Philadelphia approaches milestone

[User 1019]

Hope this isn't a db.


Phillies closing in on 10,000 losses. Worst of any franchise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/sports/baseball/12phillies.html?ex=1339300800&en=2b26db7ef5fa358f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

[Write-brained]

Wooooooooooooooooooo - hooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!


Go Phillies!!!

 

[chazp]

Congrats, Phillies. You're first in something. Wonder how close my Cubs are to the 10K losses?

 

[Write-brained]

Because the cubs can't even win at losing.

 

[Chi City 81]

Because the cubs can't even win at losing.

LOL!

 

[JR]

No wonder they boo Santa Claus.

 

[Hustle]

Some of the guys I work with tried to get me pumped up last year. Phils were doing well, Howard was kicking ass. I had none of it, because they'd do what they always do: **** it in the end. Same for this year.

What was that definition of insanity? Repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different outcome? Why emotionally invest in the team when they do the same thing year after year? Always good, but never good enough.

 

[Football_Bat]

I would've picked another former Philly team: the A's, who were godawful for five decades. Of course, the Phillies are National League so they've sucked for far longer.

 

[boots]

this is a d_b.

 

[Write-brained]

Yet it's still more of a relevant thread than the anniversary of Roethlisburger's fat headed motorcycle injury.

 

[Cameron Frye]

http://www.celebrate10000.com

 

[Bubbler]

I would've picked another former Philly team: the A's, who were godawful for five decades. Of course, the Phillies are National League so they've sucked for far longer.

The Philly A's weren't God awful for five decades. From the formation of the AL to 1915, they were the elite team in the AL, if not all of baseball, winning three World Series and playing in two others. From 1925-33, they were in contention every season, winning the '29 and '30 World Series, losing in '31 in seven games. Other than '46, they were decent right after WWII too, over .500 until the 50s.

The A's franchise was God awful from 1916-early 20s, 1934-WWII, the final Philly years and their entire stay in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have only had brief respites of success surrounded by crap. The mid 10s (World Series in '15), 1950 (World Series), the mid 60s, the late 70s and early 80s (the franchise glory period), 1993, and some recent years. That's about it.

 

[buckweaver]

Congrats, Phillies. You're first in something. Wonder how close my Cubs are to the 10K losses?

Not. Even. Close.

Along with the Giants, the Cubs were the premier team in the National League for, hell, the first 75 years of its existence.

I calculated it in a thread last fall: the Cubs would have to lose 100 games for like the next 12 seasons in a row(!) just to fall below .500 as a franchise. They're about 500 wins over .500 right now (edit: 9,928-9,416 overall, entering Tuesday).

All-time loosers, MLB
1. Phillies, 8797-9987 0.468
2. Braves, 9647-9668 0.499
3. Cubs, 9928-9416 0.513
4. Pirates, 9582-9328 0.507
5. Reds, 9625-9325 0.508
6. Cardinals, 9792-9144 0.517
7. Dodgers, 9830-8920 0.524
8. Giants, 10142-8667 0.539
9. Browns/Orioles*, 7841-8613 0.477
10. Senators/Twins, 7914-8545 0.481

* also includes 1901 Milwaukee Brewers (sorry Bubs, Gutter, etc. :D)

 

[Tom Petty]

Some of the guys I work with tried to get me pumped up last year. Phils were doing well, Howard was kicking ass. I had none of it, because they'd do what they always do: **** it in the end. Same for this year.

What was that definition of insanity? Repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different outcome? Why emotionally invest in the team when they do the same thing year after year? Always good, but never good enough.

STFU dude, i'ma dodger fan.

dodger prediction: finish seven above .500, limp into the playoffs as the wild card and get swept.

 

[Hustle]

When was the last Dodger WS win? Right, '88. Phillies' first and only was eight years prior. The Phillies have since made one additional trip to the WS, which was largely a fluke - and we all know how that turned out. And since '93, there have been zero playoff appearances.

In that same time frame, the Dodgers have two divisional titles and two wild-card appearances.

LAD: pretty far down on my sympathy list.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Meanwhile, the Phillies have only had brief respites of success surrounded by crap. The mid 10s (World Series in '15), 1950 (World Series), the mid 60s, the late 70s and early 80s (the franchise glory period), 1993, and some recent years. That's about it.

I would've picked another former Philly team: the A's, who were godawful for five decades. Of course, the Phillies are National League so they've sucked for far longer.

The Philly A's weren't God awful for five decades. From the formation of the AL to 1915, they were the elite team in the AL, if not all of baseball, winning three World Series and playing in two others. From 1925-33, they were in contention every season, winning the '29 and '30 World Series, losing in '31 in seven games. Other than '46, they were decent right after WWII too, over .500 until the 50s.

The A's franchise was God awful from 1916-early 20s, 1934-WWII, the final Philly years and their entire stay in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have only had brief respites of success surrounded by crap. The mid 10s (World Series in '15), 1950 (World Series), the mid 60s, the late 70s and early 80s (the franchise glory period), 1993, and some recent years. That's about it.

And the Phillies had one remarkably awful run from 1918 -1948 where they finished below .500 in 30 of 31 seasons. Only the '37 team managed to break the string with a pedestrian 78-76 record.

 

[Armchair_QB]

So by the end of 2008 the Phillies will probably be the only team on that list below .500.

EDIT: Or not.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Considering I'm a Rockies fan and my idea of a successful season is when they reach 63 wins so they continue their streak of never having lost 100 games in a season, I'm happy that they're not anywhere near this mark ... at least not yet. ;D

 

[Del_B_Vista]

This is a god-awful stat, and I don't mean the size of the number:

In fact, no team has ever stunk so often as the Phillies, who, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, have lost more games than any professional franchise in any sport. The Phillies are 14 losses from a particular threshold of ignominy — the 10,000th defeat for a club that has won one lonely World Series title (in 1980) during its 125 years of often dreadful existence.

Completely bogus first sentence. Of course they've lost more games than any professional franchise in any sport: BASEBALL PLAYS ROUGHLY TWICE THE NUMBER OF GAMES PER YEAR OF BASKETBALL AND BASEBALL. And don't even bring up football, where a team would have to go 0-16 for 625 FREAKIN' YEARS TO LOSE 10,000 GAMES.

A comparison of winning percentage would be of great benefit to the story to put it into perspective. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, have a .389 winning percentage. Arizona Cardinals, who have played since 1920, have a .411 winning percentage. The graphic with the story says the Phillies have a .468 winning percentage.

And, let's not forget the Washington Generals :)

 

[buckweaver]

Not only that, DBV, but the National League was created in 1876 (the Phillies count their 9,987 losses since their formation in 1883).

So you're looking at almost 40 extra years of suckitude before the Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals even came into existence. :D