Look back at the Phillies in the MLB All-Star Game during the 2010's

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On right, Victorino, Polanco, Lee, Hamels repped Phillies in 2011

On Tuesday night, Major League Baseball will celebrate many of it’s top names with the playing of the All-Star Game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio.

For Phillies fans, this 90th version of the Midsummer Classic will feature just one member of their favorite ball club. That has been the case in most recent years with the team usually in a non-contending position.

However, this second decade of the 21st century did not begin that way. When the decade opened, the Phillies were on top of the National League. The were two-time defending NL champions, had been legitimate contenders for most of the previous decade, and featured a star-studded lineup and pitching staff.

In the 2010 MLB All-Star Game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, the Phillies had three representatives. First baseman Ryan Howard started and batted in the cleanup spot for the NL squad. Second baseman Chase Utley was voted as the starting NL second baseman for a fifth consecutive year, but sprained his thumb in late June and had to miss the game. Roy Halladay was one of the NL reserve pitchers.

Howard went 0-2 that night, striking out to leadoff the top of the 2nd inning against David Price. Halladay came on to pitch in the bottom of the 6th inning. He surrendered a leadoff single to Derek Jeter, but then got Paul Konerko to roll into a double play. After giving up a base hit to Josh Hamilton, the Phillies righty was lifted by manager Charlie Manuel.

The 2011 MLB All-Star Game was played at Chase Field in Phoenix, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the first time since 2004, no Phillies position players were voted in as starters. However, Halladay was selected to start on the mound for the National League.

After Doc pitched two perfect innings, he was followed to the mound by rotation mate Cliff Lee. The Phillies lefty would retire the first five batters he faced before Adrian Gonzalez homered with two outs in the top of the 4th inning. It would be the only run allowed by NL pitching in a 5-1 victory.

The Phillies had three more All-Stars in 2011, but none got into the game. Those three were pitcher Cole Hamels, third baseman Placido Polanco, and center fielder Shane Victorino.

J.T. Realmuto becomes lone Phillies player named to 2019 NL All-Star squad

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Bryce Harper jokes with J.T. Realmuto at 2018 MLB All-Star Game

When general manager Matt Klentak made a big trade back on February 7 of this year to acquire J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins, he knew that the Philadelphia Phillies were gaining one of the most respected catchers in the game.

Klentak paid a big price to acquire the now 28-year-old from Oklahoma. Sent to Miami were the organization’s top pitching prospect, one of the most prized in the game, in right-hander Sixto Sanchez. Also going to the Marlins were catcher Jorge Alfaro and another minor league pitcher.

Realmuto was a big part of the Phillies early-season rise to the top of the NL East Division. Though his offensive production tailed off during what was a difficult month of June for the entire team, his defensive game never wavered.

The Phillies catcher remains one of the top backstops in all of Major League Baseball. This afternoon, that was recognized once again with his selection as a reserve on the National League All-Star team.

This marks a second consecutive NL All-Star nod for Realmuto. Last year as a member of the Marlins he was one of four backstops named to the NL squad. This year, at least as the initial reserves are announced, there will be three.

The starting catcher voted to the squad for a second straight year was Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs. Joining Realmuto as a back-up behind the plate will be Yasmani Grandal of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Realmuto entered last year’s game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. as a defensive replacement for Contreras in the top of the 6th inning. He would make two plate appearances, walking twice and scoring a run during an 8-6 win for the American League.

The Phillies lone All-Star representative a year ago was pitcher Aaron Nola, who would go on to finish third in the NL Cy Young Award voting during a stellar 2018 campaign. Nola threw a scoreless 5th inning, allowing one hit and striking out two batters.

Rhys Hoskins crashes the Home Run Derby

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Hoskins will try to put on a power show at the 2018 Home Run Derby 

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday night July 17 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

That night, most of the very best players from the National and American Leagues will square off in an exhibition to celebrate our National Pastime.

As has been the case for more than three decades now, the night prior to the All-Star Game will feature a Home Run Derby, pitting some of today's top hitters in what is always a fun and spirited contest.

Earlier this week, MLB announced the eight participants in this year's event. For the first time in this decade, that contest will include a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

25-year old left fielder Rhys Hoskins was selected, becoming the first Phillies player to take part since Ryan Howard back in 2009. He also becomes just the fifth Phillies player to participate in this 34th year that the showcase has taken place.

Hoskins has been matched up in the first round with slugging first baseman Jesus Aguilar of the Milwaukee Brewers. Currently tied for the National League lead with 23 home runs, the 28-year old Aguilar was installed as the top seed in the event.

The winner of the Hoskins-Aguilar duel will take on the winner of a battle between Alex Bregman of the world champion Houston Astros and Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs. That winner would then advance to the Finals, where they would take on the survivor from a second bracket.

That bracket will have Washington Nationals pending free agent Bryce Harper, who will certainly by a sentimental hometown choice, taking on Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves in one match-up.


The other will find another Cubs player, the exciting Javier Baez, taking on Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who seemed to emerge from nowhere to become a big power threat this season.

Hoskins' 14 homers place him just 25th in the National League to this point in the season. However, he also missed about 10 days back in early June after breaking his jaw on a fluke swing back on May 29.

He came off the DL hot, blasting eight home runs from June 9 to the end of the month. But Hoskins is right now in the midst of a dry spell. After being held in the yard last night at Citi Field, he has not homered now over his last 11 games.

So, what are the odds that Hoskins can get past the slugging Aguilar, the Bregman-Schwarber winner, and then defeat the winner of the other bracket to become this year's Home Run Derby champion?

While MLB has him slotted in as the eighth seed, the folks who set the odds for Bovada in Las Vegas are a bit more bullish on his chances. Hoskins is currently rated as the fourth-best choice, tied with Baez, right in the middle of the field.

Harper is the favorite at +300 , which is not at all a surprise. Unfortunately, Hoskins opens with the current second-choice of the oddsmakers, with Aguilar at +375. Schwarber is at +500, followed closely by Hoskins and Baez each at +550. Muncy is at +600, Freeman +650, and Bregman pulls up the rear at +950.

The Home Run Derby dates to the 1985 MLB All-Star festivities. However, the Phillies all-time home run leader and one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history, Mike Schmidt, never participated.

That was despite the fact that Schmidt was an NL All-Star in both 1986 and 1987. He led the NL in long balls in '86 and was both the NL MVP and Silver Slugger winner at third base that year.

The first Phillies player to participate was Jim Thome in 2004. The Hall of Famer-to-be was knocked out in the first round after slamming just four over the fence at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

The following year, Bobby Abreu fared much better. The Phillies outfielder set a record with 24 first round bombs enroute to 41 total homers. He defeated Miguel Tejada by 11-5 in the 2005 finals at Comerica Park in Detroit.

It was just one year later that the Phillies got their second Home Run Derby winner. Howard barely survived the first round that year. But 'The Big Piece' then exploded for 28 homers over the next two rounds. In the finals, the Phillies rookie edged out David Wright by 5-4 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Howard and Chase Utley took turns getting knocked out in the first round at the 2007 and 2008 events in succession. In the 2009 appearance at Busch Stadium in his hometown of Saint Louis, Howard fell just one homer short of reaching the finals.

Cody Bellinger hits for The Cycle to continue special rookie season

On Saturday night at Marlins Park in Miami, Los Angeles Dodgers rookie sensation Cody Bellinger put on a record-setting show.

Bellinger went 4-5, scored twice, and knocked in three runs to help pace the torrid, first place Dodgers to a 7-1 thrashing of the host Miami Marlins.

His night began with a single in the top of the first inning. In the top of the third, Bellinger’s 26th home run of the season opened the scoring, putting LA on top 2-0.

In the top of the fourth, Bellinger lined an RBI double to right field that upped the visitors lead to 6-0. Then in the seventh, he made history.

On the first offering from Marlins reliever Nick Wittgren, Bellinger ripped a ball to right that sailed over the head of Giancarlo Stanton. As the ball rolled to the wall, Bellinger raced around the bases, sliding into third easily ahead of the throw.

With that triple, Bellinger became the first rookie in the long and storied history of Dodgers baseball to hit for ‘The Cycle’ with a single, double, triple, and home run all in the same game.

“Every time he steps on the field,” manager Dave Roberts said per Andy McCullough of the LA Times, “something special can happen.”

It's a great time to be Pat Neshek

On November 4, 2016 the Houston Astros shipped veteran relief pitcher Pat Neshek to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The trade was a simple salary dump for Houston. Neshek had a $6.55 million option due on his contract for the 2017 season. The Astros didn’t want to pay that kind of money for a middle reliever. 

They found a willing trade partner in the Phillies, who were desperately searching for short-term bullpen help, and who had plenty of money available to spend.

On the surface, it appeared a step back competitively for Neshek. The Astros were an up-and-coming contender in the American League. The Phillies were a rebuilding doormat in the National League. It looked as if it could be a long summer for the 36-year old veteran.

But you never know what the future will hold. The year 2017 has turned out to be one of the best of Neshek’s baseball life. And here in the month of July, it may only be getting better.

The great year began all the way back in March. While his new Phillies teammates were preparing for the season ahead at spring training in Clearwater, Neshek was representing the USA in the World Baseball Classic.

He would be a key shutdown reliever, a key to the Americans finally capturing the WBC championship. Neshek allowed no runs and four hits, striking out four and allowing just a single walk in five innings over five games.

Anthony Rendon deserves NL All-Star 'Final Vote'

Nat's Anthony Rendon deserves NL All-Star Final Vote 

The Washington Nationals have led the National League East Division for all but three days this season. 

To the victors traditionally go the spoils, and one of those spoils is that a number of Nationals players have been selected for the NL All-Star team.

In fan voting, three Washington stars have already been selected. Outfielder Bryce Harper will start in the NL outfield. The 24-year old superstar finished with over 3.6 million votes, more than any other player in Major League Baseball.

Second baseman Daniel Murphy will be appearing in his second consecutive All-Star Game. It will be the third career all-star honors for last year’s NL MVP runner-up.

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman is enjoying the best season of his 13-year big league career. He was voted to his second All-Star team. His only previous honor came way back in the 2009.

The Nationals also had two pitchers named to the NL roster, starters Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg.

Even with that fine representation, there is still one more member of the Nationals lineup also deserving of the honor, third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Rendon has been named as one of five candidates for what MLB promotes as a “Final Vote” process. Fans can go online and vote for their choice until Thursday, July 6 at 4:00pm EDT.

MLB Has New Collective Bargaining Agreement

Just hours before the old agreement was to expire, MLB announced that it had reached terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Months of negotiations had intensified in recent days as the expiration of the old agreement approached at midnight today. Enough progress had been made that notification of a deal was made public.

The next formal step in the process is that a “memorandum of understanding” will be drafted. This document will need to then be ratified by membership on both sides.

While full details of the new CBA will likely not be released to the public for weeks or months, some of the highlights have already leaked out.

When Will Citizens Bank Park Host an MLB All-Star Game?

It has now been 20 years since the MLB All-Star Game last came to Philadelphia, since the Phillies hosted the game at Veteran's Stadium. 

When that game was held back in 1996, it had been 20 years since the last one during the Bicentennial year of 1976.

Some Phillies fans have expressed concern that there has not yet been a Midsummer Classic held at Citizens Bank Park since the beautiful retro venue opened back in 2004.

With such a gorgeous facility, a city proven capable of hosting and supporting the various activities surrounding the game such as the All-Star FanFest, and with it being over two decades since we have hosted, it's a legitimate question - when does Citizens Bank Park get its first MLB All-Star Game opportunity?

There are a few things that Phillies fans need to consider, one of which is certainly that it ain't all about us. There are other teams and cities waiting.

Four MLB venues have never hosted an MLB All-Star Game. The other three are Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg, Florida, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, home of the, well, you know. And the new SunTrust Park opening in Atlanta next year.

In addition, we are not the only town waiting for over two decades

Phillies MLB All-Star Games: 1996

There were many differences between the 1976 and 1996 MLB All-Star Games, which were held two decades apart at the same venue of Veteran's Stadium in South Philadelphia.

For the host Phillies, the biggest difference was that the '76 game had come while the team was emerging as a contender with a number of talented players throughout the roster. 

The team would win the NL East in that Bicentennial season for the first of three consecutive division crowns.

By contrast, the '96 Phillies team was a losing squad in every way you could define such a team. 

They would finish 67-95 in last place in the NL East, and aside from the oasis provided by the 1993 'Macho Row' NL champs, the franchise was in the midst of 14 out of 15 losing seasons.

My own life situation had changed drastically as well. Back in '76, I had enjoyed many of the Bicentennial events in Philly as a 14-year old, and had watched that year's All-Star Game on TV.

By '96 and the 25th anniversary of Veteran's Stadium, I was a grown man of 34, and was able to attend the MLB All-Star Game FanFest held at the new Pennsylvania Convention Center. It was a wonderful event

Phillies MLB All-Star Games: 1976

The city of Philadelphia has played host to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game four times in the 83-year history of baseball's midsummer classic.

In both 1943 and 1952 the game was held at Shibe Park, with the NL taking the first by a 5-3 score and the AL coming back with a 3-2 victory in the second game at the old ballpark at 22nd and Lehigh that would later be renamed as Connie Mack Stadium. The Phillies were listed as the official hosts of the 1952 game.

The last two times that the game was played in here in 1976 and 1996, Veteran's Stadium was the scene of the festivities. Citizens Bank Park has yet to do the honors.

Let's take a quick look back at that Phillies-hosted affair in front of 63,974 fans including the President of the United States at The Vet during the celebration of America's Bicentennial in the summer of 1976.

It was a great time for both the city and for the team to be hosting the game

Phillies History in the MLB Home Run Derby

The MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby has been around since 1985, which means that the greatest home run hitter in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise had an opportunity to participate.

However, Mike Schmidt never took the game up on that opportunity. This despite Schmidt being an NL All-Star in 1986-87 and even elected to the team in the year in which he retired of 1989.

It's not as if Schmidt was coasting out of his career in those years either. 

At age 35 in 1985, the only year in a nine-season stretch in which Schmidt did not make the team for the midsummer classic, he banged 33 home runs.

Then in 1986, Schmidt won the 3rd of his career NL MVP Awards while blasting an MLB-high 37 home runs. He would rip another 35 the following year.

But in that first-ever MLB Home Run Derby in 1985 at The Metrodome in Minnesota, it was Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Steve Garvey, Ryne Sandberg, and Jack Clark highlighting the proceedings.

In 1986, it was Parker, Darryl Strawberry, and Hubie Brooks for the NL in a scaled-back affair. In 1987, Andre Dawson and Ozzie Virgil, of all people, repped the senior circuit. 

There was no Home Run Derby held at Riverfront Stadium in 1988

Philadelphia's First MLB All-Star Game

The first All-Star Game ever played in Philadelphia was also a first for Major League Baseball. 

The game, played at Shibe Park on July 13th, 1943 was the first midsummer classic to be scheduled at night.

Being a "first" involving the illumination of a ball game in the dark was nothing new for Shibe, which had also been the site of the first-ever night game in the history of the American League back in May of 1939.

Shibe Park was the first steel-and-concrete ball park in the game's history, and was home to the American League's Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics from 1909-1954. It was located in a neighborhood of mostly Irish immigrants then known affectionately as Swampoodle.

The then-34 year old facility could be found even more specifically along Lehigh Avenue and north, between 20th and 21st Streets. 

In the spring of that 1938 season, the park had taken in a new tenant. The National League's Phillies moved in that year from old Baker Bowl, which sat just 5 blocks away at Broad & Huntingdon.

The Phillies legendary Hall of Fame outfielder and broadcaster, Richie Ashburn, would say of Shibe: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball."

Though the two teams would share Shibe Park for 17 seasons, it was the A's playing hosts for the game, and so the AL would be the home team. 

And so it was that on a warm, overcast July evening in the middle of World War II, and with rain threatening, baseball's best available players migrated to North Philly.

On Mutual Radio, the game was broadcast by announcers Red Barber, Mel Allen, and Bill Corum all across the United States. 

The managers for the two teams were two of baseball's very best, representing what have become the game's preeminent franchise in each league.

A game program from the 1943 MLB All-Star Game played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

For the National League, it was Billy Southworth of the Saint Louis Cardinals. 

Southworth, in his 2nd stint as the team skipper, took over and led the team to a 49-20 record down the stretch in 1940, salvaging a 3rd place finish out of what had seemed a lost season, and in 1941 he guided them to 97 wins and a 2nd place finish.

That start of the second act of Southworth's Cardinals managerial career was only setting the stage. 

His teams from 1941-43 would win at least 105 games each season, taking all three NL Pennants and winning two World Series crowns. The 1942 Series win had earned him this nod as skipper of the NL All-Stars.

For the American League, it was legendary New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy at the helm. 

McCarthy was a hometown boy, born and raised in Philadelphia. He idolized the A's 62-year old owner/manager Connie Mack, whose name Shibe Park would eventually take for its own as Connie Mack Stadium.

McCarthy knew how to handle stars, serving as the Yankees skipper from 1931-1946 during the careers of such legends as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio and more. 

His 1942 Yanks' squad had lost to Southworth's Cards in five games after winning the opener of the Fall Classic.

The two teams, and the two managers, were on a collision course for a rematch in October of 1943. But before they would get to that business, there was this summer exhibition under the lights taking center stage in the baseball universe.

As told by Baseball Almanac, McCarthy was "publicly accused of being flagrantly partial" to his Yankees players in the selection of his starting lineup for the All-Star Game in previous years. 

As a reply to those accusations, McCarthy would not use any of five Yankees sitting on his bench in the entire game.

In just his 2nd full season, and with fewer than 1,000 plate appearances in the big leagues, it was Southworth's young 22-year old star outfielder Stan Musial who would get his NL team on the board first.

Appearing in the first of what would be 24 straight All-Star Games, Musial knocked in Chicago Cubs 3rd baseman Stan Hack to put the NL up 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the American Leaguers answered when Boston Red Sox 2nd baseman Bobby Doerr drove a 3-run homer out to left field off NL starting pitcher Mort Cooper of the Cardinals. 

Left fielder Dick Wakefield of the Detroit Tigers ripped an RBI double off Cooper in the 3rd, making it a 4-1 lead for the AL side.

"It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball." ~ Whitey Ashburn, on Shibe Park

Cincinnati Reds' pitcher Johnny Vander Meer, who five years earlier as a 23-year old in his first big league season had set a record still never equaled by pitching back-to-back no-hitters, was victimized by the AL in the 5th for an unearned run thanks to an error by catcher Ernie Lombardi of the New York Giants, pushing the Junior circuit's lead up to 5-1.

The elder DiMaggio, Vince would star in the 1943 All-Star Game after coming in as a pinch-hitter while brother Joe served during WWII.

At that point, the Vince DiMaggio show began. The older brother of Yankee star Joe DiMaggio, who was away in the war effort, Vince was in the middle of a successful 5-year run in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform.

DiMaggio had entered the game as a pinch-hitter for yet another Cardinal, centerfielder Harry Walker. 

Staying in the game, DiMaggio would go 3-3 and score a pair of runs, including on his own 9th inning solo homerun off Red Sox pitcher Tex Hughson.

The homer by Vince D cut the AL lead down to 5-3, but Hughson, who had a nice 8-year career with Boston during the 1940's, settled down and retired the NL stars, preserving the victory for his team and earning a Save for himself.

Washington Senators pitcher Dutch Leonard, who started for the AL and went three solid innings, would get credit for the Win, which was the American Leaguers 8th in the 11 All-Star Games played to that point in history.

The appreciative Philly crowd let out a cheer with the final out of a game that took just over two hours to play. 

While they had missed Joe D, Ted Williams, and others who were off in the war effort, they had gotten to see some great stars, including aging Giants' slugger Mel Ott as a pinch-hitter in one of his final All-Star appearances.

Much as with tonight's 2015 MLB All-Star Game, the Phillies had just one lone representative in 1943. 

That player was journeyman 1st baseman Babe Dahlgren, who was in his lone season with the Phils, and who was playing for his 8th of what would ultimately be 10 teams during a 12-year career in the majors.

The host Athletics also had just one lone rep on the AL squad, 1st baseman Dick Siebert, who would hit just one homer in 558 at-bats for the A's during that 1943 season. Siebert played eight seasons with the A's in an 11-year MLB career.

It was the first MLB All-Star Game ever played in Philadelphia. It would not be the last, for either the city, or for the ballpark. 

Nearly a decade later, in 1952, the Phillies would be the hosts at Shibe in a 3-2 NL win that was also affected by the weather. That one would, in fact, be shortened to just five innings by the rains. 

In both 1976 and 1996, the Phillies would host National League victories at Veteran's Stadium in South Philly.