Skip to main content

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 89

Walter "Butch" Henline was a catcher with the Phillies from 1921- 1926. Henline, a veteran of the first World War, was a solid hitting backstop throughout his professional career.

After breaking into the Major Leagues and playing just one game with the New York Giants in 1921, he was traded, along with Curt Walker and cash for outfielder Irish Meusel. After debuting with the Phillies and posting a .306 batting average in 33 games with the club that year, Henline won the starting catcher's job.

The Indiana native, Henline, had his best year with the Phillies in his first full season in the Majors. In 1922, Henline batted .316, slammed 14 homeruns and knocked in 64 runs to go along with his .859 OPS in 125 games. The rookie also led all National League catchers with a .983 fielding percentage.

The following season, the right-handed hitting Henline's offensive production held steady. He served up a boost in batting average, hitting a career high .324, which was second best among National League catchers in 1923.

However, the arrival of a rookie, future all-star catcher and native Philadelphian Jimmie Wilson, would soon cut into Henline's playing time and he did not play in more than 100 games in a season after 1925.

In 576 career games with the Phillies, Henline, who occasionally played first base and outfield, was a .304 hitter, with 36 homeruns, 231 RBI and 226 runs scored.

Prior to the 1927 season, the Phillies saw fit to deal Henline and sent him away as part of a three-team deal with the Brooklyn Robins and the New York Giants. Henline went to Brooklyn, while the Phils acquired pitcher Jake Scott and second baseman Fresco Johnson. With Brooklyn, Henline was a second string catcher.

Henline closed out his big league playing career as a member of the Chicago White Sox, where he played sparingly for two season.

After his playing days were through, Henline went on to become a minor league and Major League umpire. He was an active official for the 1947 MLB All-star Game. Henline also went on to become the supervisor of umpires in the now defunct Florida International League from 1949 to 1954.

Henline passed away at the age of 62 in 1957.

________________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Connect with PhoulBallz.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...