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Virgil "Spud" Davis was a catcher with the Phillies from 1928-1933 and again from 1938-1939. Acquired in May 1928 from St. Louis, along with Homer Peel for Jimmie Wilson, Davis quickly built a reputation as one of the best hitting catchers in the game. Beginning in 1929, Davis hit over .300 for 7 straight seasons, the first 5 of which were for the Phils. Davis, a native of Birmingham Alabama, was more of a doubles hitter than he was a homerun basher. His single season high in homers was 14, which he did twice with the Phillies. One of the 14 homer seasons came in 1932, when Davis drove in 70 runs and had a .336 batting average. He followed that up with an equally impressive season in 1933 when he batted .349 with 9 homers and 65 RBI in 141 games. That season, Davis also received votes for the National League MVP award. The only reason Spud Davis would have won the NL batting title that season, if not for his teammate Chuck Klein who had a .368 batting average. Unfortunately f...

Jimmie Wilson spent 10 total years with the Phillies, from 1923-1928, then from 1934-1938. Initially, Wilson was just a catcher with the Phils, but later became manager of his hometown team. Wilson grew up in the Kensington section of the city. He grew up playing soccer but was convinced to try baseball as well, around age 20. He played both sports until he was moved from New Haven of the Eastern League to the Phillies in 1923. At first, Wilson shared the Phillies' catching duties with veteran Butch Henline, but Wilson's superior offensive performance gradually won him the starting assignment. Wilson batted over .300 in both the 1925 and 1926 seasons. His true value was behind the plate, however, and he was regarded as one of the era's best signal callers. In 1927, he played in a career high 128 games, but his batting average and OPS dropped, as did his value to the team. On May 11, 1928, Wilson made baseball history when he was traded by the Phillies to the Cardinals, for...