From Von Hayes to Randy Wolf to Shane Rawley, a toast to the Phillies who traveled the longest road to 10,000 wins

I’ve heard people say that the Phillies winning their 10,000th game is no big deal. I suppose they have a point, given that it’s been 15 years since they lost their 10,000th. But as someone who happened to cover the team during the four seasons that accounted for roughly 4% of those victories, I feel like I can at least offer some perspective on the long road back to .500.

Granted, it remains a long road. And, given that asphalt is a nonrenewable resource, most of that road is currently unpaved. The Phillies have lost 1,163 more games than they’ve won. But should that really dampen our appreciation of all that they have accomplished to date? To put it in football terms, anybody can rush for 1,000 yards on 250 carries. How many have ever rushed for 1,000 on 1,500?

Fact is, only six teams in the majors have played more games than our Fightin’ Phils. And while it may be true that they are the only one of those teams that could go 162-0 for six straight seasons and still not make it to .500, that does not change one simple fact. They are ours.

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Besides, people like round numbers. Me? I’m more partial to the number 9,999, which is where the Phillies sat before Tuesday’s win sent them to an even 10,000. There is something cool about the odd number, a unique falling-asleep-on-the-keyboard sort of quality that carries a far more appropriate connotation for this franchise. If it was up to me, the Phillies would have remained stuck on 9,999 for a little while longer, like a September school student who can’t remember the date. But, then, that’s a tough ask when you are playing a series against the Reds.

Really, it’s only fair that we pay 10,000 its fair due, given the amount of coverage we gave the 10,000th loss. Truth be told, the whole 10,000-loss thing was a little overblown. It made for some great material in the middle of the dead summer news cycle, but I’m not sure how historic it really was. The Phillies may have become the first professional sports team in our modern age to achieve such a feat, but human history is a lot longer than the modern age. Were they really the first team in civilization to suffer 10,000 losses? I suspect that milestone actually belongs to the Roman gladiators.

Regardless, a toast is in order, if only because we are still in the summer news cycle and NFL Week 1 is still several weeks away. My first thought is to dedicate this space to those who made the greatest contributions to pushing this franchise to 10,000. Except, we’ve already paid plenty of due to the heroes of 1950, 1980, 1993, and 2008. If we really want to honor the players who have epitomized this franchise, perhaps we should honor all of the Phillies who got lost in between.

So as we sit here on this momentous occasion, I ask you to raise a glass of your most below-average but long-lasting beverage in remembrance of those whom we can count as the truest of our Phillies.

To Von Hayes. You lost a World Series as a rookie and then proceeded to lose a heck of a lot more. You spent nine seasons with this franchise and went 699-757. After 1983, you played on eight teams that finished a combined 177½ games out of first place. You never got closer than 15 games from winning the division. But it wasn’t your fault. From 1983-91, you posted an adjusted OPS+ of 118, meaning you were 18% better than league average at the plate. Your team was well below that. But you get plenty of credit for your 7% of their lifetime wins.

To Randy Wolf. You may have wasted your entire prime, but you were perfectly adequate while doing it. In doing so, you were the standard-bearer of a generation. The Phillies actually won more games than they lost during your career, and yet you never started on opening day. Andy Ashby? Omar Daal? Robert Person? Kevin Millwood? Jon Lieber? Real Phillies fans know who the real ace of those staffs was.

To Tomas Perez. The fact that the Phillies did not find a way to bring you back on the 2008 playoff roster was a crime against mediocrity. Nobody epitomized the early 2000s like you did. You spent six years here and somehow averaged less than 200 at-bats per season. Since 1995, only 10 major leaguers with at least 2,000 plate appearances have a lower career OPS+. And yet, we will always remember that magical season in which you almost played every position.

To Rico Brogna. You only spent three full seasons here, but they felt like 30. You went 224-245 in games that you played. Most of all, your name was Rico Brogna.

To Mike Lieberthal. You had the misfortune of arriving a little too late and leaving a little too soon. You probably have more of a claim to Mr. Phillie than Von Hayes. You might be just another face on the Wall of Fame. But on the Wall of Reality, you are No. 1.

The names are too numerous to mention, but let’s go ahead and try. To Shane Rawley, who won 17 games for an 80-win team. To Steve Jeltz, who played seven of his eight big league seasons in Philly, and posted a .586 OPS while doing it. To Curt Schilling, and Scott Rolen, and Placido Polanco — you probably don’t belong on this list given the amount of winning that each of you did. Yet there is something about your tenures with this team that feels appropriate to mention.

I’m sure I have missed plenty. Doug Glanville, Mickey Morandini, Randy Ready, Gregg Jefferies, maybe even Danny Tartabull. They are the Mantles and DiMaggios and Ruths of this franchise, worthy of monuments and mentions. To those of a certain age, they are what memories were made of. And now that we’ve remembered them, let’s turn our attention back to what really matters.

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