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The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citizens Bank Park, located in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The Phillies have won two World Series championships (against the Kansas City Royals in 1980 and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008), eight National League pennants (the first of which came in 1915), and made 15 playoff appearances. As the end of the 2023 season, the Phillies have played 21,486 games, with a regular season record of 10,112–11,259–115 (.473). Since the first modern World Series was played in 1903, the Phillies have played 120 consecutive seasons and 140 seasons since the team's 1883 establishment. The Phillies were the last of the 16 pre-expansion teams to win a World Series, with their first championship coming in 1980. Since the start of the Divisional Era in 1969, however, the Phillies have emerged as one of MLB's most successful teams, winning 11 division titles (including five consecutive such titles from 2007 to 2011), eight National League pennants, and two World Series championships. The franchise was founded in Philadelphia in 1883, replacing the team from Worcester, Massachusetts, in the National League. The team has played at several stadiums in the city, beginning with Recreation Park (1883–1886) and continuing at Baker Bowl (1887–1938); Shibe Park (which was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953 in honor of the longtime Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack) (1938–1970); Veterans Stadium (1971–2003), and now Citizens Bank Park (2004–present). The Phillies are the oldest, continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional sports. Because of, and in spite of, their longevity and rabid fan base, the Phillies are a team historically associated with futility. They were the first American sports franchise to amass over 10,000 losses; the team holds the world record for most ever losses by a single team in all of professional sports. Most of those losses came in a 31-year period from 1918 to 1948 in which they managed only one winning season. Yet, also due in part to their longevity, the Phillies are one of only nine teams to have won over 10,000 games in their history. Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt is widely considered the franchise's greatest player of all time. Over the team's history since 1883, 33 Phillies players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A affiliate is the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who play at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. The Double-A affiliate is the Reading Fightin Phils, who play in Reading. The Class-A affiliates are the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, who play in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, and the Clearwater Threshers, who play at BayCare Ballpark. The team's spring training facilities are in Clearwater, Florida. History Philadelphia Quakers (1883–1889) In 1883, sporting goods manufacturer Al Reach (a pioneering professional baseball player) and attorney John Rogers won an expansion National League franchise for Philadelphia, one of what is now known as the "Classic Eight" of the National League. They were awarded a spot in the league to replace the Worcester baseball team, a franchise that had folded in 1882. The new team was nicknamed the "Phillies" from the start, and immediately compiled a .173 winning percentage, which stands as the worst in franchise history. Although many sources (including the Phillies themselves) claim that Reach and Rogers bought the Brown Stockings and moved them to Philadelphia, all available evidence suggests this is not the case. Significantly, no players from Worcester ended up with the 1883 Quakers. In 1884, Harry Wright, the former manager of baseball's first openly professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was recruited as a manager in hopes of reversing the team's fortunes. In 1887, the team began to play at the newly constructed Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds, later renamed National League Park. The stadium would become known as Baker Bowl in 1923. Despite a general improvement from their dismal beginnings, they never seriously contended for the title. Becoming the Phillies (1890–1917) The nickname "Phillies" first appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on April 3, 1883, in the paper's coverage of an exhibition game by the new National League club and was the team's accepted nickname from the start. This name is one of the longest continually used nicknames in professional sports by a team in the same city. The franchise's standout players in the era were Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson, and Ed Delahanty, who in 1896 set the major-league record (since tied by several others) with four home runs in a single game. Due to growing disagreements about the direction of the team, Reach sold his interest to Rogers in 1899. With the birth of the more lucrative American League (AL) in 1901, the Phillies saw many of their better players defect to the upstart, including a number of players who ended up playing for their crosstown rivals, the Athletics, owned by former Phillies minority owner Benjamin Shibe. While their former teammates would thrive (the AL's first five batting champions were former Phillies), the remaining squad fared dismally, finishing 46 games out of first place in 1902—the first of three straight years finishing either seventh or eighth. To add tragedy to folly, a balcony collapsed during a game at the Baker Bowl in 1903, killing 12 and injuring hundreds. Rogers was forced to sell the Phillies to avoid being ruined by an avalanche of lawsuits. In 1904, the team finished with a record of 52–100, making them the first team in franchise history to have lost 100 games. The Phillies won their first pennant in 1915 thanks to the pitching of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the batting prowess of Gavvy Cravath, who set the 20th century single-season record for home runs with 24. They finished the season with a record of 90–62, seven games ahead of the Boston Braves. The Phillies went up against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, opening the series at home with a victory. The Phillies struggled against a strong Red Sox pitching lineup and surrendered the next four games, losing the series four games to one. The team continued to dominate the National League in 1916 but fell short of capturing a second consecutive pennant. The team finished two and a half games out of first place with a record of 91–62. Alexander won his second consecutive triple crown and posted 16 shutouts, tying the single-season major league record. In 1917, Alexander had been traded to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Mike Prendegrast and catcher Pickles Dillhoefer, when owner William Baker refused to increase his salary. Baker was known for running the Phillies very cheaply; for instance, during much of his tenure, there was only.... Discover the Bob Gordon Tom Burgoyne Larry Andersen popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Bob Gordon Tom Burgoyne Larry Andersen books.