Two easy favorites and one you probably never heard of.
Saquon Barkley is having perhaps the best inaugural season of any Philadelphia athlete in the city’s history.
He almost set the single-season rushing record, instead authoring a 2,000+ yard season. He’s had two insane postseason games in beating the Packers and Rams and is one step away from reaching the Super Bowl after years of toiling away in the depths of the New York Giants’ abyss.
There have been hundreds of star athletes who began their careers elsewhere and came to Philadelphia and thrived (there are more who came to Philadelphia and bombed, but that’s a different article altogether), and with the Phillies, there are dozens of examples of both.
In my mind, there are two seasons in recent memory that that are in competition, and one suggested by my Hittin’ Season podcast co-host Justin Klugh that goes back a ways.
(Writers’ mea culpa: I initially forgot to include the first name on this list, mostly because I’m a moron. It has been added because to not do so would be, well, dumb.)
Steve Carlton 1972
After seven years as the ace of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phillies traded away their own ace, Rick Wise, for Carlton, who was in a contract dispute with his former team.
Here’s what Lefty did in his first year in Philadelphia.
- Won an MLB-best 27 games for a team that only won 59 all season
- Put up 12.1 WAR
- Led the NL in ERA (1.97), starts (41), complete games (30), innings (346.1) strikeouts (301)
- Won Cy Young Award
- 5th in MVP vote
Again, the Phillies, as a team, won 59 games in 1972. Only the Rangers (54 wins) and Padres (58) had fewer. In other words, Carlton won 45.7% of his team’s games that season.
Not only that… 30 COMPLETE GAMES??? 346 INNINGS???
It was a different era.
Roy Halladay 2010
Following the 2009 season, Halladay was already on a Hall of Fame track. He’d put up six All-Star seasons in Toronto, piled up 148 wins over 12 seasons, 49 of them complete games and a 3.43 ERA. Obviously, Phillies fans were excited when former GM Ruben Amaro pulled off a trade for the hulking right-hander, and he sure did not disappoint in his inaugural season in Philly.
- 21-10 record
- Career-high and MLB-best 8.5 WAR
- League-leading 9 complete games and 4 shutouts
- 250.2 innings pitched, again, a league-high
- 219 strikeouts
- A regular season perfect game
- The 2nd postseason no-hitter in MLB history
- Cy Young Award Winner
- 6th in MVP voting
It seems impossible for one player to cram that much into their first season with a new team, but Halladay actually managed to trump most of those numbers with an even insane-r 2011 season.
Unfortunately for Roy, he alone was not able to help propel the Phils past the Giants in the National League Championship Series. After his no-no against Cincinnati, Halladay was actually out-pitched by Tim Lincecum in the Phils’ Game 1 loss. He recovered to pitch like a boss in Game 5 in San Francisco, but the Giants’ pixie-dust magic and Cody Freakin’ Ross ended the Phillies’ title hopes in Halladay’s first year.
Had Halladay helped get them to the World Series, this probably wouldn’t even be a consideration. From an individual standpoint, Halladay’s 2010 was one of the greatest inaugural seasons in Phillies history.
Brad Lidge 2008
The bullet-point list of accomplishments for Lidge in 2008 aren’t as voluminous as Halladay’s, but Lidge’s world championship season is legendary because it was vital to the Phillies’ 2nd and last World Series title.
- 2.4 WAR (2nd-highest of his career)
- 1.95 ERA
- 41-for-41 in regular season saves
- 7-for-7 in postseason saves, including the clinching Game 6 of the 2008 World Series
- 4th in Cy Young voting
- 8th in MVP voting
- World Series champion
The Phils traded Michael Bourn to the Astros for Lidge, a guy who turned out to be a quality MLB outfielder for over a decade. Lidge’s 2009 season was a disaster, but he recovered to post 27 saves with a 2.96 ERA in 2010, his final season with the Phils.
A starting pitcher has far more impact on a team than a reliever, but given Lidge didn’t blow a single save, nor did he lose a single game during the ‘08 season, his Perfect Season will always go down as one of the most special, and best, inaugural seasons in franchise history.
It ended in a championship, which earns him extra credit.
Sam Thompson 1889
You’ve never heard of Sam Thompson, right? Well, neither had I until Justin Klugh mentioned him on the most recent Hittin’ Season as his nominee for this prestigious bit of recognition. Listen to Justin’s entire case below!
He arrived in Philadelphia in 1889 after four seasons with the Detroit Wolverines after that franchise folded. At a time in which home runs were virtually non-existent, Thompson came to town and slugged his way into the hearts of the fanbase (we think).
- 20 HRs, (led the NL)
- Set single-season record for HRs by a left-hander
- 111 RBIs, .839 OPS
- He looked like this:
As Justin noted, Thompson eschewed playing in newly created league, opting to stay in Philadelphia, where he would play for another nine seasons, pile up 30.8 WAR, lead the league in RBIs twice, HRs again in 1895 (18), hits and doubles twice, and post the best slugging percentage in baseball two times as well.
Listen to Justin’s full defense at the 48:12 mark above.
So, who gets your vote?