It must be Schilling, right?
The Phillies revealed the 12-man ballot for this year's Wall of Fame voting and, once again, Curt Schilling has to be considered the favorite.
It must be Schilling, right?
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Phillies revealed the 12-man ballot for this year's Wall of Fame voting and, once again, Curt Schilling has to be considered the favorite.
That, of course, did not matter in 2011 when John Kruk was enshrined. The team opens voting to fans online and the choices are whittled to five for the team-picked committee to decide on the inductee.
Here is the full ballot:
Larry Christenson, RHP
Jim Konstanty, RHP
Ron Reed, RHP
Curt Schilling, RHP
Rick Wise, RHP
Mike Lieberthal, C
Jimmy Wilson, C
Pinky Whitney, 3B
Greg Gross, OF
Von Hayes, OF
Mike Ryan, coach
Jim Fregosi, manager
Interestingly enough, Lenny Dykstra's name is missing from the ballot despite his inclusion last season. This isn't the Hall of Fame, so the Phillies run the show. They, apparently, have invoked the morality clause. Dykstra, among other legal issues, is awaiting sentencing on multiple counts of grand theft auto. It's been postponed to March.
So replacing Kruk and Dykstra are Whitney and Ryan.
There really shouldn't be a challenger to Schilling. Already, two members from the 1993 Phillies — Darren Daulton and Kruk — have been inducted before Schilling.
Schilling ranks at the top in many of the franchise's major pitching categories. He's sixth in wins (101), eighth in innings pitched (1,659 1/3), fourth in strikeouts (1,554), fifth in WHIP (1.12), second in K/9 (8.4), sixth in games started (226), first in K:BB ratio (3.75) and fifth in bWAR (34.6). He still holds the single-season record for strikeouts, 319 in 1997.
Obviously, he has a complicated legacy in Philadelphia cemented once he demanded out of the city and won three World Series with Arizona and Boston. That shouldn't take away from his accomplishments over nine seasons with the Phillies.
In his only postseason with the Phillies, he started four games. The Phillies won three, including his masterful shutout in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series, and he posted a postseason ERA of 2.59.
After this season and Schilling's assumed induction, the Wall options are bleak. Pat Burrell won't be eligible until 2015 for enshrinement. Bank on that.
And there are plenty of future inductees on the current Phillies. But none are retiring any time soon.
Any ideas?
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
I'm writing in Ron Stone.— BobbyD- ABSOLUTELY NOT! If you MUST pick another player from the '93 team, it would have to be Lenny (Kruk making it in first is a sham). Yeah, he is a mess now, but was the catalyst for that team just like Utley was in 08.— SilliBilli
- Setdawgy, I'm sure Hayes was WAY better than Samuel up there on Bizarro World, but here on Planet Earth their stats as Phillies are eerily similar. And, regarding Samuel not being qualified to play 2B at the major league level, I'm amazed that the GM's and managers of the 7 teams he played for in his 16-year career couldn't see that as clearly as you do.
Samuel: 7 seasons, .263, 921 H, 523 R, 100 HR, 413 RBI, 176 2B, 71 3B, 249 SB, 3 All-Star
Hayes: 9 seasons, .272, 1173 H, 646 R, 124 HR, 568 RBI, 232 2B, 30 3B, 202 SB, 1 All-Star— 1980 - Dykstra is a Met. Keep him off the ballot. Pete Rose needs to have his own plaque before any of the names listed here.— chopperdaddy
- I, for one, hope not. Schilling threw this team under the bus, and consistently continues to do so on his biased reporting on the networks. He bought into being a Red Sock, and if he goes to the HOF in Cooperstown, which he is on the bubble for, he'll go in as a Red Scok.
This guy is a fake. Goes with the blood thing on the sock. Fakery.— 24sDad - I've seen him in flip flops before, and the gigantic scar on his foot tells me that it was not fake, and people who buy into the conspiracy that it was fake, are letting other people do their thinking for them.
- I've seen him in flip flops before, and the gigantic scar on his foot tells me that it was not fake, and people who buy into the conspiracy that it was fake, are letting other people do their thinking for them.
- 1980, not sure what your point is or what you mean by Bizarro world.
Samuel is already on the wall and the second he left Philly, the mets moved him to center field. He then went to the Dodgers and played second for a year or two. After that he floated around the american league, as a utility player. Also, Samuel led off and never saw a pitch he didn't like, you can't really compare these two fairly. I would take Hayes, you would take Sammy, I'm OK with that.
— Setdawgy - On my Phillies Wall of Fame, Samuel and Kruk wouldn't be there. Some of the best Phillies ever? Really? But that isn't what this really is. Is respecting eras and for the older fans, their era is most likely overlooked. — hawk18
- Samuel at least was a premier base stealer. Hayes was never better than OK at any aspect of the game. The irony of this discussion is that I had season tickets in the mid-to-late 80's (great timing, huh?) and used to shake my head and grimace at both of these guys!!!— 1980
- No argument there Sammy was one of the fastest guys from home to first I've ever seen.
Gotta love those pathetic mid/late 80s Phils teams. I probably still have a Lance the pennant 87 bumper sticker still floating around somewhere.— Setdawgy - Sixto Lezcano— phillyinsd
- Schilling is likely HoFer .. if not on first ballot, he should get in eventually as he had about 5 awesome seasons including 2 300-strikeout seasons with Phils that would have been 20-win seasons with another team.. could have won 2 Cy Youngs with Arizona but had the misfortune of being 2nd to Randy Johnson.... and ultimately was really the "man" on staffs that had other surefire HoFers (Johnson abd Pedro).. was arguably best post-season clutch pitcher in history.. and when he does get it, under HoF criteria should be wearing Phils uniform since he pitched twice the seasons with Phils than with either Ariz or Bost..so it's time for Phils fans to reclaim Schilling as its own and add him to list of Phils greats .... will never forget his amazing 2-0 shutout of Blue Jays in 2003 game 5 --not Schilling's fault that mgr insisted on having Mitch blow game 6..— warbiscuit
- I think Juan Samuel is already on the Wall.— EL Zorro
- Konstanty had a season to remember in 50. 74G,16W,22S. He even started game 1 of the 50W.S. 8innings 1run and unfortunately he got the loss.Played about 6years with the whizzers. Put him on the wall.— 43 phils
