The Power of the P

As the Phillies march toward the Wild Card and make us all finger-chewing scoreboard-watching wrecks in the process (I already have it all planned out - Mets in the NLCS, Yanks in the Series - then I can die), it seems fitting to take you back to a little Fightin’ Phils on-this-day minutiae.

On September 26, 1950, as the Whiz Kids were walking off with the N.L. pennant, Phils’ reliever Jim Konstanty set a modern era record by appearing in his 71st game on the season. He would finish the year with 74 total appearances, a record that would stand until 14 years later, when the K.C. Athletics’ John Wyatt made it into 81 games. The current record is 106 games, set by Mike Marshall with the Dodgers in 1974, and anyone who’s read “Ball Four” knows that Mike Marshall was a real march-to-his-own-drummer kind of guy.

September 26, 1964 – The Phillies host the Braves at Shibe Park. The Phils are in the process of the worst collapse in major league history, losing 10 of their last 12 games (and 10 in a row mind you) to blow a 6 1/2 game lead in the N.L. and end up losing the pennant by a game to the Cardinals, forever earning themselves the moniker “the foldin’ Phils” and beginning Gene Mauch’s reputation as a snakebitten loser. There are people in Philly to this day who get a murderous gleam in their eyes when you bring up the ’64 Phils – my Grampa Noyes was one of them (picture to the right is a sheet of pristine World Series tickets the Phillies had already printed up before the collapse). This game with the Braves was number six of the 10 straight losses, but it’s also notable for the fact that the two teams set a major league record by using 43 total players in the game. The Braves win it 6-4 when Rico Carty triples in three in the ninth off Bobby Shantz. Motherfuckin Rico Carty.

And finally, September 26, 1975 - the Phils and Mets play a miserable doubleheader. Phils win the first game 4-3 in 12 innings in a game twice delayed by rain. A third rain delay finally ends the evening in the third inning of game two, although the game isn’t called for good until 3:15 a.m. About 200 fans were left in the Vet. This is interesting because… I don’t know why. It happened. The '75 Phils were cooler than the other side of the pillow. Dave Cash, Jay Johnstone, Tommy Hutton, Willie Montanez. Dick Allen in his second Philly go-round. Check out my man Downtown Ollie Brown over there. I loved him. His batting stance was ill.