Ranking the Top 5 greatest outfielders in Phillies franchise history

No. 5: Sherry Magee

Many modern fans may be unfamiliar with Sherry Magee, one of the organization's first true stars. Magee racked up 59.4 WAR and slugged to a 137 OPS+ as a middle-of-the-order mainstay from 1904 to 1914.

He won the 1910 batting title, hitting .331, and also led the National League in RBI four different times. Magee never hit for huge power but still managed a high slugging percentage, thanks in part to very good contact and elite speed. In his career, he stole 441 bases, and his 387 in a Phillies uniform is good for fourth in franchise history. He managed more than 30 doubles eight times during his career. 

Magee's banner year was 1910, when he led the league in runs (110), RBI (123), batting average (.331), and OPS (.952). This was before the modern MVP award existed, but Magee likely would've won at least one (he finished seventh for the NL's Chalmers Award, the forerunner of the MVP, in 1914). 

Despite his achievements, he's arguably the franchise's greatest player ever to not be included on the Wall of Fame, probably because of how long ago he played. 

Primarily a left fielder, Magee's speed and overall athleticism allowed him to notch innings at every position outside of pitcher and catcher. Magee was considered by the Cooperstown Veterans Committee (now the Era Committee) for inclusion in the Hall of Fame in 2008 but did not get the nod. Given how WAR is increasingly shaping the way players are evaluated, and given his dominance within his era, it's possible he'll be considered again in the future. 

No. 4: Bobby Abreu

Alongside now Hall of Famer Scott Rolen, from 1998 to 2005 Bobby Abreu was one of the reasons to look forward to baseball during some of the darker years of the Phillies' 1990s and early 2000s quasi-rebuild and ensuing struggles. For eight seasons in south Philadelphia, Abreu was one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, batting between .286 and .335 every year and hitting at least 20 dingers almost every season. 

An All-Star in his final two seasons in Philadelphia, Abreu gained MVP votes five different times during his Phillies tenure. Still, he was never considered among the superstars of his day, overshadowed as he was by the heart of the steroid era. Time would prove to be in his favor, however; years after the likes of Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa have vanished from Hall of Fame balloting, Abreu earned 14.8 percent of votes in 2024.

While his name didn't stick out in that superstar way while he played, a glance at his resume puts him in very rarified air indeed. He is one of only six players in Major League Baseball history to have at least 900 extra-base hits and 400 stolen bases. The others are either Hall of Famers (Ty Cobb, Craig Biggio, Honus Wagner, Paul Molitor, Tris Speaker, and Paul Molitor) or their name is Barry Bonds, according to MLB.com.

During his nine years in Philly, Abreu amassed 60.2 WAR and earned two All-Star nods. Abreu's 14.8 percent was slightly lower than his 15.3 percent of ballots in 2023 Hall of Fame voting, but 2025 will mark just his sixth year on the ballot, so he still has a decent chance (Abreu's timeline for induction could wind up matching up to the same year as Utley).

No. 3: Chuck Klein

Few players in baseball history launched themselves into the league with the voracity of Hall of Famer Chuck Klein, who notched OPS marks of 1.065, 1.123, .982, 1.050, and 1.025 in his first five seasons in baseball. His 1932 campaign earned him the MVP award, while he was the runner-up both the year before and the year after. 

That period of utter dominance is not fully reflected in a career WAR of 46.7. Klein never recaptured the magic of those first years at the Baker Bowl. He bounced around a good bit but always found his way back to Philadelphia, spending parts of 15 seasons with the team in three separate stints from 1928 to 1933, 1936 to 1939, and 1940 to 1944.

As a player of extremes, the record book is well marked by Klein's bat. To this day, Klein is tied with Barry Bonds for the most extra-base hits in a single season in National League history, at 107. He is one of only five players in NL history to ever win the Triple Crown, according to Baseball Reference. He is also one of three Phillies players, along with Delahanty and Mike Schmidt, to hit four home runs in a single game, Baseball Almanac notes.

Aside from his astronomical production, Philly baseball during Klein's tenure was a gloomy affair. The team only once made it over .500 in any of his 15 seasons in town and never once made the postseason, making him a sort of pre-World War II Mike Trout. His 1942 Phils won just 42 games. But Klein's awesome early career output was more than enough to earn him induction to the Hall of Fame from the Veterans Committee in 1980.

No. 2: Bryce Harper

He's not even an outfielder anymore, and recency bias is doubtlessly in play, but the ongoing legacy of the greatest Phillie since the Utley-Rollins-Howard days is now more than enough to land Bryce Harper near the top of this list. 

Harper is only 31, but no other outfielder in Phillies history has won two MVPs. In fact, no Phillies position player has ever won an MVP after signing from a different organization. And arguably, no player has had a larger off-field impact on the franchise ever than Harper. 

Harper's arrival reignited baseball fever in Philadelphia and yanked an organization that was stubbornly mired in a lingering rebuild back into the national eye. His presence and outsized personality, combined with a long-term devotion to the team etched in his contract, helped lure numerous other stars. He led the team to two consecutive appearances in the NLCS in 2022 and 2023. 

A superstar since he emerged in the MLB as a 19-year-old, Harper already has 46.2 WAR to his name, along with 306 home runs and a career OPS+ of 143. Those numbers catapult him ahead of all Phillies outfielders since 1900 aside from Richie Ashburn, and Harper still has eight years left on a contract that is likely to be extended. 

Harper appears a very good bet to reach 500 home runs, and the only other thing that's left to cement his legacy is a World Series championship. While a portion of Harper's output to date was in a Nationals uniform, when all is said and done, it's a red P that will adorn his plaque in Cooperstown. And perhaps, even, a statue down on Pattison and Broad.

No. 1: Richie Ashburn

There may never be another. "Whitey" made himself part of the soul of the Phillies forever with an unforgettable 11-year run in center field from 1948 to 1959, winning two batting titles and earning six All-Star nods. And for nearly half a century after he hung up his spikes, he was the voice of Phillies broadcasts for generations of fans who had not been fortunate enough to see him play. 

While Ashburn's 64.3 WAR bests all other Phillies position players besides Mike Schmidt, his dynamism was of the understated sort. He was never a Harper or a Schmidt type player, and he wasn't considered a superstar in his time. He changed the outcome of games not with the flourish of his power bat but with persistent consistency and fundamentals. 

Whitey boasted elite speed, stealing 234 bases in his career. He had one of the league's best gloves in center, leading all of baseball in put-outs in the 1950s, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, and earning among the top 10 defensive WAR in the National League five times in his career. Despite not being a power threat, he still managed to lead all of baseball in walks during four different seasons. He ended his career with a .308 lifetime batting average.

To put it into terms that modern-day Phillies fans may better understand, imagine a player with Harper's work ethic, Aaron Rowand's toughness, Johan Rojas' glove, Ben Revere's contact skills, and Rhys Hoskins' patient eye at the plate. While overlooked for years, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995, shortly before his death.

He is immortalized in the Bank's Ashburn Alley, where a bronze statue features him mid-stride, rounding a base, eyes low and expressionless. The Philly Stoic.