It must be Schilling, right?
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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.
Pinky Whitney gets my vote. Check out his stats. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitnpi01.shtml He had over 200 hits for us twice, and the seasons were much shorter in his day.— mrmiller74- VON HAYES!!!!!— Bill Lumbergh
- Rick Wise? Are you kidding me? He went 75-76 as a Phillie, and yet more than 15 doofuses voted for him. Unbelievable.— 1980
- When is Joe Lis going to get his due?— Joe Lis lives
- A lot of negative comments about some of these candidates, but two guys getting no love are Lieberthal & Von Hayes. Lieby caught the most games in Phillies history, that alone should put him on the wall. Von Hayes was the best player on the Phils for at least 5 years. It's not his fault the Phillies gave up so much for him (which didn't amount to much after Julio Franco and a washed up Manny Trillo)Why he is universally hated in this town I don't understand.— Setdawgy
- Agree with topwonk, Schilling's an arse, always was. But he's the guy on that list, sorry. And I agree there doesn't need to be another guy added every year. There aren't that many Wall of Fame Phillies, sorry to say. Von Hayes? They must be kidding.— PhillySubsMac
- Sorry...I do not reward a guy who begged to leave the team. Especially when he was nothing until he got here and we gave him his shot.
Do we have no self respect?— smfree31 - It's only fair to consider the players who played for the Phillies before Schilling. Just because it's been a long time and some of these guys aren't household names, doesn't mean we should ignore them. Make Schilling wait for a few more years while they consider players from the past.— AvoidSundanceVacations
Comment removed.- Wheels might be on the wall, but he should feel lucky he has even had a job all these years. — hawk18
- Two more points for all those Shilling lovers: Wonder what response you would get from his teammates on whether he should be on that wall? Possibly the most disliked Phillie ever, by his own team. Second, while some people give him a pass for complaining and campaigning his way out of Philly and off a mediocre team, there have been other very good players who did not do that but stayed and became part of the solution rather than the problem. Jimmy Rollins immediately springs to mind. Pat Burrell as well... Hmmm, they both won a championship here as I recall. Shilling and Rolen - let'em be honored in some other place, where they would rather be.— topwonk
- setdawgy, since when are is Von Hayes universally hated? he was a disappointment, and he was one of the better players on some truly awful teams (Juan Samuel was the star of some of those teams, by the way). Hayes came here with all of the "Swing-like-Ted-Williams" hype, and if I remember correctly he probably hit about .280 with maybe 120 or so HR for the Phillies. You think that's Wall of Fame material? If so, then anybody who ever started at any position for at least 5 years should be up there, and it should be renamed the Wall of Mediocrity. Also, didn't Hayes play as a scab during a baseball strike? If so, the other players would probably object to his being up there.— 1980
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- Yes 1980, .280 and 120 HRs are worthy of the Phillies Wall of Fame. This is the Phillies remember. As far as Samuel being the "star" of those bad eighties teams, I doubt he ever hit .280, struck out 150 times a year and had no right playing 2nd base in the major leagues— Setdawgy
