We continue our look at the great seasons in Phillies history
In the first two articles in this series we’ve seen the greatest player in Phillies history, the all-time franchise hit leader, a Hall of Fame pitcher turned senator who hurled a perfect game, another Hall of Famer turned beloved announcer, among others.
This third part of the series features the top individual seasons in Phillies history for numbers 21 through 30.
ICYMI:
Phillies: Best Individual Seasons By Uniform Number (0 – 10)
Phillies best individual seasons by uniform number (11 – 20)
Few players could hit for the Phillies in the 80s like Bake McBride
21 – Bake McBride (1980)
McBride began his career with the Cardinals and 1973 and was NL Rookie of the Year in 1974 after batting .309 with 30 stolen bases. He was an All-Star in 1976 and was traded to the Phillies on June 15, 1977, along with Steve Waterbury in exchange for Tom Underwood, Dane Iorg, and Rick Bosetti.
An immediate success in Philadelphia, McBride hit .339 the rest of the 1977 season with 11 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 85 games. Although his average dipped to .269 the following season, McBride stole 28 bases, hit 10 home runs and played solid defense in right field.
Playing in a career-high 151 games in 1979, McBride posted a quadruple-double, accumulating 16 doubles, 12 triples, 12 home runs, and 25 stolen bases. McBride spent two more seasons in Philadelphia, the next one proving to be his best.
For the 1980 World Series championship team, McBride was entrenched in the middle of the order, hitting .309 with 33 doubles, 10 triples, and 87 RBI, despite doing deep only nine times. In addition, he committed only three errors for a slick .990 fielding percentage. His home run in the third inning of Game 1 of the World Series jump-started the Phillies attack that was down 4-0.
McBride finished his career with two-injury plagued seasons with the Indians, retiring in 1983 with 1156 hits and 183 stolen bases.