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Articles by Matt Veasey
Baseball Expects Wild Final Week
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans. I do not agree with you that Maury Wills belongs in Cooperstown. As a player? Perhaps you're right. But when he managed the Mariners, he absolutely cheated.
What if the 1980’s Phillies had stood pat?
Baseball’s 2020 Winter Meetings, originally scheduled to take place this week in Dallas, Texas, are instead taking place in a series of “virtual” meetings. Along with a great deal of business activity, one of the traditional hallmarks of this time has always been the possibility of big trades and free agent signings taking place. When the meetings have been held “live”, the simple fact that so many decision-makers were together under one roof made such deals more prevalent.
Phillies should consider historic choice of Kim Ng as their next general manager
After Matt Klentak stepped down earlier this month as the Philadelphia Phillies general manager, those who follow and report on the team began to speculate as to possible candidates for the position. Names tossed around by the beat writers and radio talking heads in town have included Tampa Bay Rays executive vice-president Erik Neander, Cherry Hill native and Kansas City Royals vice-president of player personnel J.J. Picollo, and old school guys like Dan Duquette and Dave Dombrowski.
Phillies Phlashback: The Dave Cash trade
On October 18, 1973 the Philadelphia Phillies swung a trade with their intra-state and National League East Division rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is not overstating things to say that this deal would prove to be one of the most influential in the history of the Phillies franchise. In that trade, Phillies general manager Paul Owens sent a talented 25-year-old southpaw by the name of Ken Brett to Pittsburgh in a straight-up exchange for Cash.
The ‘New’ Baseball Bible
In 1980, AP sports writer Dan Schlossberg published “The Baseball Catalog“, a compendium of baseball rules, records, traditions, oddities, personalities, and unforgettable moments. Over the years the book was updated to include newly uncovered historical as well as more contemporary items, turning into “The Baseball Bible” and packing in more and more stats and stories.
MLB 2020 awards: My official IBWAA ballot
Monday, September 28, the day after the end of the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season and the day before the start of the MLB playoffs, was the deadline for IBWAA members to submit our awards ballots. At the end of each regular season, IBWAA members in good standing receive the opportunity to vote for the Most Valuable Player of the National and American Leagues, submitting our top 10 in each league.
MLB Power Ranking: 2020 Final
The most unusual regular season in the history of Major League Baseball has finally come to an end. It was 60 games (for most teams) filled with all of the usual action: big hits, shutdown pitching, outstanding defense. A few teams took advantage of the abbreviated schedule, playing beyond their preseason expectations to reach the expanded postseason. Others fell short of those expectations, disappointing their fan bases.
Charlie Morton first obstacle in way of Phillies postseason hopes
In order to reach the 2020 Major League Baseball postseason the Philadelphia Phillies are likely going to have to win at least two of three games on this final weekend in Tampa Bay against the host Rays. It would be preferable for the team to sweep all three games in the series, a tall order against one of the best teams in baseball.
Phillies 2020 playoff scenarios as final weekend looms
As we enjoy the final off-day of the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season, fans of the Philadelphia Phillies are looking forward in anticipation towards what they hope will prove to be one of the most exciting weekends for the team in nearly a decade. The Phillies are in Tampa Bay for a series with the talented Rays, a team that has already clinched the American League East Division crown.
Doubleheader sweep gives Phillies life in postseason race
The Philadelphia Phillies had lost five of their previous six games and ten of the prior 15. In second place and just 1.5 games off the NL East Division lead on September 8, the club had dropped to third place and 4.5 out entering Friday’s doubleheader with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Phillies woke up on Friday morning with a losing record for the first time since August 30. Losses on the scoreboard weren’t the only problem.
Phillies to play shorthanded during most important week in years
The Philadelphia Phillies have battled through this weird and wild COVID-affected 2020 MLB regular season for two months. Thanks to a late-August, early-September hot streak, the club has put themselves into a playoff position and remains in contention for an NL East crown. While there are three weeks remaining in the schedule, the Phillies ultimate 2020 fate could very well come down to how the club performs this week. There are ten games scheduled over the next week.
MLB Power Ranking: Labor Day 2020
Major League Baseball has done a fantastic job in putting on a 2020 season under incredibly difficult circumstances. While the COVID19 coronavirus pandemic has affected the schedule a few times, adjustments were made and the season has moved along. Back in mid-August, the first MLB Power Rankings here at The Bell revealed that the Colorado Rockies were surprisingly the top team in the game after the club got off to a red-hot start.
Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay
“When you’re in a video game, and you’re building a pitcher in a video game, all of his qualities – mental toughness, determination – he is the prototypical guy you’d build for me. Listen, his arm was great and he had good stuff, but there was much more to it for him to have that amount of success.” That is a quote from one of the greatest and most popular players in Philadelphia Phillies history, second baseman Chase Utley, regarding his 2010-13 teammate, Roy Halladay.
Arrieta, Howard are the keys to Phillies ultimate 2020 success
If you follow Phillies social media as closely as I do, the majority of the club’s fan base hold the following opinions regarding starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Spencer Howard. Arrieta is over. He was a Cy Young Award winner five years ago, but that was with the Chicago Cubs. He has been a huge disappointment since signing a three-year, big dollars free agent contract with the Phillies. His time is past. Howard isn’t fully ready.
MLB Power Ranking: August 15
The 2020 Major League Baseball season is unlike any other previously experienced in roughly a century-and-a-half of organized play. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic first caused spring training to be shut down back in March, then the season to be delayed by four months. Things finally kicked off in late July following a lengthy negotiation between MLB and the player’s union and a two-week ‘summer camp’ practice period. Even then, the virus continued to take its toll.
Half of the Phillies lineup simply not producing
The Philadelphia Phillies are currently struggling along to the tune of a 5-6 record here in the early going of the 2020 Major League Baseball season. For many fans, the largely ineffective bullpen has been the main culprit. While it is a truth that only three or four relief pitchers have proven reliable to this point for manager Joe Girardi‘s squad, the fact of the matter is that a bigger problem for this team has been the failure of half of its regular starting lineup to produce anything.
2020 Philadelphia Phillies preview and prediction
Well, we’re finally here. Philadelphia Phillies 2020 Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park. Following a four-month shutdown and delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Phillies will host the Miami Marlins this weekend for the first three games of a 60-game sprint of an MLB regular season. There are many changes to Major League Baseball for this year due to the ongoing battle against the coronavirus. Living, breathing fans replace by metal fan-head cutouts, or in some cases no fan representation at all.
2020 MLB preview and predictions
Making predictions for the 2020 Major League Baseball season that is set to get underway on Thursday is a riskier proposition than ever before. Instead of a 162-game, six-month long, everyday marathon that exposes depth and talent more than any other pro sport, MLB is about to undergo a 60-game, two-month long sprint. The likelihood is that the best teams will still rise to the top over those 60 games.
The Big 50: Philadelphia Phillies
Scott Lauber has covered baseball for two decades and the Philadelphia Phillies on a daily basis as a beat writer with the Philadelphia Inquirer since February 2018. Lauber has now published his second book on the team with this year’s release “The Big 50: Philadelphia Phillies: The Men and Moments that Make the Philadelphia Phillies” from Triumph Books. There are literary masterpieces and historic research texts available on baseball.
Phillies champions: 1980 vs 2008 - the winner
Over the last couple of months during this shutdown of baseball, I’ve presented a series here at The Bell. Each piece in the series has presented a position-by-position comparison of the 1980 and 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series championship teams. You can find a link to each of those individual comparisons below. So, now it’s time to make a final determination: which was the greatest Phillies team of all-time?
The sudden, shocking retirement of Michael Jack Schmidt
Today marks the 31st anniversary of one of the most shocking moments involving the Phillies during my lifetime. At least it was a shocker to me, and I am sure that many of my age peers felt the same. It also marked a very obvious, both in hindsight and even at the time it took place, end of an era in Phillies baseball. On May 29, 1989 the greatest player in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies, third baseman Mike Schmidt, suddenly retired.
Phillies 1980 vs 2008: Right field
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has won exactly two World Series championships over the course of 137 seasons of play. Those two world titles came in 1980 and 2008. As part of our season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of that 1980 team championship, I have been comparing those two great Phillies teams to see whether either can legitimately be considered as having been better than the other.
1882: First Phillies team takes the field
Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies are probably aware that the team played its first big-league season in 1883. The club lost their first eight official games, suffered through a 14-game losing streak that summer, and finished at just 17-81 that year. Many may not be aware, however, that the team actually first took the field in Philadelphia during the 1882 season as a member of the League Alliance.
Phillies 50: Dallas raids Philadelphia
This past Thursday marked the exact 40th anniversary of the Philadelphia Phillies victory in the 1980 World Series. Under manager Dallas Green, that Phillies ball club captured the first championship in franchise history. Even younger fans who weren’t around then but who still pride themselves on knowing the history of the ball club are aware that Green left the team and went on to work in the front office with a few other clubs before returning to the Phillies in the late-1990’s.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred “hopeful” for a 2020 season
As representatives of Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association continue to negotiate financial and health parameters in order to actually make it happen, commissioner Rob Manfred states that he is “hopeful” a 2020 MLB season will take place.
Should Ryan Howard have made more than three NL All-Star teams?
First baseman Ryan Howard became known as “The Big Piece” of the Philadelphia Phillies during the late 2000’s for his contributions hitting in the middle of the lineup for those power-packed teams. An examination of his big-league career reveals that Howard delivered 1,475 hits which included 382 home runs, second in franchise history, over his 13-year career spent entirely with the Phillies. Howard was the 2005 National League Rookie of the Year and the 2006 National League Most Valuable Player.
Proposed 2020 rules could help Phillies contend
I wrote yesterday on Major League Baseball’s upcoming attempt to return for a 2020 season. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball presented the plan to MLB owners today and it met with their approval. That plan will now be forwarded to the Player’s Association on Tuesday for what is expected to begin a process of negotiations. There are two specific pieces of the reported proposal from a game aspect that could help the Philadelphia Phillies if play actually gets underway this year.
MLB will begin trying to clear hurdles towards a 2020 season this coming week
The Philadelphia Phillies and the rest of Major League Baseball could be ready to yell “Play Ball!” and begin the 2020 regular season as early as the first week in July. That according to a report this week from insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Commissioner Rob Manfred and key members inside his office have worked up a detailed plan.
10 questions with Ellen Adair
The “10 questions with…“ series here at The Bell is one in which I interview various individuals with some direct link to the Philadelphia Phillies or who have some other interesting baseball connection. The interviews take place in a Q&A format where I ask each participant 10 questions (I cheat once in awhile with a multi-parter) involving their lives and career. I also delve into their history with the ball club and the game, and try to gain their insight on the current Phillies team.
Phillies could go college pitcher in first round of unusual 2020 MLB Amateur Draft
Major League Baseball’s 2020 Amateur Draft is going to be one of the more unusual in the history of the process. There will be a number of likely temporary changes this year due to numerous factors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the pro, college, and high school seasons. As a result of their middle-of-the-road, 81-81, .500 season in 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies top pick will fall right in the middle of the first round at 15th overall.
Improvement from Rhys Hoskins will be a key once Phillies get underway
In an attempt to plow into the collective mind of the Phillies fan base, Meghan Montemurro at The Athletic ran a survey. Fans should read the entire piece at that link. There is one player highlighted by the survey who I want to comment on in particular. One of the questions asked “Who is your favorite current Phillie?” Rhys Hoskins finished fifth behind Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Aaron Nola, and Andrew McCutchen. He was just ahead of Scott Kingery in the polling results.
Major League Baseball by July 1 is now a possibility
Could fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball enjoy the start of regular season action by July 1, 2020? It’s one possibility currently being considered.
Phillies 1980 vs 2008: Center field
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has won exactly two World Series championships over the course of 137 seasons of play. Those two world titles came in 1980 and 2008. As part of our season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of that 1980 team championship, I have been comparing those two great Phillies teams to see whether either can legitimately be considered as having been better than the other.
Frustrating Phillies 2001-06 teams repeatedly fell just short of the playoffs
Those Philadelphia Phillies fans who were around to experience it got to enjoy the greatest sustained run of winning in franchise history when the team captured five straight NL East crowns from 2007-11. During that period the Phillies won back-to-back National League pennants in 2008-09 and, of course, the 2008 World Series championship. What some younger Phillies fans may not be aware of, however, is that the club was building towards that run for a half-dozen years before it actually began.
First game in Philadelphia Phillies franchise history
Happy birthday to the Philadelphia Phillies! Today, May 1, is the anniversary of the first game ever played by the Phillies franchise. On what was a Thursday afternoon, the team dropped a 4-3 decision to the Providence Grays at Recreation Park in North Philadelphia. The ballpark was located between 24th & 25th Streets, Ridge to Columbia Avenues. It was the Phillies first home and would remain so for their first four seasons.
My 2020 MLB season suggestion based on the latest proposal
Rumors have been flying around hot and heavy over the last couple of days that Major League Baseball is beginning to lay out plans to open their 2020 season in late June or early July. What would follow is a roughly 100-game regular season through October, followed by a postseason that might be held at warm weather and/or domed neutral sites. The actual announcement of a concrete plan on getting underway this season is likely still weeks away.
The best Phillies team that no one ever talks about
Any discussion of the greatest Philadelphia Phillies teams over the 137-season history of the franchise invariably leads almost every fan to examine a handful of specific versions of the ball club. The two World Series champions of 1980 and 2008 will be in there. So will the 2011 team that set a franchise record with 102 regular season wins, as well as the 1977-78 teams, each of which would register 101 victories.
Macho Row: The 1993 Phillies and Baseball’s Unwritten Code
I have often said that the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies season was the most fun single season of Phillies baseball that I have ever followed. With the 2020 season (should it every be played) as my 50th year following the club, that is a pretty significant statement. With his 2017 book “Macho Row: The 1993 Phillies and Baseball’s Unwritten Code” (purchase through that link at Amazon), historian William C. Kashatus shines the spotlight once again on that wild, whacky, wonderful mixture of players.
Phillies 1980 vs 2008: First base
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has won exactly two World Series championships over the course of 137 seasons of play. Those two world titles came in 1980 and 2008. As part of our season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of that 1980 team championship, I am comparing those two great Phillies teams to see whether either can legitimately be considered as having been better than the other.
Jake Arrieta will be a key to any Phillies 2020 success
If a 2020 season ever does get underway in Major League Baseball, few players will have more of an impact on the ultimate success or failure of the Philadelphia Phillies than starting pitcher Jake Arrieta. It can be argued that a shorter season might actually benefit the 34-year-old veteran right-hander, who was fantastic for the Phillies over the first two months during each of his first two seasons in red pinstripes.
Philography: Manny Trillo
We have now reached the 25th entry in my ongoing “Philography” series (you can enjoy the others through links at the bottom of this page) which spotlights the careers of important figures in Philadelphia Phillies history. The Phillies announced recently that their 2020 Wall of Fame honoree will be Manny Trillo, the club’s starting second baseman from 1979-82 and the Most Valuable Player of the 1980 National League Championship Series.
Phillies 1980 vs 2008: Starting catchers
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has won exactly two World Series championships over the course of 137 seasons of play. Those two world titles came in 1980 and 2008. As part of our season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of that 1980 team championship, I am comparing those two great Phillies teams to see whether either can legitimately be considered as having been better than the other.
10 questions with Scott Eyre
In this new “10 questions with…“ series here at The Bell, I’ll be interviewing various individuals with some connection to the Philadelphia Phillies. The interviews will take place in a Q&A format where I ask each of them 10 questions involving themselves and their history with the ball club and hopefully get their insight on the current team. The respondents are always asked to be as long or as short as they like with their responses, so the content length differs with each interview.
Phillies 1980 vs 2008: The bench
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has won exactly two World Series championships over the course of 137 seasons of play. Those two world titles came in 1980 and 2008. As part of our season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of that 1980 team championship, I am comparing those two great Phillies teams to see whether either can legitimately be considered as having been better than the other.
COVID19 Update: Phillies and MLB
Major League Baseball has cancelled games in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, suspended the start of the 2020 regular season, and now ordered all teams to shut down their training facitilites. This is all in response to the ongoing COVID19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic situation. The following is latest information: Earlier today, Commissioner Rob Manfred conducted a conference call with representatives of all 30 MLB teams.
10 questions with Mark Carfagno
In a new series being introduced here at the Bell called “10 questions with…“, I’ll be interviewing various individuals regarding the Philadelphia Phillies. The interviews will take place in a Q&A format where I ask each of them 10 questions involving themselves and the ball club. In this first of the series the interviewee is Mark Carfagno. Those who follow the Phillies on a regular basis on social media should be familiar with him by now.
Philography: John Kruk
This 24th entry in the ongoing “Philography” series (you can enjoy the others through links at the bottom of this page) spotlights the career of one of the most colorful and beloved characters in Philadelphia Phillies history. John Kruk arrived in Philadelphia less than a week after the end of an era. The Phillies acquired the 28-year-old in a trade with the San Diego Padres on June 2, 1989 along with infielder Randy Ready in exchange for outfielder Chris James.
MLB clubs begin handling ticket refund and exchange issues
With the cancellation of play in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, a number of Major League Baseball teams have quickly responded with plans to refund and/or exchange tickets for fans. The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that their season ticket holders will have the option of a refund or receiving credit towards the 2021 Grapefruit League season, and the club is contacting those season ticket holders directly.
Coronavirus about to hit MLB
Of all the controversial issues that we thought might unfold across the Major League Baseball landscape during 2020 as spring training camps opened last month, having the season delayed or cancelled by a pandemic was certainly not high on the list. But here we are, faced with that very possibility. The spread of COVID-19, or “coronavirus”, across the globe finally and perhaps inevitably reached the shores of the United States.
Philography: Dick Allen
Allen starred with the Phillies in the 1960’s, returned in the mid-70’s, and became a Wall of Famer Dick Allen belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Let’s get that out of the way with right off the bat. I’m one of them, the growing list of supporters for this man to be enshrined there as a player. He is a finalist on the ‘Golden Era’ ballot, which selects an old-timer once every three years. The results for that slot will be announced in a little over a week from now.
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