A look at Pat Burrell's on-field legacy
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
A look at Pat Burrell's on-field legacy
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
In today's Daily News, Marcus Hayes offers an interesting perspective on the legacy of Pat Burrell through the eyes of some of the players who teamed with him at various points in his career. In many ways, Burrell's performance on the field fell victim to the massive expectations he set when he hit 37 home runs and posted a .920 OPS in his third season in the majors. He never repeated either of those numbers, failing to break into the ranks of the game's elite players. But he was still a success. Coincidentally enough, his career played out much like the player whose spurning of the Phillies led to Burrell being drafted. Both Burrell and J.D. Drew came to be defined more by their actions outside the lines than in between them, although they were far more productive than a lot of top draft picks.
Here is how their career numbers stack up:
Pat Burrell
PA: 6,520
HR: 292
RBI: 976
RS: 767
BA: .253
OBP: .361
OPS: .834
J.D. Drew
PA: 6,153
HR: 242
RBI: 795
RS: 944
BA: .278
OBP: .384
SLG: .489
OPS: .873
While much of the focus will always rest on the key double that Burrell hit in Game 5 of the World Series, his biggest contribution to the Phillies' world title came at the start of the season. With Ryan Howard mired in an April funk, Burrell and Chase Utley combined to power the Phillies' offense, keeping the team's head above water. Burrell started the first 35 games of the season, hitting .305/.432/.627 with nine home runs, 20 runs and 30 RBI in 146 plate appearances as the Phillies got off to a 19-15 start. Given their come-from-behind run to the NL East title, anything less might have resulted in another October at home.
Although Burrell never developed into the MVP-caliber player that many envisioned, he finishes his career as one of the most productive hitters in Phillies history.
Here are his ranks in three offensive categories: home runs, OBP+SLG (OPS), and Batting runs, which is a formula developed by Sean Foreman of Baseball-Reference.com that attempts to measure how many runs a player contributed to his team compared with the average major league player.
HRs (all-time)
| Player | HR | PAs | Years |
| 1. Mike Schmidt | 548 | 10062 | 1972-89 |
| 2. Ryan Howard | 286 | 4409 | 2004-11 |
| 3. Del Ennis | 259 | 6939 | 1946-56 |
| 4. Pat Burrell | 251 | 5388 | 2000-08 |
| 5. Chuck Klein | 243 | 5772 | 1928-44 |
| 6. Greg Luzinski | 223 | 5321 | 1970-80 |
| 7. Cy Williams | 217 | 5783 | 1918-30 |
| 8. Dick Allen | 204 | 4511 | 1963-76 |
| 9. Bobby Abreu | 195 | 5885 | 1998-06 |
| 10. Chase Utley | 188 | 4778 | 2003-11 |
OPS since 1947 (min. 3000 PAs)
| 1. Ryan Howard | .928 | 2004-11 |
| 2. Bobby Abreu | .928 | 1998-06 |
| 3. Mike Schmidt | .908 | 1972-89 |
| 4. Dick Allen | .902 | 1963-76 |
| 5. Chase Utley | .882 | 2003-11 |
| 6. Scott Rolen | .877 | 1996-02 |
| 7. John Kruk | .861 | 1989-94 |
| 8. Pat Burrell | .852 | 2000-08 |
| 9. Greg Luzinski | .852 | 1970-80 |
| 10. Del Ennis | .820 | 1947-56 |
Rbat since 1947 (min. 3000 PAs)
| Player | Rbat | PAs | Years |
| 1. Mike Schmidt | 549 | 10062 | 1972-89 |
| 2. Bobby Abreu | 296 | 5885 | 1998-06 |
| 3. Dick Allen | 269 | 4511 | 1963-76 |
| 4. Greg Luzinski | 200 | 5321 | 1970-80 |
| 5. Ryan Howard | 182 | 4409 | 2004-11 |
| 6. Chase Utley | 163 | 4778 | 2003-11 |
| 7. Johnny Callison | 151 | 5930 | 1960-69 |
| 8. Richie Ashburn | 150 | 8223 | 1948-59 |
| 9. John Kruk | 145 | 3001 | 1989-94 |
| 10. Del Ennis | 129 | 6356 | 1947-56 |
| 11. Pat Burrell | 119 | 5388 | 2000-08 |
| 12. Tony Gonzalez | 119 | 4194 | 1960-68 |
| 13. Scott Rolen | 109 | 3643 | 1996-02 |
| 14. Lenny Dykstra | 102 | 3374 | 1989-96 |
| 15. Von Hayes | 102 | 4988 | 1983-91 |
Buy Phillies tickets 
I know this post is about Burrell but looking at these numbers, I realized I'd forgotten how good Abreu was.— Jeffrey- The thing about Abreu was that so much of his numbers are just empty stats. He didn't come up big in pressure situations (if there were any back then) and I can't remember how many times he would randomly steal a base late in games when not needed or basically take the bat out of Thome's hands for the IBB. There is a reason he has never been a winner and that is including being on the Yankees and Angels
— rvb2321 - Actually, the thing about Abreu is that he is probably the best pure hitter ever to wear a Phillies uniform. To put up those numbers as part of some of the worst Phillies lineups in 50 years is absolutely amazing. In professional baseball there are no such thing as "empty stats". You earn every stat you compile in Major League Baseball. He was lazy, gave little effort defensively, and was very selfish(as are all players when it comes to their stats). But Bobby Abreu was anything but "empty" offensively. The guy could flat out rake. — CornerPretzelGuy
Comment removed.- I thought Marcus Hayes' article was quite sappy for me but others may like it. Pat Burrell played an important role for the Phils because he was a highly regarded player out of college when the most recent big thing wanted no parts of being in Philadelphia. Right there he gained points with the fans. He came out with some big numbers early but when he slumped early on he worked hard to improve and the fans saw that he cared. The worst thing about Burrell was that he is the kind of player that morphs into the culture in the room and early in his career he was being influenced by Abreu, Leibie Travis Lee and others who played for themselves or the paycheck. It wasnt until the new group of phils that came along and changed him into the guy who embraced the team and eventually sitting on the clydesdales.— rvb2321
- I hate that Abreu & Burrell are so high on these lists, just shows how bad most Phillies teams have been over the years.... and Von Hayes got a spot too! (he belongs in the "Pat Burrell Club") This team has sucked for so many years, we should CHERISH what we have had since '07— joecaff10
- I met him once, biggest jerk you could ever imagine. I'm glad he's gone and wish we won the world series after he left. He will not be missed or remembered in 15 years.— Thrillhouse40
If only Abreu been the teammate he should have been. We would have won back to back Championships with Abreu's consistent hitting and rocket arm in left field.— KINGOFZED- Comment removed.
