Mariners and Phillies have a long and at times pivotal trade history

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Jamie Moyer was an important pitcher in both Phillies and Mariners history

The Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners appear to be on the verge of a significant trade. If the rumors are true, this deal should be announced at some point later today.

In the deal, the Phillies would reportedly be sending first baseman Carlos Santana, young shortstop J.P. Crawford, and possibly a prospect to the Mariners in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura and a relief pitcher.

Assuming the deal is indeed completed, this would be the 11th trade between the Phillies and Mariners. It would mark the 16th transaction overall involving the two clubs dating back to even prior to Seattle playing their first-ever game as an expansion team in the 1977 season.

In that initial Philly-Seattle transaction on November 6, 1976, the Mariners purchased the contract of pitcher John Montague from the Phillies. It would be the last transaction involving the two clubs for nearly seven years.

On July 29, 1983 the Phillies purchased a 29-year-old righty relief pitcher from Seattle, one who would help them nail down the 1983 NL East crown and National League pennant. That reliever would spend parts of the next three years with the Phillies before a trade to Houston.

He would return as a free agent to help the 1993 Phillies win their next NL pennant, and has grown to become a beloved figure as a broadcaster with the team. I’m talking about none other than ‘LA’ himself, Larry Andersen.

More than four years later the Phillies and Mariners completed their first-ever actual trade. The Phillies sent popular veteran outfielder Glenn Wilson and a reliever who would become one of baseball’s best over the next decade, Michael Jackson, to Seattle in exchange for outfielder Phil Bradley and a prospect.

Following a couple of minor deals in the early-1990’s, the next interesting Phillies-Mariners trade came at the non-waiver deadline in the 1996 season. Veteran lefty starter Terry Mulholland was dealt to the Mariners in exchange for shortstop prospect Desi Relaford.

Mulholland and another lefty obtained by Seattle from the Boston Red Sox that year, Jamie Moyer, would help a Seattle team that featured Ken Griffey Jr. Alex Rodriguez, and Edgar Martinez make a late charge before finishing in second place to the Texas Rangers in the AL West. Relaford became the Phillies starting shortstop for a couple of years before yielding the position to Jimmy Rollins.

There were a couple of minor deals between the two teams over the next few years, but it would be a decade before another impact trade. That one came down on August 19, 2006 when the Phillies obtained Moyer for a pair of inconsequential prospects.

Remembering the 1993 NL champion Phillies in their silver anniversary season

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Daulton was the acknowledged clubhouse leader of the 1993 NL champions

The Philadelphia Phillies are officially feting the 2008 World Series championship team this weekend.

On the 10th anniversary of the historic season which concluded with that team winning the second title in franchise history, it is wholly understandable and appropriate.

However, there is another beloved Phillies team celebrating a big anniversary this year.

In fact, as someone who has been following the team closely since Veteran’s Stadium opened in 1971, I’ve always maintained that the other anniversary team provided the most fun single Phillies season that I ever experienced.

Sure, the 1980 and 2008 Phillies teams both won the World Series. I attended Game Two of the 1980 Fall Classic as an 18-year-old. I was at the parade celebrations for both championship teams.

I was inside JFK Stadium in October of 1980 when Tug McGraw told New York to “take this world championship and stick it!” I was videotaping at 15th & JFK and captured a fan making a memorable climb up a light pole on Halloween in 2008.

But for all the drama, excitement, and ultimate thrill that those two clubs provided, there was never a more fun Phillies season from start to (almost) finish for me than the one provided by the 1993 team.

It almost seems lost in all the excitement over the 10th anniversary of the 2008 club, but this is now the silver anniversary for the 1993 National League champion Philadelphia Phillies team.

Yes, it has been 25 years now since that mullet-wearing, scruffy-bearded, ‘Macho Row’-led crew stormed through baseball. In a March 2012 piece, Mike Bertha at Philadelphia Magazine summed up that unforgettable season perfectly:

“It began with a bench-clearing brawl at spring training. Then, over the course of 103 total wins, 49 extra innings, 12 playoff games and some late nights (or, more accurately, early mornings), the 1993 Phillies seduced the city. Fans spent the summer flocking to the Vet to watch their appropriately nicknamed “Animal House,” both captivated and agog as the Phillies stampeded through the National League and then marched through Atlanta to earn a date with the defending-champion Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.”

The Darren Daulton Foundation operates today in the name of, and as a memorial to, the namesake captain of that Phillies team. The foundation provides financial assistance to those who suffer from brain cancer and brain tumors. On June 8, they held a reunion celebration for the 1993 team.

Our own Kevin McCormick here at Phillies Nation reported on the event and those in attendance back in June:

“…the pennant-winning team showed up for the event, including: Tommy Greene, Jim Eisenreich, Larry Bowa, Milt Thompson, Ben Rivera, Mickey Morandini, David West, Tony Longmire, Curt Schilling, and even Danny Jackson who arrived after throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies-Brewers game across the street. Fans in attendance got to meet the players, take pictures, get autographs, and chat with the guys throughout the night.”

Morandini, who shared second base duties with Mariano Duncan, eventually became a minor league manager and then a big league coach with the Phillies. He remains on the payroll as a popular club ambassador.

Five of the men who were in uniform and playing important roles that summer are no longer with us, including Daulton. The catcher and leader of that ball club died a year ago this coming Monday following a four-year battle with brain cancer.

Book Review: "The Fightin' Phillies: 100 Years of Philadelphia Baseball"

The next in my book reviews feature specifically deals with the Philadelphia Phillies and the 133-year history of the ball club.

No one alive today is more qualified to dig through that history and present it to the fans than the man who has been around to see more of it first-hand than anyone else, the former head of the Phillies' public relations team, Larry 'the Baron' Shenk.

In his second book on the team, "The Fightin' Phillies: 100 Years of Philadelphia Baseball from the Whiz Kids to the Misfits", Shenk delivers by presenting story after story that will hold the interest of any true Phils fan.

Shenk has been a Phillies fan since his youth in the early 1950's, when Baseball Hall of Famers Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts were leading the club in the post-Whiz Kids years.

He first applied for a public relations job with the team in the same year that I was born, 1961, and eventually landed that position a couple of years later. We'll explore more of Shenk's background in a separate interview piece here at TBOH coming soon.

"The Fightin' Phillies" is broken down into eight sections, with a foreword written by Phillies broadcaster Larry Andersen in which the former player briefly covers his own career in the game

Phillies Abandon AM Radio

The Philadelphia Phillies will have no AM radio broadcasts in the 2016 season for the first time since the introduction of the medium.

Under the terms of a new contract reached with CBS Radio earlier this week, any 2016 Philadelphia Phillies games over radio, whether from spring training, during the regular season, or any possible postseason action, will be broadcast by sports talk station WIP at 94.1 FM.

Phillies games began broadcasting over the radio in 1936, and in those early days it was only road games that were heard by local fans. 

Those early owners, not only with the Phillies but all around baseball, were concerned that radio broadcasts of home games would reduce attendance.

The Phillies actually took part in the first Major League Baseball game ever broadcast over the radio, as the visiting team. 

That game took place on August 5th, 1921 when the Phils dropped an 8-5 decision to the host Pirates in Pittsburgh. The game was broadcast over KDKA and featured announcer Harold Arlin.

That fall, Grantland Rice and Tommy Cowan called the first-ever World Series broadcast over radio. 

Phillies Announce 2016 Spring Training Guest Instructors

The Philadelphia Phillies have invited a group of former big leaguers to participate in spring training as guest instructors.

Continuing a decades-long tradition, the club has decided to bring in seven alumni during the course of 2016 spring training and the Grapefruit League season.

This year’s group will feature:

Mike Schmidt – the greatest player in Phillies franchise history and arguably the greatest all-around 3rd baseman to ever play the game, Schmitty appeared in parts of 18 seasons with the club from 1972-89. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995, and has been a guest hitting instructor at spring training with the Phils since 2002. The now 66-year old Schmidt also has coaching experience, having spent the 2004 season as manager of the Phillies’ High-A Clearwater club in the Florida State League. Schmidt, whose first-ever big league game was the subject of a pieceduring our Phillies History Month here at TBOH back in January, also serves as a television broadcaster with the club during regular season Sunday home games.

Charlie Manuel – the manager of the 2008 World Series championship team who guided the club to five consecutive NL East crowns from 2007-2011 turned 72 years old just last month. Manuel was the manager for parts of eight seasons from 2005-12, and currently serves as a senior advisor to new general manager Matt Klentak. He was previously both a hitting coach and manager with the Cleveland Indians. He has an overall career big league managerial record of 1000-826, with a 29-22 postseason record. As a player, Manuel appeared in parts of a half-dozen big league seasons, and another half-dozen in the Japanese professional league.

Jim Kaat – having turned 77 years old back in November, he pitched in parts of 25 big league seasons across parts of four decades.