Some more Phillies Wall of Fame talk as the wait for baseball continues | Extra Innings

As we wait for the 2020 baseball season to begin amid the tragic COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues (Matt Breen and Scott Lauber) and I have taken some looks back at Phillies history. Two weeks ago, we did a podcast on Game 6 of the 1993 NLCS when the Phillies punched their ticket to the World Series with a win over Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves. Last week, we examined the ultra intense Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS when the Phillies overcame a late 5-2 deficit against Houston’s Nolan Ryan to win their first N.L. pennant in 30 years.

This week we will review Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS when the Phillies rallied from a 5-3 deficit behind eighth-inning home runs from Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs to pull out a 7-5 win and take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Look for that to be posted later today.

I also wrote a recent column about how there are still some people involved with the 1980 World Series team that belong on the Wall of Fame at Citizens Bank Park. My three picks were Ron Reed, Bake McBride and former owner Ruly Carpenter and that drew a mostly positive response from the readers.

It became clear that a lot of old-time fans still want to see 1950 National League MVP Jim Konstanty on the Wall of Fame. There was also a plea for Rick Wise, who had a solid seven-year career with the Phillies before being dealt to St. Louis for some guy named Steve Carlton. Larry Christenson, who spent his entire 11-year career with the Phillies, and Dick Ruthven, one of the many heroes in the aforementioned Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS, also got some love.

Greg Gross and Del Unser, both outstanding bench players for the 1980 team, should also be considered for their Phillies’ contributions during and after their playing careers. In addition to hitting .279 overall and holding the team record for career pinch hits with 117, Gross also spent 12 seasons as either a minor-league or big-league coach in the organization. Unser hit .268 with a .744 OPS during his six seasons with the Phillies and was 5-for-14 with three doubles during the 1980 postseason, but he also worked continuously with the ballclub from 1983 through his retirement after the 2017 season. If you’re keeping score at home, Unser spent 40 years with the Phillies and that deserves Wall of Fame consideration.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

My favorite email of the week rarely comes from a company, but I was elated to see that this pandemic-forced work stoppage has created a sales boom for Strat-O-Matic, the 59-year-old baseball board game that is beloved by former Phillies Doug Glanville, Curt Schilling and Lenny Dykstra.

The company released these figures Wednesday morning:

“Fans are missing baseball on the field, but we’re honored that they are turning to Strat-O-Matic in record numbers to help fill that need,” said Hal Richman, the founder of Strat-O-Matic. “We have heard from many who have been longtime Strat-O-Matic players breaking out their decades-old games from the attic and updating to some of our newer products. We couldn’t be prouder to be leading the way in keeping fans engaged in the sport.”

I confess to never having played Strat-O-Matic, but my favorite story of all-time opens with a long and wonderful reference to the board game from my late friend Larry O’Rourke, a sportswriter who died from ALS a decade ago.

The Phillies, by the way, lost 11-2 to Toronto in the Strat-O-Matic simulation Tuesday and slipped to 5-7 for the season.

Larry Bowa’s big-league career started 50 years ago Tuesday when he made his rookie debut with the Phillies against the Chicago Cubs at Connie Mack Stadium. Matt Breen tells how Bowa, at the age of 74, is still going strong.

Hall of Famer Al Kaline died Monday at the age of 85 and Breen tells the story of how Phillies manager Gene Mauch and general manager John Quinn tried to pry “Mr. Tiger” away from Detroit at the 1966 winter meetings.

The Phillies’ contract talks with catcher J.T. Realmuto have been placed on hold because of the COVID-19 shutdown of baseball, but Bryce Harper is still confident his teammate will eventually sign an extension to remain in Philadelphia.

Scott Lauber also weighed in on Phillies star Bryce Harper’s thoughts during these troubled times. Harper, who donated $500,000 to coronavirus causes last week, has been working out in front of his home in Las Vegas and learning how to cook.

Word leaked this week that baseball is considering playing part of the regular season in Arizona without fans in attendance. I’m with LeBron James on this one. Games without fans aren’t worth playing.

Phillies general manager Matt Klentak has had to deal with a different way of doing things during this work stoppage and his main goal has been communicating with the team’s baseball operations staff.

Today: Phillies at Cincinnati, postponed

Monday: Phillies at Milwaukee, postponed

April 17: Miami vs. Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, postponed

April 21: Texas vs. Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, postponed

April 24: Phillies at Chicago Cubs, postponed

On this date in 1913, the Brooklyn Dodgers were given special permission to open newly constructed Ebbets Field a day ahead of opening day for the rest of baseball. The Phillies help christened the $750,000 ballpark by beating the Dodgers 1-0 behind “Tom Seaton’s masterly flinging,” according to the April 10 Philadelphia Inquirer. The only run scored in the first inning when “a muff by Benny Meyer ... enabled Otto Knabe to scamper over the plate.”

The field was described as being “as level as the proverbial pool table,” but only 10,000 fans showed up for the 90-minute ballgame because the game-time temperature was 37 degrees

It was the start of a very good season for manager Red Dooin’s Phillies, who finished 88-63. At that point, it was the second most wins in franchise history, but the total still left them 12 1/2 games behind the National League champion New York Giants. The World Series title did, however, end up in Philadelphia that year as Connie Mack’s Athletics beat the Giants for their third championship in four seasons.

Philadelphia, by the way, has a combined seven World Series titles between the A’s and Phillies. The only cities with more are New York with 32, St. Louis with 11 and Boston with 9.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: Enjoying Extra Innings, especially during the offseason and now more than ever during this crisis. Have you heard anything about where the Phillies would conduct an abbreviated spring training? Is CBP an obvious location? Would there be exhibition games there and maybe at nearby minor-league towns at Lehigh Valley, Reading, Lakewood or Trenton Yankees affiliate? And what are your thoughts?Thanks and keep up the good work!

Paul D., via email

Answer: Thanks for the question and the kind words. Nothing is etched in stone at this point, but I think it would make the most sense to stage what might be summer training in the home ballparks of each team. By the time we resume, the weather will be nice enough to get ready in northern cities and it would make sense for the Phillies to play exhibition games against Baltimore, the Yankees and their nearby minor-league affiliates. My guess, however, is that we are still at least two months away from that even happening.