Philadelphia Phillies: 50 greatest players of all-time

Richie Ashburn ranks as the second-best position player in franchise history, which is nothing to scoff at given who ranks first. Ashburn spent most of his career in Philadelphia and was a productive player throughout it.

“Whitey” began his Phillies career on a strong note being named an All-Star during his first season in 1948. That year he led the league with 32 stolen bases, the only time he ever did in his career. Ashburn finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Al Dark of the then-Boston Braves and Gene Bearden of the Cleveland Indians. He also received a few MVP votes, finishing 11th overall.

Ashburn was named to three more All-Star games during his 12-year career as a Phillie. In 1,794 games with the club, he had a .311/.394/.388 line, 2,217 hits, scored 1,114 runs, drove in 499 runs, hit 22 home runs, and racked up 2,764 total bases. Ashburn was an adept fielder as well, leading the league in outfield assists three times and fielding percentage twice.

During his career, Ashburn led the league in singles, walks and on-base percentage four times, batting average three times, games, triples and batting average twice.

Ashburn finished his career first in singles, second in times on base, third in franchise history in games, at-bats, plate appearances, walks and hits, fourth in runs scored and wins above replacement, fifth in triples, eighth in total bases and on-base percentage and ninth in doubles in franchise history.

After Ashburn’s playing career ended, he joined Harry Kalas in the broadcast booth, a position he would hold for almost 35 years.

Ashburn never was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, only reaching 41.7 percent of votes at his highest point. He was instead inducted in by the Veterans Committee in 1995, just two years before his death in 1997. He was inducted alongside Mike Schmidt and had his No. 1 retired by the team.