The Phightin' Phils

1970 started out with the Phillies franchise in transition.  Their young up and coming team of the mid 1960's never arrived.  After their well documented late season pennant collapse in 1964 the team hovered around .500 and never seemed capable of taking the step up to the elite level to compete with the Dodgers and Cardinals of the world.  By 1970 Phillie management was looking for ways to sell off the remaining parts of that core team in order to rebuild.  One part that they didn't want to part company with was the enigmatic Richie Allen.  Unfortunately for them Allen, who was entering his prime wanted to be traded away from the "city of Brotherly Love".  Allen's constant complaining hit a crescendo when he wrote in the dirt near 1st base "trade me".  The gap between player, franchise and fan base was so wide that he was finally moved in 1970.  That trade accelerated the free fall to the bottom for the Phills.

By 1972 the Phillies had hit rock bottom and lost over 100 games.  Their offense was non existent and their pitching staff was a one man show named Steve Carlton, who was acquired from the Cardinals because he had the audacity to demand value for his services from Gussie Busch.  Carlton respond by winning 27 games for a team that didn't even win 60.  He was the lone bright spot in a franchise that had hit bottom.  Luckily for Phightin' Phans help was on the way in a bumper crop of young up and coming players working their way through the farm system.  Led by future HOF'er Mike Schmidt the young Phightin's included:  "The Bull" Greg Luzinski, fiery shortstop Larry Bowa, All-Star catcher Bob Boone and a host of others.

By the middle of the decade the Phills were almost completely back from the abyss.  After pilfering Tug McGraw from the Mets and Garry Maddox (the secretary of defense) from the Giants, the championship core was now ready to make a run.  The Phillies won 3 consecutive NL East Divisional Titles from 1976-1978, but could not get by the Reds or Dodgers and make it to the World Series.  By the end of the decade the franchise had gone from:  Team in Transition to Cellar Dweller to Rebuilding Project to perennial contender to a franchise that "couldn't win the big one".  That would all be erased in 1980 when the Phightin's won their first ever World Championship thanks to the veteran leadership of one Peter Edward Rose, who put them "over the top".