Phillies: 5 players who moved to the dark side in New York
Remembering when the great Phillies turned to the dark side
There’s something about the New York Mets that we Phillies fans just don’t like. Is it the fact that they’re from New York? That they’re pesky? That their fans try to get under our skin? What is it that makes a rivalry so great?
We simply don’t like them cause they’re the Mets.
In recent years the rivalry has taken a slight step back with both teams going through their respective growing pains, but in the mid-2000s when they were both fighting for playoff positioning, it was on.
Sometimes guys leave in free agency and some get traded. There’ve been 28 trades between the Phillies and Mets. Most of them are forgettable, but some changed the history of both franchises.
Other guys left Philadelphia and ended up in New York either as a free agent or through another team’s trade down the line. Some are forgiven, but others turned into public enemy number one.
Today we’re looking at five notable Phillies who went from the City of Brotherly Love to the Big Apple.
Before we hit the biggest names, here are some honorable mentions.
Willie Montañez
Willie Montañez bounced around baseball for most of his 14 seasons, but half of those years came with the Phillies, where he almost won the Rookie of the Year in 1971. After going to the Giants and Braves, Montañez was dealt to New York in a rare four-team trade between the Mets, Rangers, Braves, and Pirates.
Ricky Bottalico
Ricky Bottalico spent seven of his first nine big league seasons with the Phillies, saving 78 games with a 3.70 ERA. After the 2003 season with Arizona Bottalico signed with the Mets for one year, was cut at the start of the season, then re-signed nine days later.
Todd Pratt
Todd Pratt played nearly as many games for the Mets as he did the Phillies, playing just 23 more games in Philadelphia despite spending three more seasons here.
Marlon Anderson
A second round pick in the 1995 Draft out of the University of South Alabama, Marlon Anderson played in Philadelphia for five seasons before making two stints with the Mets.
Marlon Byrd
The only two players in MLB with the name Marlon have played for both the Phillies and Mets. Marlon Byrd was drafted out of Georgia Perimeter College by the Phillies and spent his first three seasons in Phillies pinstripes before being traded to the Nationals in 2005. After bouncing around the league Byrd would find himself on the Mets eight years later and would also come back to Philadelphia in 2014.
Larry Bowa
If you were to crown a “Mr. Phillie,” Larry Bowa would be up there with Mike Schmidt, Chase Utley, and other Phillies greats.
While Bowa’s numbers don’t always stand out in the Phillies record book, he’s spent the majority of his life as a member of the Phillies organization as a prospect, player, coach, manager, and executive.
Bowa’s Phillies career began as a prospect in 1966 after he wasn’t drafted out of McClatchy High School in Sacramento or Sacramento City College. In 399 minor league games he’d have 450 hits and 88 stolen bases playing for the Phillies affiliates in San Diego, Spartanburg, Bakersfield, Reading, and Eugene.
The 1970 season would be the first of a dozen seasons as a player with the Phillies for Bowa. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year despite having just 23 extra base hits and no home runs in 145 games.
Bowa would win two Gold Gloves, make five All-Star games, and win a World Series as the Phillies shortstop. He also nearly won an MVP in 1978, finishing third behind Dave Parker and Steve Garvey. Bowa received 3 of 24 first place votes and Parker received the rest.
On January 27, 1982, Bowa was traded by the Phillies with Ryne Sandberg to the Chicago Cubs for Ivan de Jesus in one of the worst deals in Phillies history.
Bowa would play three seasons in Chicago before he was released on August 13, 1985. A week later he’d sign with the Mets.
Bowa’s time in a Mets uniform was incredibly short, playing just 14 games and hitting .105 with a .190 OBP. After that season he’d retire and become a coach for multiple organizations, but mostly with the Phillies.
Bobby Abreu
The Phillies trading away Bobby Abreu would open up opportunities for players like Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth, but imagine if they had him during their championship run and he solidified his career as a Phillie.
Abreu is one of those players who had a great career, but for those on the outside looking in, they can’t pair him with a certain team. He did play for six different teams in 18 years and he had success across multiple teams, but it all started in Philadelphia.
Born in Maracay, Venezuela, Abreu was signed by the Astros out of Aragua, the same city that produced nine-time All-Star Dave Concepcion, three-time All-Star Carlos Guillen, and Wiki Gonzalez, who played seven years in the big leagues.
After parts of two seasons in Houston Abreu was moved twice on November 18, 1997. He was first drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the 6th pick in the 1997 expansion draft. but was subsequently traded by the Devil Rays to the Phillies for Kevin Stocker.
That trade would spark a nine-year run of accolades and the rewriting of record books in Philadelphia.
Abreu solidified himself as one of the great outfielders in Phillies history, but is sometimes forgotten because he wasn’t a part of those great Phillies teams. He fell into the purgatory between the 1993 and 2007 playoffs runs and his 1999 season where when he hit .335 or led the league with 50 doubles in 2002, the fanbase either wasn’t paying attention or simply forgot about it because of the magic that came later in the decade.
On July 30, 2006, Abreu was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with Cory Lidle to the New York Yankees for C.J. Henry, Jesus Sanchez, Carlos Monasterios and Matt Smith. None of the prospects in the deal would turn out and Matt Smith, the only player to play for the Phillies, walked 11 batters in four innings in 2007 and never pitched in the big leagues again.
Abreu’s journey through baseball took him to the Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers through the 2012 season. In 2013 the only professional baseball he played was in Venezuela. He was out of Major Leauge Baseball before trying for a spot in 2014 with the Phillies in spring training.
After failing to make the team, one of the Phillies all-time great hitters signed with the Mets weeks after his 40th birthday. Abreu would play 78 games for the Mets before officially retiring after the season.
Abreu’s .335 batting average is the best for a Phillies player with at least 600 plate appearances since 1960, and his 47.2 WAR is the seventh best among all Phillies position players.
Billy Wagner
Billy Wagner is one of those players who Phillies fans turned against and never went back to. Scott Rolen and Jonathan Papelbon also fall into this category of guys who did things that rubbed fans the wrong way, but mostly led to them being exiled from Philadelphia.
Like Abreu, Wagner’s career began in Houston with some decent Astros teams that were winning 90-100 games a season. If he goes into the Hall of Fame, which he absolutely deserves, he’ll go in as an Astro.
Wagner spent nine years with Houston accumulating 225 saves, 694 strikeouts, and three All-Star selections. He never led the league in saves, but remember, he was pitching in the same era as Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Eric Gagne, and K-Rod.
On November 3, 2003, Wager was traded by the Astros to Philadelphia for Ezequiel Astacio, Taylor Buchholz and Brandon Duckworth, none of whom really panned into anything better than average.
Wagner’s 2004 season was pretty good, though compared to what he’d done in the past it wasn’t as great as you’d expect due to a hand injury. He had a 2.42 ERA (0.44 points higher than the year before) and 21 saves, 23 fewer than the year before.
Wagner turned 38 saves with a 1.51 ERA in 2005, but his comments in July about the team not being a playoff contender and Pat Burrell supposedly calling him a “rat” turned the fanbase against someone who was relatively well-liked thanks to his success.
The animosity towards Wagner in Philadelphia when he signed a large contract with the Mets the following offseason. The veteran closer continued to turn a great career in New York, saving 101 games in three seasons with two All-Star games and Cy Young votes in 2006.
Wagner would infamously blow four saves late in the 2007 season, opening the door for his former team to make the playoffs. If you want to call it karma for saying the Phillies wouldn’t make the playoffs in 2005, go ahead.
Wagner’s career in Philadelphia is kind of a blip on the radar of his career, but he had a 1.86 ERA in two seasons with 59 saves, and if not for the injury he could have been much better. Had he stayed in Philadelphia, there would never have been a perfect season from Brad Lidge or perhaps a mega-contract for Papelbon.
A healthy Billy Wagner in Philadelphia for the remainder of his career would have catapulted him into team greatness, but ultimately he’s one of the more hated players in recent memory for the fanbase.
Juan Samuel
Like Bowa, Juan Samuel is one of the lifelong Phillies who spent part of a season with the New York Mets.
Born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Samuel was signed by the Phillies in 1980 out of the city of Licey, Puerto Rico. He’s the only player to come out of Licey.
Three years later Samuel had a cup of coffee with the 1983 team, but he really made a name for himself in 1984 as the everyday second baseman taking over for Joe Morgan.
That season Samuel hit .272 with 36 doubles, 15 home runs, 72 stolen bases, and a league-high 19 triples, something a Phillies player hadn’t done for 90 years when Ed Delehanty did it in 1894.
Both the 19 triples and 72 stolen bases were the most by a Phillies player in the 20th century.
Samuel also led the league in plate appearances (737), at-bats (701), and strikeouts (168), the first of four consecutive years he’d lead the league in punchouts.
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Samuel would lose the Rookie of the Year award to Dwight Gooden. Samuel received the only first place vote that didn’t go to Gooden, who had a 2.60 ERA with 17 wins.
“Sammy” would spend the better part of six seasons dominating at the plate for Philadelphia, hitting .263 with 176 doubles, 71 triples, 100 home runs and 249 stolen bases.
On June 18, 1989, the 28-year-old Samuel was traded by the Phillies to the Mets for Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell, and Tom Edens.
Dykstra and McDowell would each have relatively good years with the Phillies. Dykstra was the runner up for the MVP in 1993 and McDowell had a 2.90 ERA in 154 games for the Phillies.
Samuel had a fairly lackluster season in 1989, hitting just .235 with 29 extra-base hits, though he did steal 31 bases with the Mets.
That season was Samuel’s only year with the Mets, who traded him that winter to the Dodgers.
Samuel’s career carried him to Los Angeles, Toronto, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Detroit before he retired after the 1998 season.
Samuel has since returned to the Phillies as a coach and nearly as a manger, twice interviewing for the job and nearly getting it after Ryne Sandberg quit midseason. He remains in the top-10 for triples and stolen bases by a Phillie.
Richie Ashburn
Richie Ashburn is the most notable Phillies legend who donned the Mets pinstripes, like the other men in this story, just for one season. That year would be both the Mets inaugural 1962 season and Ashburn’s final year in his Hall of Fame career.
What more is there to say about Richie Ashburn that hasn’t already been written thousands of times before? He’s one of the greatest players and broadcasters in Phillies history, one of the greatest outfielders in baseball history.
Philadelphia Phillies
Before the 1945 season the Phillies signed Ashburn out of Tilden High School in Nebraska, long before the days of advanced high school scouting, tournaments, and rankings. Three years later he came up to the big leagues and launched a legendary career.
Ashburn never had fewer than 150 hits in his 12 seasons with the Phillies. Twice he led the league in hitting with a .338 average in 1955 and a .350 average in 1958. That 1958 season is the best batting average by a Phillies player with 500 plate appearances since 1950, and one of the best in the franchise’s live-ball era.
Whitey remains the franchise’s all-time singles leader with 1,811.
Before the 1960 season the Phillies traded Ashburn to the Chicago Cubs for three players: John Buzhardt, Al Dark and Jim Woods. Ashburn was only turning 33 going into that season, but it’d be one of the final years of his career.
That final year would come as a Met when the expansion team from New York purchased Ashburn from the Cubs after the 1961 season.
Ashburn would put up a .305 batting average in New York, his highest since the 1958 season. He retired after the Mets won just 40 of their 160 games.
In 1995 Ashburn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee and later had his number 1 retired by the Phillies.