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This article is about the baseball team. For the cigars, see Phillie Blunt The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. They are based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Since the 1969 season, they have played in the Eastern Division of the National League . Their most common nicknames revolve around a central theme and include, '''The Phils''', '''The Fightin' Phils''', and even simply '''The Fightin's'''. FRANCHISE HISTORY Founded in 1883 , the National League 's Philadelphia Phillies are the longest standing one-name, one-location team in all professional American sports. Named for a verbal shorthand of their city of residence ("Philly"), the Phillies replaced the Worcester, Massachusetts Brown Stockings in the National League . However, the team was not relocated - the Worcesters were expelled from the league, and the new Phillies were given their spot. The name has absolutely nothing to do with horses, even if contemporary sportswriters sometimes called them "Fillies" just to be funny. Their initial owners were John Rodgers along with Al Reach , the sporting goods magnate and the first ever professional baseball player according to many definitions. Reach was the man to give the Phillies their name. The time-honored team name in the city had been " Athletic Of Philadelphia ", but that name was already taken by the American Association entry and would later be adopted by the new entry in the American League . , current home of the Phillies]] The Phillies franchise has historically had four strong winning periods:
, Phillies former third baseman Scott Rolen , and Phillies right fielder Bobby Abreu ]] There is some irony to the fact that the Athletics were generally the much stronger and more popular team in the city for decades. By the 1940s , though, neither team was in contention very often. The Phillies' resurgence in the early 1950s apparently tipped the scales in their favor, and the A's soon took the opportunity to head west, leaving the city's senior team as a solo act in Philly. After Mike Schmidt retired in 1989 , the Phillies had a decade of losing seasons, save for a World Series berth in 1993 . Beloved by the city of Philadelphia, this team with names such as Darren Daulton , John Kruk , Lenny Dykstra also known as Nails, and Curt Schilling surprised the city and the nation with their achievements. Losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series, giving the Canadians two consecutive World Series titles, was nonetheless disappointing. The team was often described as "shaggy," "unkempt" and "dirty." The previous year, noting the presence of the clean-cut Dale Murphy , Kruk himself described the team as "24 morons and one Mormon." Their character endeared them to Philadelphia, and attendance records were set the following season. But with that season's ( 1994 ) players' strike, most of the Phillies' fan base was greatly offended, and since then the Phillies have had little success either on the field or at the gate - the realignment of the Atlanta Braves into the National League East in 1994 having had a negative effect on both as the Braves have won the division every year since joining it, often by lopsided margins. Indeed, following their 1983 World Series loss to the Baltimore Orioles , the team neglected to post back-to-back winning seasons until finally doing so in 2003 and 2004 ; the 2004 team also was second in the NL East, only the third time the Phillies have finished that high since the 1994 realignment (including a joint second-place finish with the New York Mets in 1995). One hallmark of the Phillies throughout history is losing and inept management. From 1919 to 1947 , a stretch of 29 seasons, the Phillies finished last 17 times and next to last in 7 of the seasons. The small size of Baker Bowl used to be blamed for their problems, but the continuation of their losing ways after moving to the normal-sized Shibe Park undercut that theory. In a ", as the Phillies were starting to improve while the Mets lost 120 games in their first year. And of course, the famous collapse of 1964 , or "Phold," is legendary. Up by 6 1/2 games with 12 left to play, the Phillies dropped 10 consecutive games, dropping behind. Then they started to win again, and if the St. Louis Cardinals had lost on the final day, the Phillies would have been included in a tie (along with the Cincinnati Reds ), forcing an unprecedented 3-team playoff for first place. It was not to be. The Cardinals won that last game, and the Phillies had lost their chance at the National League crown. During this 10-game period, the Phillies found new ways to lose. Manager Gene Mauch was criticized for panicking down the stretch. The Phold is widely known as one of the most notable collapses in all of sports history, only surmounted by the Brooklyn Dodgers ' memorable fall to the New York Giants in 1951 , the Boston Red Sox blowing a 14-game lead to the New York Yankees during the month of September , 1978 , and by the play-off collapse of the New York Yankees to the Boston Red Sox in 2004 . The Phillies' recent failures have contributed a resurgence in the belief of the Curse Of Billy Penn . |
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