Philadelphia Phillies: 50 greatest players of all-time

Phillies all-time hits leader Jimmy Rollins is in rare company among franchise legends. He’s the only post-Deadball Era player with 2,000 hits and 400 stolen bases in Phillies history (Ed Delahanty joins the list as a dead-ball player) and joins Mike Schmidt as the only players with 200 home runs and 400 doubles.

Rollins rates in the top-10 in 26 career categories in Phillies history, including hits, doubles, home runs, WAR, games, played, at-bats, stolen bases and RBI. Along with being the franchise’s all-time hits leader with 2,306 knocks, no one sits above Rollins for most at-bats or doubles in red pinstripes.

“J-Roll” padded his résumé with four Gold Gloves, as many as Hall of Famer Alan Trammell, three All-Star games and a Silver Slugger. He led the league in triples four times and was a modern-day iron man, playing in at least 154 games in his first seven seasons.

Many could argue Rollins should be higher on this list as the all-time hits leader with an MVP trophy on his mantel. Personally, I ranked Rollins as the highest player outside of the “core four” in Phillies history: Schmidt, Carlton, Ashburn and Roberts, plus Pete Alexander as a borderline Deadball Era player who resides in Cooperstown with the “core four” players.

As great as Rollins was, his road to Cooperstown will be tough, but he’s arguably the greatest National League shortstop of his generation. Obviously, he takes a backseat to Derek Jeter overall, but no one, not Jose Reyes or Hanley Ramirez, can touch Rollins’ career in his era.