125 years of dreadful existence

Milestone Marks What Phillies Fans Already Knew

Sports / Baseball
Milestone Marks What Phillies Fans Already Knew
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Published: June 12, 2007
The Philadelphia Phillies have lost more games than any professional franchise in any sport and are fast approaching their 10,000th loss.

Comment: Kathee and I were at "The Vet" when the Phillies won the pennant in 1983!

Excerpt:

The franchise has set awful records for futility — with a collective earned run average of 6.71 in 1930 and 23 consecutive defeats in 1961. And, of course, 1964 brought one of baseball’s most infamous collapses, when the Phillies held a 6 ½-game lead in the National League with 12 games to play and blew the pennant after losing 10 in a row.

“It was like someone sticking a nail in your head and hammering it once a day,” said Tom McCarthy, 70, an actor who plays the title role in the one-man play “The Philly Fan.”

Penurious and indifferent owners, poor trades, suspect managers and some truly bad teams have conspired through decades to influence Philadelphia’s gloomy faith. Here, victory is fleeting and ephemeral, not an encouraging sign that further success is ahead but a taunting hint that disaster is just around the corner in a city where defeat has become the natural order.


See: His nickname was 'Losing Pitcher'. His Career Stats