviality of an 11-year old boy tossing the ball in a midsummer pickup baseball game at the local sandlot. For nine innings, Lee dazzled, showcasing his full repertoire of pitches, striking out ten and throwing a complete-game shutout. Embedded within with that masterly performance on the biggest of stages came two of the most iconic defensive plays ever made by a pitcher. In the bottom of the sixth, with the Phillies holding a 2-0 lead, the Yankees Johnny Damon came to the plate with a runner at first. After working a 2-2 count, Lee induced a pop-up directly back to the mound. Moving about a half-foot to his right, Lee stopped short of settling under the ball and did not move. He flippantly (some would say mockingly) eased his glove to his side, plucked the ball out of the air, then made an expression as if to say, “Is that all you’ve got?”
Robinson Canoe, the first hitter in the bottom of the eighth, came to the plate with the Phillies holding a 4-0 lead. Canoe drove the ball back up the middle in what should have been a single. Rather, Lee threw his glove behind his back and, in line with the day he was having, grabbed the ball and nonchalantly tossed it to first base, making a play that was anything but routine look, indeed, routine. Lee allowed a quick smile and then simply shrugged his shoulders. The Phillies would go on to lose that World Series to the Yankees in six, but not before Lee won Game 5 to keep their hopes alive. Lee’s final 2009 postseason stat line left little doubt that he resided on a short list of the league’s best, and most clutch, players: a 4-0 record with a 1.56 ERA in five starts, including two complete games.
The trade that would send Lee to the Mariners only a couple months later was only in the slightest bit palatable to Philadelphians because they acquired, in a separate trade, the best pitcher of a generation—Roy “Doc” Halladay. Halladay spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the moribund Toronto Blue Jays. Despite the anemic play of the Blue Jays—they had not even made a postseason appearance since they won the World Series in 1993 (against Philadelphia), Halladay made them one of the best teams in baseball every time he pitched. Through his time in Toronto, Halladay earned 148 victories and lost 76 games—an astounding .661 winning percentage—to go along with a 3.43 ERA and an unparalleled 49 complete games. His talents earned him six all-star nods and the Cy Young in 2003, when he notched 22 wins.
So, as hard a pill as the Lee trade was for Philadelphians to swallow, the Phillies gave their fan base the unequivocal best pitcher of the previous decade. The Phillies sent Lee to the Mariners for three prospects (none of whom ever panned out in the big leagues) on the same day that they traded three prospects of their own for Halladay. It was a monumental, yet somewhat bittersweet, day for Philadelphia baseball.
Roy Halladay somehow outsized expectations his first year in Philadelphia. He was nothing less than brilliant, winning a major-league leading 21 wins (while suffering 10 losses), coupled with 2.44 ERA. He led the league in complete games with 9 and shutouts with 4. Finally, Halladay got his wish: to pitch in the postseason. And for Halladay, it would be well worth the wait. In the opening game of the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, Halladay teetered on perfection. In fact, outside of a 3-2 walk he surrendered in the fifth inning, Halladay was perfect. He threw a no-hitter (only the second in postseason history, and the first since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series). While the Phillies would lose the next series to the Giants, Halladay's legacy was cemented after his historic postseason game.
Halladay's Legendary Postseason No-Hitter
Phillies fans had much to be excited about heading into the offseason. They had Halladay, clearly still in his prime, locked up for at least another two years. Then the news broke that December about Cliff Lee’s return to the City of Brotherly Love, and euphoria set in. The Phillies’ 2011 roster would feature four aces (they had also acquired Roy Oswalt from the Astros in a midseason deal in 2010), arguably the best pitching staff ever assembled in the history of baseball. Making it even sweeter, news leaked that Cliff Lee had spurned more lucrative offers from the Yankees and the Rangers to return to the city and the team that he loved. When they acquired Lee that December, the Phillies had already sold out 127 home games straight. Now, with Lee, Halladay and Hamels locked up for multi-year deals, who knew when the euphoria would end?
By many accounts, 2011 lived up to much of the hype. The Phillies led the league with a 102-60 record. The staff delivered as advertised: Halladay, Lee and Hamels all made the NL All-Star team. Halladay and Lee finished second and third in the Cy Young voting, respectively. However, the Phillies, the hands-down favorite to win not only the National League but the entire postseason, were stunned in the first round by the wild-card team and eventual MLB champions, the St. Louis Cardinals. Roy Halladay took the hill in the decisive Game 5, with the series tied 2-2, and gave the Phillies every chance to win the ball game. Rafael Furcal led off the game for the Cardinals, crushing a triple to deep right center field. The next batter, Skip Schumaker, doubled and drove Furcal in to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. Then Halladay bore down, allowing only four more hits and no more runs through eight total innings, striking out seven in the process. Halladay delivered, but the offense could not rise to the occasion.
No one realized at the time, but when Ryan Howard grounded to second to make the last out in the bottom of the ninth, it would mark the end of an era. Howard, running out of the box after contact, fell to the ground writhing in agony. The diagnosis would be a torn ACL. Howard, and for all intents and purposes the Phillies, would never be the same again. An aging core fell apart at the seams over the next few seasons. A club that won the National League East five consecutive seasons, from 2007-2011, won a World Series and played in another, would go on to suffer a decade without a postseason berth.
The long drought ended this past October. The 2022 Phillies made history of their own, righting the ship after they started the season 22-29. President of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, fired Joe Girardi and promoted bench coach Rob Thomson to interim manager. The Phillies sneaked into the playoffs, earning the last wild card spot, and proceeded to shock the baseball world by convincingly beating the Cardinals, Padres and Braves to take home their first National League pennant since 2009. They took a supremely talented Houston Astros club to Game 6 in the World Series before the magic ended.
This past year’s Phillies club has me thinking quite a bit about the iconic team that brought a parade to Philadelphia in 2008. Before a home game against the Braves this past offseason, I found myself taking stock of the Phillies of yesteryear. I noted the pennants of division titles, National League championships, and World Series title (only the second in Phillies’ history, along with 1980) the Phillies brought to the city between 2007-2011 that fly over the left centerfield wall at Citizens Bank Park. My gaze drifted to the retired numbers that adorn the rooftop in Ashburn Alley. Momentarily, I reminisced about legends who had donned Phillies’ jerseys and in the process endeared themselves to the fan base to such a degree that those fans reciprocated by replacing their names with sobriquets that would live on in perpetuity—The Flyin’ Hawaiian, The Man, The Big Piece, Chooch, J-Roll, Hollywood, Lights Out, Pat the Bat, Nails, Tugger, Inky, Krukker, to name just a few. My eyes fixed on number 34, the number worn by Halladay in both Toronto and Philadelphia. Halladay is one of only eight players in Phillies history (nine players counting Jackie Robinson’s 42, which is retired by every single major league team) to receive the ultimate honor that any team can bestow on a player—retiring their number so that no player can ever wear it again. Halladay, without question, deserves that honor.
Still, I could not help but consider the question: What other Phillies deserve to be on that short list? Roy Halladay died tragically on November 17, 2017, when the amphibious sports plane he owned crashed off the Florida coast. The National Transportation Safety Board later reported that Halladay had amphetamine, morphine and other drugs in his system at the time of his death. Halladay was only forty years old when he died; the world lost not only one of the game’s greatest players of all time, but, by all accounts, one of its fiercest competitors and hardest workers. Doc was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019. Halladay’s wife, Brandy, did not want him to go into the Hall of Fame as either a Toronto Blue Jay or Philadelphia Phillie. The Halladays considered both Toronto and Philadelphia their homes—equally integral foundations of a storied career—and therefore Halladay’s plaque showcases Halladay wearing a cap that is blank.
The Phillies retired Halladay’s number in 2021. Halladay’s success in Philadelphia was transcendent, but it was short-lived. Halladay spent four years in Philadelphia, two of which (2012 and 2013) he struggled through injuries and performed less than the standard that he demanded of himself. Doc also did not play on either the 2008 championship team or the 2009 National League pennant team. Certainly, there has to be at least one player from the World Series-winning Phillies who is also worthy of the ultimate honor from the club.
In fact, there are three Phillies that most any Phillies fans would consider emblematic of the greatest era in Phillies history: Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Rollins is the greatest shortstop in franchise history; Utley the greatest second baseman; and Howard, the best-ever first baseman. All three players came up through the Phillies’ farm system. All three spent the bulk of their careers (and certainly the prime of their careers) in Philadelphia pinstripes. All three earned numerous individual accolades, including all-star nominations. Rollins and Howard earned MVP awards. All three were integral pieces of the teams that won an unprecedented five consecutive division titles. But the impact of Rollins, Utley and Howard reaches far beyond the accolades they earned on the diamond. They left indelible marks on the city because of the passion they brought to the game.
In January of 2007, Jimmy Rollins made a bold prediction that proved clairvoyant: “We are the team to beat in the NL East, finally.” At the time Rollins made the prediction, the Mets had come off a year in which they won the National League East with ease and then spent their offseason padding their payroll, signing Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez to huge contracts. It was not only audacious for Rollins to claim that the Phillies would overtake their archrivals, it also seemed imprudent. Yet, Rollins put the team and the city on his back. On September 12, with less than a month of baseball to play, the Phillies trailed the Mets by seven games. Rollins was undeterred. He rallied the team in the last few weeks of the season, earning the NL MVP award and, more importantly, propelling the club into the postseason for the first time since 1993. The Phillies entered the last day of the season tied with the Mets and defeated the Nationals 6-1, while the Mets floundered, losing to the Marlins. With a thrilling finish to the season, Jimmy Rollins proved prophetic and entered Philadelphia lore.
Chase Utley wasted no time winning over Philadelphia fans when he made his debut. His first hit in the big leagues happened to be a grand slam. Utley ran around the bases and never looked back. In fact, he sprinted around the bases—Phillies announcer Larry Anderson remarked that Utley got around the bases at such a frenetic pace that he had possibly broken Ricky Jordan’s record for time. Fans quickly recognized the grit that Utley brought to the ballpark day in and day out. His work ethic instantly became legendary, but this was nothing new to those who knew Chase growing up. As a kid he spent his days in Southern California tirelessly taking reps in the batting cages. His dad, David, would often drop him at the Lakewood Batting Cages and return hours later, only to find him still hitting after he had spent all his money. “He’d run out of money and the people who own the cages would put him to work, sweeping or selling popcorn, so he could hit for another half hour,” according to David. He spent so much time at the cages alone that his parents worried they could be accused of neglect: “There were times, me and my wife, that we were afraid we’d be accused of abandoning him.” Utley never stopped working and, even as he entered his 30s, he hated missing a day. Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel, reflected that “you try telling Chase to take a day off and he has this look like you just killed his mother.” To this day, no name in Philadelphia sports is more synonymous with work ethic than Chase Utley.
The naysayers could be heard early in Howard’s career. They questioned his ability to hit for contact. They lamented his play at first base. Howard never listened. He did the opposite. Howard won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2005, then followed that with an MVP-winning 2006 season in which he blasted 58 home runs. His meteoric rise continued as he became the fastest player to reach 200 home runs, accomplishing the feat in 2009 with only 658 games played. (Howard still holds this record, as MVP-winning Aaron Judge just became the second fastest player to reach the milestone, in 671 games.) Still, what fans remember most about Howard and what forever foiled the naysayers, was his ability to come through in the clutch. Howard still holds the record for the most postseason RBIs in franchise history, with 33. And one night in October, when his teammates and a city needed him the most, he rose to the occasion. The Phillies found themselves down two runs to the Rockies in Game 4 of the NLDS series in the ninth inning. Howard was due to bat fifth that inning, against a superb closer in Huston Street. There was a good chance Howard would not even get to bat. Just like he never listened to the naysayers, he never even considered that option. Howard rallied his teammates with the now famous words, “Get me to the plate, boys.” And his boys listened: Jimmy Rollins, with one out in the inning, drove a single. After Victorino struck out in the next at bat, Chase Utley worked a 2-out walk. Howard stepped to the plate with two outs and he held up his end of the bargain as he drove a double to the wall, scoring Rollins and Utley. Jayson Werth proceeded to drive Howard home with a single for the series-winning win. The Phillies went on to beat the Dodgers in the next series and return to the World Series for the second year in a row.
Howard: "Get me to the plate boys"
Jimmy Rollins’s number 11, Chase Utley’s number 26, and Ryan Howard’s number 6 should all join Halladay’s 34 as numbers that should never be worn again by a Philadelphia Phillie. The Phillies follow a general policy of only retiring numbers of players who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. This presents a particular problem for the franchise—while there is a small chance that Rollins, Utley and Howard make it into Cooperstown, there is also a very good chance that none of them get inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Phillies, though, have some wiggle room. In 2020 they did the right thing and retired former player Dick Allen’s number 15, despite the fact that Allen had not been voted into the Hall of Fame. They should do the right thing again by adding 11, 26, and 6 to the list of retired numbers. Someday, some kid will see those numbers on the wall and ask his parents: “Who was Jimmy Rollins? Who was Chase Utley? Who was Ryan Howard?” And those parents will get an opportunity to pass on the legacy of three of the best players from the greatest era of Phillies baseball. And maybe, just maybe, the Phillies should figure out a way to honor that other beloved Phillie, Cliff Lee. While Lee’s number 33 will never be retired, the Phillies owe him a chance to be honored, and remembered, as well.
Notes:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5917145
https://www.philliesnation.com/2021/06/cliff-lees-top-5-starts-as-a-phillie/
https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2009_NLDS2.shtml
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pitchinglogs.php?p=leecl02&y=2009
https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4748216
https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2009_WS.shtml
https://www.mlb.com/news/roy-halladay-s-playoff-no-hitter-remembered
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/aaron-judge-second-fastest-to-200-hrs-yankees-beat-royals-8-2
https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/meet-the-chase-utley-you-dont-know/
This article brings back so many great memories from that incredible Phillies era. I had forgotten about the behind-the-back play that Cliff Lee made and Ryan Howard’s “get me to the plate boys”. I had also never heard the story about Cliff Lee being stuck in NYC traffic on the night of his start.
One thing about 2011 that I’ll never forget: The Phillies went into their last regular season series (vs. Atlanta) having already clinched the top seed. All the Braves had to do was win ONE of the three games to make the playoffs and keep the Cardinals out of the playoffs. Of course, that didn’t happen. The Phillies swept the Braves, allowing the Cardinals to make the playoffs (and then beat the Phillies and everyone else on their way to the World Series title). Who knows what how it would have turned out had the Phillies lost just one of those last 3 games against the Braves?
Great article! I don't read much sports writing, if any, but I learned quite a bit from this. I felt it all. Engaging and nostalgic, and you make a solid argument. Nice Job!