All Phillies…All the Time –Third Base!?

For those who recall Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First,” you’ll also recall that every time an increasingly frustrated Lou Costello says, “I don’t know,” Bud Abbott reminds him that “I Don’t Know” plays third base. Finally, in a fit of pique, Lou himself yells “third base” at the top of his lungs, immediately after he himself says “I don’t know.”

Unlike Bud and Lou, the Phillies situation on third base is not a case of “I don’t know.” If you yell “third base” anywhere within the confines of CPB, the immediate response is “Mike Schmidt!”

What could be simpler? He is still the greatest third baseman in baseball history (number two, Eddie Mathews; number three George Brett… both very good, neither a Mike Schmidt), and the greatest Phillie in history. That makes the choice for the greatest third baseman in Phillies history pretty easy, doesn’t it?

Yes, it does, but let’s not close the door on the discussion. The Phillies have had some pretty decent third basemen over the years, and we’re not taking about David Bell. At least 10 individuals have played at least five seasons at third base at the Philadelphia Baseball Park, Baker Bowl (the same place, in case you didn’t know), Shibe Park, Connie Mack Stadium and the Vet.

If you go back far enough, Harry Wolverton (1900-1904) and Russ Wrightstone (1920-1928) were both somewhat better than average, with Wolverton’s .292 average in the Deadball Era a respectable mark. However, the men at third that Phillies fans and historians tend to revere start after Wrightstone, when Pinky Whitney began a run of memorable third basemen that, except for the World War II years, lasted pretty much right through the end of the 1950s. Whitney held down third from 1929 to 1933, and again from 1936 to 1939, a total of 1157 games, third all-time at third for the Phils. Although his .307/.357/.432 slash line makes him look like a pretty good singles hitter, the high level of offense in the 30s meant that he was exactly average on offense – his OPS+ with the Phillies was 100. Which was almost the same is his Pinky successor at third, Merrill “Pinky” May. He was there for 665 games from 1939 to 1943, and had an OPS+ of 99.

Although the Pinkys (you wouldn’t dare use a nickname like that in either the 50s or today) were fan favorites, THE third baseman of the team’s first 75 years was Puddin’ Head Jones of the Whiz Kids. Despite chronically sore feet (“They only hurt when they touch the ground,” he used to say) Willie Jones played 1520 games at third from 1947 to 1959 for the Phillies, showing both some power and the ability to take a walk.

Although Willie and the Pinkys are honored names in the team’s history, the stats say otherwise in terms of where they rank among Phillies’ third basemen – there’s no way around it, Dave Hollins and Scott Rolen were much better hitters. Much better. Take Hollins, the Rule 5 draft choice known as “Headley” to his teammates on the 1990 to 1995 Phillies (he also made a cameo return for a few games in 2002.) His 1993 season was both a microcosm of his 550-game Phillies career and the reasons why the worst to first team was in first every day but one for the season. A lot of walks, and enough power to take advantage of the walks.

Furthermore, his postseason slash line for 1993 was an extension of his regular season, .233/.389/.419, as was his Phillies career slash line, .257/.361/.434. It added up to an OPS+ of 117 with the Phillies.

As popular as Headley and his teammates were, Rolen was, and still is, equally unpopular. Call him the anti-Cliff Lee, since he whined his way out of Philadelphia in 2002 by basically claiming that manager Larry Bowa was mean to him, and, as a result, he was planning to walk at the end of his contract, no matter what the Phillies offered him. (In fact, they offered him what was at the time the largest contract ever offered by the team. He turned them down.) Saying impolite things about a Philly icon (i.e., Bowa) is a mistake. Doing that and dissing the city is a bigger mistake (see… the anti-Cliff Lee), and, as a result, Rolen to this day is an anathema in town. And, of course, Phillie fans have loooong memories; so they’ll be enjoying Rolen’s collective 0-27 in the 2004 NLDS and World Series almost as much as they’ll be enjoying his 1-11 with eight strikeouts flop in the 2010 NLDS, wherein Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels did indeed make him look like a crybaby.

However, none of this should obscure the fact that Rolen is an excellent, if somewhat fragile (he’s played in more than142 games in a season only once since leaving the Phillies), third baseman. In Philadelphia alone, he won four Gold Glove awards and the Rookie of the Year, while posting a .282/.373/.504 slash line, good for an OPS+ of 125.

No, Rolen was, and is, a very good third baseman. He just can’t be compared to Mike Schmidt. But, you know who can? Dick Allen. Recalling that this exercise places a player at the position where he played the most games for the Phillies, Dick Allen is, for these purposes, a third baseman. And, you can make a very good case that Allen was a better hitter in Philadelphia than Mike Schmidt. Let’s repeat that, once everyone has gotten up off the floor. Dick Allen was a better hitter than Mike Schmidt. Look, the numbers don’t lie. Some of the previous statement has to do with the fact that they were both power hitters who got a lot of walks, but Allen’s batting average in Philadelphia was 23 points higher than Schmidt’s, giving him a higher base line to start. Some of Allen’s short-term supremacy at the plate has to do with the fact that Allen played most of his games in Philadelphia in Connie Mack Stadium, a modest pitcher’s park, while Schmidt played all of his games in the Vet, a hitter’s park. Some of it has to do with the fact that Schmidt played in a slightly higher-scoring era than Allen (though there’s not as much difference as you might think — about five percent). And it all adds up to Allen’s OPS+ with the Phillies being 153 and Schmidt’s being 147. Although Schmidt played his entire career in Philly, his decline years don’t figure in to this figure very much, since Allen played his two completed decline years (1975 and 1976) in Philly as well, and as Schmidt’s teammate, of course. If you take just Allen’s 1964-1969 seasons, his OPS+ with the Phillies was 164. Schmidt’s OPS+, factoring out his decline years, was 150.

Maybe you don’t believe these new-fangled stats. Then look at it this way… Schmidt played 18 seasons in Philadelphia, Allen played nine seasons in Philadelphia (and both played two decline seasons, Schmidt in 1988 and 1989). Let’s then double Allen’s Phillie career totals, and add five percent, to make up for the difference in the offensive context of their times, and see where he stands against Schmidt’s actual numbers…

Pretty close, right? Schmidt has the advantage in home runs and RBIs, but Allen has the advantage in hits, triples and batting average.

Yes, Schmidt also won 10 Gold Gloves and Allen was below average at third base, partly due to the shoulder injury he suffered when Frank Thomas attacked him with a bat in 1965, and partly due to the serious hand injury he suffered pushing his car up the steepest of the Wissahickon Avenue hills in Germantown. Plus, Schmidt played in six post seasons with the Phillies (Allen just one), winning the 1980 World Series MVP. No one disputes that, just like no one disputes that Mike Schmidt is the greatest of all Phillie third baseman, and the greatest of all Phillies. That’s not the point. The point is, you can compare Mike Schmidt and Dick Allen, and it’s a legitimate question as to who was the better hitter during his time in Philadelphia. Keep that in mind the next time someone asks you if Dick Allen should be in the Hall of Fame.