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The Phillies' Early Bloomers

Dontrelle Willis could become another Rookie of the Year to play with the Phillies.

3 comments

The Phillies' Early Bloomers

POSTED: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 12:05 AM

Bob Vetrone Jr.

( Yong Kim / Staff Photographer ) (Daily News/Inquirer)

This season, lefthander Dontrelle Willis (at right) is positioned to become the 16th former Rookie of the Year to play for the Phillies. Most of them have been National League winners. The last American League ROY to become a Phil was Stan Bahnsen, the 1968 recipient.

Willis, who won the NL ROY with the Marlins in 2003, will be the fifth pitcher among those 16 (see list below; *one award for both leagues combined).

And you could do worse than string together this fantasy lineup we compiled of those ROY Phillies, with just a little imagination:
   Pete Rose, OF
   Alvin Dark, SS
   Scott Rolen, 3B
   Ryan Howard, 1B
   Dick Allen, OF
   Gary Matthews, OF
   Ted Sizemore, 2B
   Benito Santiago, C
   Fernando Valenzuela, P

Winner	Pos.	Year	Lg.	Team	Years with Phils
Alvin Dark	SS-3B	1948	NL*	Boston Braves	1960
Roy Sievers	1B-OF	1949	AL	St. Louis Browns	1962-64
Harvey Kuenn	OF-SS	1953	AL	Detroit Tigers	1966
Jack Sanford	P	1957	NL	Phillies	1956-58
Pete Rose	IF-OF	1963	NL	Cincinnati Reds	1979-83
Dick Allen	3B-1B	1964	NL	Phillies	1963-69, 75-76
Stan Bahnsen	P	1968	AL	New York Yankees	1982
Ted Sizemore	2B	1969	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	1977-78
Gary Matthews	LF	1973	NL	San Francisco Giants	1981-83
Bake McBride	RF	1974	NL	Cardinals	1977-81
Pat Zachry	P	1976	NL	Cincinnati Reds	1985
Fernando Valenzuela	P	1981	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	1994
Benito Santiago	C	1989	NL	San Diego Padres	1996
Scott Rolen	3B	1997	NL	Phillies	1996-02
Ryan Howard	1B	2005	NL	Phillies	2004-

3 comments

Comments (3)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:58 AM, 02/25/2012

wow didn't remember valenzuela playing for the phils!!!

— malco49

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:37 AM, 02/25/2012

You would have Ted Sizemore hitting ahead of Benito Santiago? Why?

— catamount

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:06 AM, 02/25/2012

I do not think that Alvin Dark would agree to play on that team

— princeton22

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About this blog

Boop – who goes by Bob Vetrone Jr. when he is undercover or paying bills – has been at the Daily News since 1982, after working for five years at the Philadelphia Bulletin up to its closing. Along with helping to build the sports scoreboards most nights, he has had great input into the papers’ special sports pullouts – March Madness, Broad Street Run, Record Breakers, Greatest Moments – as well as its day-to-day, award-winning event coverage.

A 1980 graduate of North Catholic, he took some evening college courses. Those lasted right up until the first conflict with a Big 5 doubleheader.

His favorite books growing up were the NBA Guide and the Baseball Encyclopedia, which was, for all intents and purposes, the Internet before there was an Internet.

He has been immersed in sports statistics since the early 70s, when his father (long-time sports writer, broadcaster and the Daily News’ Buck The Bartender), would take him into the Bulletin newsroom overnight in the summer and let him update the Phillies statistics in a little, black spiral notebook. But things have changed tremendously in the decades since … He now uses a big, black spiral notebook. Email him at boopstats@phillynews.com.

Reach Bob at vetronb@phillynews.com.

Bob Vetrone Jr.

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