5 Things Philadelphia Phillies Fans Might Not Know About Their Team

Things have never looked better for the Philadelphia Phillies as they enter 2008 coming off a division title and possess one of the most feared offenses in the National League. Philadelphia Phillies fans have long been known to be hardcore baseball people, but how well do they know their own team? Who is the all-time saves leader for the Phillies? Have they ever led the NL in attendance? Which of their managers has had the longest tenure? Any Triple Crown winners ever play for the Phillies? Is the great Steve Carlton their standard bearer when it comes to shutouts? Philadelphia Phillies' fans, read on.

1. Jose Mesa's 112 saves are the most for any Phillies' reliever!

Mesa, whose name doesn't pop up often when the great closers are discussed, had 111 saves for the Phillies from 2001 through 2004. That was good enough to propel him past Steve Bedrosian and Mitch Williams, who are at 103 and 102 saves respectively. The Phillies have never been blessed with a closer that enjoyed any longevity, and some of them, like Williams, picked the absolute worst spots to begin their rapid descents to mediocrity. Ron Reed, who was a halfway-decent starter for Philadelphia in the late Sixties and early Seventies, converted into a reliever and managed 90 saves before retiring, a number that places him 5th for the Phillies, behind Tug McGraw's 94.

2. Newsflash! Phillies' fans are fickle!

The club has led the National League in attendance just twice, and both years the Phillies were in the process of winning the pennant. Playing in the old Baker Bowl in 1915, the Phillies drew enough people to lead the circuit, as they won the flag by 7 games over the Braves. But when the team went south after that season, so did the numbers, as Philly was mired at the bottom of the attendance sheets for decades. That was until 1950, when the "Whiz Kids" Phillies held on over the Dodgers to grab the league crown, playing in Shibe Park. They drew over a million fans to lead the NL again, but quickly slipped back to their accustomed spots in that statistic once the team couldn't duplicate their successes. In 1980, the only year they took the title, they were second in attendance with well over 2 ½ million fans streaming through the turnstiles.

3. Since 1893, only 3 Phillies' managers have lasted more than 6 years!

Philadelphia and job security as a manager do not go hand in hand. Gene Mauch was the skipper for 9 of those seasons, from 1960 until 1968, and he was able to survive the meltdown of 1964 when the Phillies blew the pennant in much the same fashion as the Mets choked the division title away to Philadelphia last year. Mauch's 646 wins are the most by a Phillies' manager. Danny Ozark had a good run during the Seventies, winning 3 consecutive NL East crowns during that span of 7 campaigns, while Eddie Sawyer managed 8 of the seasons from 1948 through 1960, including the wonderful 1950 adventure.

4. The Phillies are one of 2 NL teams with a pair of Triple Crown winners!

Nap Lajoie's 1901 season when he hit .426 with 14 homers and 125 runs batted in brought him the first Triple Crown of what is considered the modern era of baseball. In 1933, slugger Chuck Klein, playing for a pitching bereft squad that finished 31 games out, took the second Triple Crown for Philadelphia, hitting .368 and swatting 28 homers, knocking in a league high 120 runs. Incidentally, that was the only year both leagues had a Triple Crown winner; Klein didn't even have the best season in his own city as Jimmie Foxx of the Athletics hit 48 homers and accumulated 163 RBI. The Cardinals are the other NL club that boasts a pair of TC winners, Joe Medwick and Rogers Hornsby, who did it twice.

5. Pete Alexander, not Steve Carlton, owns the Phillies' shutouts record!

One would think that Steve would have this mark since he had over 200 more starts as a Phillie than did "Ol' Pete." But Alexander, on his way to 373 victories and a 3 time 30 game winner in his Phillies' years, had 61 whitewashings to Carlton's 39. Alexander is often forgotten when the great ones are mentioned, but he had 16 shutouts in 1916 alone! His ERA was under 2 runs a game 6 times and as a Phillie he won 190 games in just 7 seasons, an average of 27 per.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHI/leaders_pitch.shtml