Looking back at Cole Hamels’ top moments in a Phillies uniform

Former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels has officially called it a career. On Friday, the San Diego Padres announced the lefty was being placed on the voluntarily retired list, ending his latest comeback attempt.

Hamels had signed a minor league contract with his hometown club with the goal of returning to the majors for the first time since undergoing multiple surgeries after joining the Dodgers in 2021.

With the World Series champion’s career coming to a close, it’s a good time examine five of Hamels’ most memorable moments his Phillies career, which spanned 10 of his 15 MLB seasons.

Hamels was named MVP of the 2008 World Series, giving up just four runs in 13 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

He was also named MVP of the NLCS, in which he surrendered just three runs in 14 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

During that postseason run, Hamels became just the third pitcher in MLB history with five starts of at least six innings and no more than two runs allowed in a single postseason (Curt Schilling and John Smoltz). He finished that postseason run 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA.

In what would be his final start for the Phillies, Hamels threw a no-hitter at famed Wrigley Field, stifling the Cubs six days before the trade deadline.

Hamels was dealt six days later to the Texas Rangers, but not before becoming the first pitcher to no-hit the Cubs since Sept. 9, 1965, the date of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game and then-record-setting fourth no-hitter. Hamels struck out 13, walked two, and at one point retired 17 consecutive batters en route to 129-pitch shutout and a 5-0 Phils’ victory. A year earlier in 2014, Hamels also pitched the lion’s share of a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves.

Hamels was stellar in his rookie campaign in 2006, but his 15-strikeout performance in April the following season turned out to be a career-high. The complete-game victory over the Cincinnati Reds also featured a triple-play in the fifth inning. It was his first complete game and the highest strike out total for a Phillies pitcher since Curt Schilling fanned 15 in 1998.

Hamels hit just three home runs in his career. Home runs hit by pitchers are quirky on their own. This one, however, was memorable because it was the first time since 1925 that a Phillies pitcher hit a homer and gave one up to an opposing pitcher in the same game.

San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain cracked a solo blast in the third inning. In the home-half, Hamels sent the first pitch he saw into the seats in right field at Citizens Bank Park.

Four nights after Roy Halladay no-hit the Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS, Hamels clinched the series, scattering five hits and striking out nine in the 2-0 win.

Inquirer writer David Murphy summed Hamels’ outing thusly: “For 3-plus hours on a picture-perfect autumn night, he made the slimmest of leads seem like the widest of chasms. And now, the Phillies are back where they normally are this time of year: one step away from the World Series.”