The votes have been cast, and I've got my next topic to write about. I had a feeling that this topic would win, considering most of the people that read this are Philadelphia sports fans. With that in mind, I will be writing about the Top 100 Philadelphia Sports Athletes of all Time.
Now, there are a couple of ground rules that I'm going to lay down right now, so if you have any issues with my list, refer back to this post to see why I'm doing what I'm doing.
First of all, this is going to be a list of professional athletes from the four main teams that are in Philadelphia today. That means there will be no college athletes or members of the Philadelphia Athletics on this list. There were some that could have been put on here if I had gone that route, but I decided against it. My list, my rules.
Second, when it comes to the Phillies and their over 100 year history, it was a little bit tougher. When it came down to it, I left off just about every player before 1900 and I only have a few on the list from before baseball was integrated. There's a few reasons for that. The game of baseball changed so much after integration that the numbers before 1947 aren't necessarily the most accurate. The other thing is that the Phillies weren't that good before the Whiz Kids came around back in 1950. Don't expect too many pre-1950s Phillies to be on this list.
Finally, there are some athletes that you might think should be on this list that won't be. I'm going to get some honorable mentions out of the way right now. Here are some athletes that you won't see on the list.
Roy Halladay: He's only been a Phillie for two and a half years. While he's pitched in the playoffs, thrown a perfect game and a playoff no hitter and won a Cy Young Award, he hasn't been in Philadelphia long enough for me to consider him on this list.
Hugh Douglas: He's fourth in Eagles history in sacks, and while he and Trent Cole have had similar careers in Philadelphia, I felt like only one of them deserved to be on the list. Cole made it. Hugh did not. I still think he's a great player, though.
Brad Lidge: Aside from the perfect 2008 season, which was amazing, Lidge was average at best and horrible at his worst during the rest of his time with the Phillies. We'll always have the 2008 season.
Mike Richards/Jeff Carter: Sorry boys, no room on the party bus for you two. You got your Stanley Cup with the Kings, but you're not on this list.
Pete Rose: I've never been the biggest Pete Rose guy, and I'm in favor of him not being in the Hall of Fame. That's all I'm going to say about that, and it certainly has an impact in me not putting him on this list, because he could have made it.
Any 76er that played the majority of his career with Syracuse: This is a list about the top Philadelphia athletes, and while the Sixers came from Syracuse, the team didn't become the Sixers until 1962. There are some great players that spent time between Syracuse and Philadelphia, but if they spent more time with Syracuse than the Sixers, they won't be on this list.
One last rule. It's my list, and it's completely subjective. This is not an be all, end all list of the best athletes in Philadelphia history. I'm sure just about all of your lists will be different than mine, but it's my list, so what I've got on here is how I see things. You can state your case all you want, though. I'll always listen to opinions.
So, that's all I've got before I get started. The list will get started in the next few days with numbers 100-91. I hope you enjoy.
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