Ranking the Top 5 greatest first basemen in Phillies franchise history

The Philadelphia Phillies are a storied franchise in MLB lore. In fact, they were the first professional sports team in American history to reach 10,000 losses. On the flip side, the Phillies have won two World Series titles in 1980 and 2008 and have won the NL Pennant eight times.

There have been some extremely special players to have come through Philadelphia during the team’s long and memorable history.

The first basemen that have played for the Phillies are particularly special as we’ve had major free agents sign, players that have come up in the system to win an MVP award and World Series, controversial figures who were extraordinarily talented, and players who have gone on to have Hall of Fame careers.

Ranking the all-time Phillies first baseman is a tall task and there are many factors that contribute to how a list is curated. In this particular ranking, we’ll weigh the overall career of the players, the specific time they’ve spent with the Phillies, how successful their teams were, and lastly what they mean to the city of Philadelphia and the fans.

First, let's cover the honorable mentions.

Dick Allen, the iconic star who's being celebrated with a mural, played 1,070 games in Philadelphia during the 1960s and 1970s but only 394 at first base. Regardless, he's 10th all-time among all Phillies hitters with a 37.7 fWAR.

Don Hurst played for the Phillies for six and a half of his seven major league seasons, from 1928 to 1934, manning first base 815 of his 854 games as a Phillie. He finished his time in Philadelphia with a .303 average and led the NL with 143 RBI in 1932.

Dolph Camilli played 540 games for the Phillies from 1934 to 1937. The consistent slugger slashed .295/.395/.510 with 92 home runs and 333 RBI. He received MVP votes in 1935 and 1936 but didn't hit his stride until the Phillies traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938, winning the NL MVP in 1941.

Fred Luderus, after being acquired from the Chicago Cubs, played 11 seasons for the Phillies from 1910 to 1920. He amassed 1,322 hits in 1,311 games, placing him second among Phillies first basemen.

Without further ado, let’s rank the greatest first baseman in Philadelphia Phillies history.

No. 4: Jim Thome

Jim Thome was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 after a 22-year career where he ended with 612 home runs, a career .956 OPS, and 1699 career RBI. He was the definition of power first baseman for the entirety of his career.

Though his stint with the Phillies was short, from 2003 to 2005, and he only played in 59 games in his injury-shortened third season, his arrival signaled to the league that Philadelphia was a force to be reckoned with again. In 361 total games for the Phillies, he hit 96 total home runs and had 266 RBI, while getting on base at a .386 clip and an OPS of .928.

Regretfully, Thome and the Phillies didn't have much success as a team. They failed to make the playoffs in any of the seasons that he was on the team and went a combined 260-226. Most notably, Phillies fans might remember him for his injury in 2005 that opened the door for Ryan Howard to step in and go on to win Rookie of the Year. The Phillies would end up trading Thome to the Chicago White Sox for future notable major leaguers Aaron Row and Gio González.

But nevertheless, when Thome signed with the Phillies it was a move that put the Phillies back on the map. From 1994 to 2002, the year before Thome signed, the Phillies only had one winning season with a record above .500. After the power-hitting lefty signed in 2003, the Phillies went 10 straight seasons with a .500 record or better. The Jim Thome era was short-lived but was the start of one of the best times in franchise history.

No. 3: Pete Rose

The Philadelphia Phillies aren’t the first team you think of when you hear the name Pete Rose, but "Charlie Hustle" left his mark on Philadelphia in a big way. The MLB all-time hits leader did just that while he was a Phillie, he hit.

In his five years in Philadelphia, from 1979 to 1983, Rose batted a .291 average, accumulating 826 hits, 325 walks, and minuscule 151 strikeouts. Rose was the definition of a professional hitter.

Rose was a major part of a winning culture in Philadelphia. In the three years immediately before Rose joined the team (1976, 1977, and 1978), the Phillies lost in the NLCS each year. When he signed as a free agent at the 1978 Winter Meetings, it changed the attitude of the clubhouse and team. They would go on to win the World Series in 1980, the first in franchise history. They would reach another World Series two years later in 1983 but would lose.

However you may feel about Rose and his off-field issues, there was no doubt that he was an extraordinary baseball player who was able to raise the ceiling of whatever team he was on. The 1980 Phillies team is particularly special to Philadelphia, and Rose was right at the heart of that team.

No. 2: John Kruk

John Kruk, better known as Krukkie around Philadelphia, joined the Phillies in the summer of 1989 when he was traded from the San Diego Padres. Immediately, Kruk showed his offensive prowess, hitting .331/.386/.473 for the rest of the 1989 season. From that point on, the Phillies had their first basemen for the next five years.

Unfortunately for Kruk and those Phillies teams, they didn’t have much overall team success with the exception of one year. They missed the playoffs in Kruk’s first four years before breaking through in 1993, winning the NL Pennant and reaching the World Series but losing to the Toronto Blue Jays.

He was a menace at the plate, getting on base at a .402 clip over that five-year period and hitting .306. He walked (381) almost as much as he struck out (396), consistently batting in the middle of the lineup. Kruk was an All-Star representative for three out of the full five years he wore the red pinstripes.

Krukkie left in free agency after the 1994 season but still holds a special place in the hearts of Philadelphia fans, as evidenced by the reception he received when he threw out the first pitch before Game 7 of the 2023 NLCS.

Kruk is now a part of the broadcast booth, joining Tom McCarthy and gracing the listeners' ears with countless stories, hilarious tangents, and overall great color commentary.

No. 1: Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard, "The Big Piece," immediately made his presence known when he came onto the scene in 2004, but Howard’s official rookie year was kicked off in May of 2005 for an injured Jim Thome. The 25-year-old saw his opportunity, grabbed it by the horns, and never looked back, winning Rookie of the Year with a slash line of .288/.356/.567, an OPS of .924, while hitting 22 home runs and 63 RBI in just 88 games.

Howard is the franchise’s all-time leader among first basemen in games played (1,572), runs (848), hits (1,475), doubles (277), home runs (382), and RBI (1,194). He is second in slugging (.515) and fifth in OPS (.859).

Narrow it down to the years from 2006-2011, and the numbers are mind-boggling. In that six-year period, he slashed .274/.370/.559 with an OPS of .929 and averaged 44 home runs, 133 RBI, 96 runs scored, and 84 walks. He won MVP in 2006 after hitting .313/.425/.659 with 58 home runs, 149 RBI, 104 runs scored, and 108 walks. That is quite possibly the most dominant season Phillies fans have ever witnessed.

With those career numbers and that high of a peak, he's the greatest Phillies first baseman, full stop. But that isn’t the half of it. Ryan Howard is one of the stalwarts of one of the most successful eras in franchise history. The team won five straight division titles from 2007 to 2011, appearing in the World Series in back-to-back years, and winning one in 2008.

Howard left the Phillies in free agency after the 2016 season but didn't suit up in a major league game in 2017 before eventually retiring. Though the end of his career didn’t go as anyone wanted, Howard put on a show for many years and will be remembered as the greatest first baseman in Phillies history.

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