Phillies Chance To Repeat as World Champions

The 1970’s brought America some of the most exciting seasons in the history of baseball. Who could ever forget the “Big Red Machine”? Who could ever forget the most prevailing force in the National League? Of course I’m referring to the Cincinnati Reds, and their manager, Sparky Anderson.

The Big Red Machine is the only National League team during the last 75 years to win two consecutive World Championship games. Prior to the Reds, it was the New York Giants that was the only National League team that could boast of winning back-to-back World Series Championships (1921-1922).

Cincinnati’s manager Sparky Anderson was fortunate enough to play one full season as a regular player in the big league. And that team he played for was the Phillies. Could this have been a precursor to the success of the Phillies?

Can the defending champions duplicate the magic of 1975 and 1976? Will the Phillies become the “New Big Red Machine”? It’s hard to shake a long standing reputation of being biggest losers. The Philadelphia team has lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. The Phillies hope to retain their World Series crown.

A recent report finds that 41% of baseball fans think that the Yanks will be the winners of the 2009 World Series. The survey finds that 17% picked the Phillies, 16% picked the Dodgers, and 7% picked the Angels.

Phillie fans would like to prove all the naysayers wrong. They would like to extrapolate from a banner of a local restaurant — the Good Karma Cafe.

Ahh, talking about the Big Red Machine. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Caesar Geronimo, and George Foster as the starting team. Those were the glory days of baseball.

And the Reds pitching staff, coaches, and Riverfront Stadium. And what about Don Gullett hitting that home run in the 1975 National League Championship Series, against the Pirates? What pitcher does that?

“This is the old left-hander, rounding third and heading for home” — Joseph Henry “Joe” Nuxhall (1928-2007)