Ranking the Top 10 Phillies All-Star Game moments ahead of the 2024 Midsummer Classic

A franchise-record seven Phillies players have been named to the National League All-Star team. Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Alec Bohm were elected as starters, while Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, Ranger Suárez, and Zack Wheeler joined them as pitchers.

But the Phillies’ history in the Midsummer Classic spans well beyond their record-breaking 2024 season. Philadelphia has hosted the All-Star Game four times (with a fifth one coming in 2026), and several past Phillies players have produced numerous important plays in the game while also contributing a few of the more memorable introduction reactions.

» READ MORE: Phillies set a franchise record with seven players named to the NL All-Star team

These are the top 10 All-Star Game moments involving the Phillies.

Citizens Bank Park is set to host its first All-Star Game in 2026, but it will be the fifth time the game has been held in Philly. Two of those games were at Veterans Stadium, the first in 1976 and the other in 1996.

The Phils’ 1976 All-Star quintet of Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Dave Cash, Greg Luzinski, and Bob Boone combined to go 1-for-8 in the game, but the NL triumphed, 7-1. Cincinnati’s Pete Rose had two hits, and Reds teammate George Foster and Houston’s Cesar Cedeno hit home runs.

Twenty years later, the Phillies sent just one player to their All-Star homecoming after a 37-49 record through the first half — right-handed reliever Ricky Botallico. What the Phils lacked in numbers, Botallico made up for on the mound. He entered the game in the top of the fifth inning with the NL leading by 4-0 and made quick work of Iván Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr., and Jay Buhner to help the NL to a 6-0 shutout win.

After Mike Schmidt abruptly retired during the 1989 season, MLB fans showed their respect for the Phillies legend by voting him into the All-Star Game a little over a month later. Schmidt, selected for the 12th time, elected not to play despite being chosen as the National League’s starting third baseman.

Nonetheless, he attended the game in his No. 20 Phillies uniform, running onto the field at Anaheim Stadium to a roar of applause that lasted for over a minute. The NL came up short on a final win for Schmidt, falling, 5-3, to the American League.

Dick Allen had homered against the St. Louis Cardinals in his final at-bat before the 1967 All-Star Game. The Phillies third baseman did it again while leading off the second inning for the NL against Minnesota Twins pitcher Dean Chance.

On a 1-1 count, Chance placed a breaking ball down and away that Allen deposited over the right-center field wall, giving the NL a 1-0 lead. Allen’s big fly represented the team’s only run until the 15th inning, when Tony Perez, who later played for the Phillies, hit a home run to seal a 2-1 win.

Roy Halladay appeared in a pair of All-Star Games as a Phillie, the second of which came in 2011 at Chase Field in Arizona. In the first half of the season, Halladay went 11-3 with six complete games, earning the start for the NL. He quickly left no doubt why.

The right-hander needed only 19 pitches to sit down the first six batters for the AL, five of which would win Silver Slugger awards that season. Halladay pitched two innings in the NL’s 5-1 win and just lost out being the Most Valuable Player to Prince Fielder, the Milwaukee Brewers first baseman who clubbed a go-ahead three-run home run in the fourth inning.

The 1943 All-Star Game at Shibe Park made history in more ways than one. It was the first Midsummer Classic played in Philadelphia, the first to be played at night, and the only one in the 20th century in which no New York Yankees appeared.

NL players reportedly believed that the AL had success in the All-Star Game only because of Yankees players. Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, who was in charge of the AL for the 1943 game, got wind of that belief and decided to bench all six of the Yankees’ All-Stars.

McCarthy proved the NL wrong, as the AL won, 5-3, behind Bobby Doerr’s three-run homer in the third inning.

Though both the Athletics and Phillies played at Shibe Park then, the Athletics were the official hosts of the game. First baseman Dick Seibert was the lone Athletic to earn a selection, while first baseman Babe Dahlgren represented the Phillies. The pair combined to go 0-for-3 on the night.

When Cliff Lee was selected for his fourth All-Star Game, in 2013, his interest in the honor was clearly wearing off.

As the NL team was introduced at a sold-out Citi Field in New York, each player tipped his cap and smiled at the camera. But Lee stood frozen, looking off into the distance with a mean stare. The large Mets crowd in attendance had already planned on booing Lee,and his reaction to being introduced likely soured the relationship further.

Mets fans got the last laugh, as Lee was tagged for two hits and a run in the fifth inning. The AL won, 3-0.

Entering the 2005 Home Run Derby, the Phillies had yet to win the event. By the end of the 2006 edition, they’d won two.

Right fielder Bobby Abreu took Detroit’s Comerica Park by storm in 2005. The derby featured contestants from eight different countries in honor of the inaugural World Baseball Classic that would be played the following year, and nobody could compete with Abreu, a Venezuela native. He crushed a then-record 41 home runs over three rounds to bring Philly its first Home Run Derby title.

Though it was impossible to provide an encore for what Abreu did, Ryan Howard gave it his best shot at PNC Park in Pittsburgh in 2006. Against seven of baseball’s biggest sluggers — a field that included Miguel Cabrera and David Ortiz — Howard reached the finals with 18 homers in the opening two rounds. There, he matched up with New York Mets third baseman David Wright, who went first and managed just four big flies. That put the derby in Howard’s hands — he tied that mark with five outs to spare, called a timeout to catch a breather, and sent one final blast over the right-field seats to claim his title.

The Phillies thus became the first team to have different players win the Home Run Derby in consecutive seasons.

In the midst of the most powerful season of his career, Chase Utley participated in the 2008 Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. He couldn’t have been expecting a warm welcome as a Phillie surrounded by Yankees fans, but when the boos rained down on Utley during his introduction, he seemed taken aback.

“Boo? [Expletive] you!,” Utley responded.

To the delight of Yankee Stadium, Utley was eliminated from the derby in the first round after hitting just five home runs.

Since the All-Star Game MVP was created in 1962, Johnny Callison remains the only Phillie to win the award.

Callison played 10 seasons in right field for the Phillies and was the NL’s hero at the 1964 All-Star Game at Shea Stadium in New York.

The NL trailed by 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth but rallied to tie the game and had two runners on base with just one out. As Callison waited on deck, Hall of Famer Hank Aaron stepped up to the plate and struck out swinging.

Then, it was Callison’s turn. On the first pitch he saw from Red Sox star Dick Radatz, Callison sent the ball into the right-field seats to win the game and take home the MVP award. Callison joined Ted Williams and Stan Musial as the only players in to hit a game-ending home run in the All-Star Game.

Randy Johnson intimidated most every major league hitter he ever faced, and that was never more true than when John Kruk stood 60 feet, 6 inches away in the 1993 All-Star Game. Johnson, in the middle of his first truly dominant big league season, took the ball in the top of the third with Kruk due up third.

The Phillies first baseman looked ready to hit until Johnson’s first pitch sailed a few feet over his head, forcing Kruk to walk away and take a couple of deep breaths before stepping back into the box. Johnson’s next three pitches all landed for strikes, and Kruk looked like he couldn’t wait to go back to the bench.