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The baseball world lost one its all-time greats on Thursday morning as Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts passed away at the age of 83. An official release from the Phillies stated that Roberts died of natural causes at his Florida home. Roberts had a 286-245 career record with a 3.41 ERA. As a Phillie, Roberts posted a 234-199 record and completed 272 games. Also, from 1949-1960, he won at least 10 games each season. That streak of 12 straight seasons with double-digit victories is 2nd, only to Steve Carlton, in team history. Roberts also threw 3 one-hitters in his Phillies career. A seven time all-star, Roberts was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. Roberts was attending Michigan State University on a basketball scholarship, when the Phillies convinced him to sign a professional baseball contract by offering him a $25,000 bonus. At 21-years-old in 1948, Roberts attended his first spring training, before being assigned to the Phillies minor league affiliate in W...

There is tons of lore about the 1950 Phillies, the team full of youth that fought off the Dodgers to make it to the World Series, but do you know about how the season finished? Do you know how the 1950 Whiz Kids nearly pulled a 2007 Metropolitans? Read on, little stars...and let's shine together. In the closing weeks of the 1950 season, our Phillies had a 7 game lead with just 11 games left to play. A World Series berth seemed almost locked up. It would be the Phillies first trip to the Series in 35 years. However, without warning, the team began to fizzle (yes the Whiz began to Fizz). They lost seven of nine, during the final weeks of the season, while the Brooklyn Dodgers won 12 of 15 games during a stretch in the closing weeks. The Phillies roster suffered a big loss, in September, when 17 game winner, pitcher Curt Simmons, an Army National Guard member, was drafted for the Korean War. The team kept fighting, however. In fact, 1950 was the year that the team got the nickname, ...

Eddie Sawyer was a highly regarded Yankees' outfield prospect until a shoulder injury knocked him out of action in 1939. Sawyer never made it to the majors as a player, but earned college degrees from Cornell University and Ithica College prior to playing in the minors. With his playing days over, he began managing in the minor leagues, trying to work his way up the ladder. In 1944, Sawyer took over as manager in Utica, which was the Phillies' Eastern League affiliate, in those days. There, Eddie Sawyer was responsible for moving a young Richie Ashburn from catcher to the outfield. Sawyer began the 1948 season managing the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Phillies' triple A team, and midway through the 1948 season, the Phillies fired manager Ben Chapman, and Sawyer was promoted to the big club. At the time, some press questioned the move of hiring a man who has never played in the majors, as the manager. Sawyer's arrival in the majors coincided with the development of some youn...