Who will lead the next era of Phillies Wall of Fame inductees?
Pat Gillick and the late Roy Halladay will be inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame during Alumni Weekend, marking the second year a non-living player hasn’t been inducted. The circumstances of that are both grim and disturbing following the Pete Rose debacle and Halladay’s untimely death.
Next season is set to bring a new era of Phillies inductees that could include only the second player from the 2008 World Series team, following Pat Burrell in 2015.
There’s also a possibility the team adds more players from the less-illustrious early 2000s, which had some of the franchise’s greatest players stuck in a lengthy rebuild.
Many of the 2008 players do not yet qualify for the Wall of Fame under the new guidelines set in 2015, which decreased the required service time from five years to four. It opened the door for Halladay and other members of the greatest era in Phillies history to have their place on the Wall of Fame, but retirement rules still bar players for a couple more years.
Here are five people who should receive serious consideration for next years induction.