We know it won’t be Ryan Howard who is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA, as he has dropped off the list for voting as of 2022 when he failed to make the minimum amount of votes to stay on. The Big Piece as he was nicknamed, only garnered 2 percent of the votes that year, he only needed 5 percent to keep going and have another chance for the next year. Did you know Ryan Howard was voted Rookie of the Year?
The combination of these 3 players made magic on the field and was the catalyst that drove the Phils to a 2008 World Championship (along with some other great players), there was great chemistry on this team but they were the glue that held the Phillies together as well for the 2009 World Series appearance the Phils fell a little short in.
When Ryan hit a longball, sometimes commentator and ex-Phillies player, Gary Matthews said, “Ryan jumped in his Cadillac” as he circled the bases
You had Jimmy Rollins, who sometimes strolled to first base on a ball he didn’t think he had a chance to make it, eventually earning the nickname “J-Stroll” instead of “J-Roll” which was his normal nickname. A bold and fast shortstop who held that position for many years with the team. Is he Hall-worthy? And more about any player even being Hall-worthy further on down in this article.
Then we have Chase Utley, arguably, one of the most beloved Phillies players at the time, though his stay with the Dodgers and even Jimmy Rollins being on the Dodgers for a while still doesn’t sit well with some Phillies fans. But that is the game of baseball, you’re with one team for a certain amount of time, and then eventually it’s time to move on. I am sure some hometown fans of Mookie Betts in Boston, and Freddie Freeman in Atlanta still have a certain amount of previous fans that have now left their allegiance to those players just a bit. But Utley had a little something extra in the Hall of Fame voting, he was a 2nd baseman, and Chase has been on the BBWAA’s voting list half the time of Rollins so far and has done the best in voting with the BBWAA with a 28.8 percent showing on his first try, this year will only be the second year on the ballot for him.
Who meant more to the Phillies during his career with these 3 players, all things being equal? That in itself is a very tough question. At times it seemed that Ryan Howard carried the Phillies on his back, and they other times when he just didn’t have what it took. This sounds like the basis of an offseason podcast!
The HOF vote each year seems like it’s never without its controversies, and with the way it is set up, you must get 75 percent of the vote to get in so the voting can take some strange paths sometimes. The ‘steroid gang’ meaning A-Rod, and others like him, haven’t gotten voted in yet, but their stock has been rising in the vote percentages yearly. It seems like time waters down some things, especially with matters like this. So who will be in for 2025? We’ll find out over the Winter.
