Following the 1882 National League season, league president A.G. Mills approached Philadelphia-based sporting goods manufacturer Al Reach to let him know the circuit's Worcester, MA franchise was folding and that he wanted to plant a team in Philadelphia. Working with partners including Ben Shibe, Reach collected the capital needed and Philadelphia entered the NL in 1883.  Initially called the Quakers, the club adopted the name Philadelphians in 1884.  Many continued to call them the Quakers, or the shortened Phillies, until the club officially adopted the latter name in 1890.

Despite bringing in future Hall-of-Famer Harry Wright, of Boston Red Stockings fame, to manage the club in 1884, and the emergence of the game's first speedster star in Billy Hamilton a few years later, the club could never do better than second place, and often fared far worse, during the remainder of the 19th century.  When the American League attained Major League status in 1901, its Philadelphia club, owned by former Philly partner Ben Shibe, signed away several of the club's stars including the great Nap Lajoie.   This ushered in a period when the club was relegated to second-division status  for much of the next 60 years.  Between 1901 and the expansion season of 1962, the team finished last 21 times and higher than 4th just 9 times.  Somehow, behind the pitching of Pete Alexander, the club took the NL Pennant in 1915 and, led by Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and the other Whiz Kids, took another in  1950.   

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Between 1944 and 1950, the club bizarrely had two concurrent "official" names.  They adopted the alternative moniker "Blue Jays" for reasons which aren't clear today.  Despite the club insisting in the 21st century that the Blue Jays name was never really an official thing, available literature from the time proves otherwise. 

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With the exception of 1964, in which the club staged one of the most improbable September collapses, the post-Whiz Kids era era was another long stretch of bad finishes, capped by the 59-97 season of 1972.  The lone bright spot then was the fact that of the club's 59 wins, 27 were notched by newcomer Steve Carlton.  It was the beginning of a new day in Philly.  Carlton's arrival, bolstered by the development or acquisition of players like Mike Schmidt, Garry Maddox, Greg Luzinski, Tug McGraw and others catapulted the club to 3 straight division titles from 1976-1978 and, in 1980, their first ever World Series championship.  They were the last, by far, of the 16 original World Series era clubs to finally win one.  There followed a period of general competitiveness, which included another pennant in 1983 and yet another in 1993.  They won their second title in 2008 during another period of strong showings, and by 2022 landed another pennant.   

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.