February 15, 2024
Ron Cortes/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT/Sipa USA, FILE
Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay and catcher Carlos Ruiz celebrate a Halladay's no-hitter in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.
Over the last few winters, we've passed the time by ranking things. We ranked every Eagles player, and Sixers player by position while also throwing in some other lists that weren't quite as fun.
For the next two weeks, leading up to pitchers and catchers reporting to Clearwater for the 2024 Phillies season, we decided to take a look at each position in the Phillies storied 100+ year history and come up with a list of the all-time greats at each position.
We're going to limit our lists to 10 (with a few extra mentions) in part because there have been more than 2,000 different players to appear in at least one game for the Phillies. But we did look at everybody.
There is quite the rich history of starting pitchers within the Phillies franchise. The names in our top 10 really span the entire 100-plus years of the team's existence with prominent players popping up in every era.
Before we dive into the best of the best, here's a look at the hurlers we ranked in the 11-20 range, just missing the cut.
| Player | Stats | Accolades |
| Tully Sparks | 95-95, 2.48 ERA | Went 22-8 with a 2.00 ERA in 1907 |
| Larry Christenson | 83-71, 3.49 ERA | 1980 World Series Champ |
| Aaron Nola | 90-71, 3.72 ERA | 2018 All Star; Top 7 Cy Young (3 times) |
| Rick Wise | 75-76, 3.60 ERA | 1971 All Star |
| John Denny | 37-29, 2.96 ERA | 1983 Cy Young winner |
| George McQuillan | 54-49, 1.79 ERA | Went 23-17 with a 1.53 ERA in 1908 |
| Terry Mullholland | 62-57, 3.81 ERA | 1993 All-Star, 12 CG's in 1992 |
| Charlie Ferguson | 99-64, 2.67 ERA | 99 wins over four seasons in 1880s |
| Erskine Mayer | 76-61, 2.81 ERA | Won 21 games in both 1914, 1915 |
| Shane Rawley | 59-48, 3.88 ERA | 1986 All-Star |
• Evan Macy: I am very curious to see where Aaron Nola ultimately ends up, as he's set to continue pitching in Philly within reach of some big milestones. Only eight Phillies have ever won 100 games. He's 10 away. Only 15 Phillies have appeared in 300 games, he is within sight of that. He's already 17th all-time in innings pitched in Philadelphia, and is three strikeouts away from passing Chris Short for 4th all-time in franchise history. By sheer volume, he's set to crack the top 10 very soon.
• Shamus Clancy: The 2023 MLB postseason certainly hurt Aaron Nola's standing on this list. With his new contract locking him into Philadelphia for the foreseeable future, Nola is in a good position to climb up the all-time franchise pitching leaderboards. It's what he does in future Octobers, however, that will define his place in the city's history.
• Nick Tricome: This has kinda become the Nola section here. He's been good, more than a lot of people want to give him credit for right now, and with a longevity and durability that isn't all that common anymore. He signed on to basically be a Phillie for life over the winter, and if things even just stay as they are, he'll be near the top on a lot of pages in the team's record book by the time it's all said and done.
And now our list of the 10 best starting pitchers in Phillies history:
Evan Macy: What can I add to the resume above? He's quite potentially the best pitcher of the baseball's modern era. In 1972, his first season with the Phillies after they traded Rick Wise — an All-Star in 1971 by the way — for him, he went 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA and 310 strikeouts. My god did Philly win that trade.
Nick: Steve Carlton is the greatest, but I've only ever seen it through old tapes. Robin Roberts was great too, but I've only ever read about it. I saw Roy Halladay. I saw that cutter fan batter after batter. I saw all those complete games, those shutouts, the perfect game, the postseason no-hitter, and remember looking at the rotation schedule for those couple of years and just being able to assume that his starts would be automatic wins. I saw that greatness happen in real time, and looking back, I can say, with absolute certainty, that I will never see a pitcher as special as Roy Halladay ever again.
Nick: A Whiz Kid, a regular All-Star, and a dominant force on the mound, Roberts was a workhorse in every sense imaginable, leading baseball in innings pitched and complete games for five consecutive years, and more often than not, shutting down opponents and pushing the Phillies to wins.
Evan: Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander had five one-hitters in 1915, the year the Phillies won their first pennant. He has the NL record for shutouts still (90), and he was the sole member of the Baseball Hall of Fame's third class in 1938. He's a legend.
Shamus: The Phillies, in their horrific history of more than 11,000 losses, have won the championship just twice. The MVPs of those World Series wins are 1. the best third baseman of all time and 2. a lefty with a nasty changeup who brought the first parade to Broad Street in a quarter of a century.
Retire his No. 35 while we're at it.
Nick: An ace and the first to throw a perfect game in Phillies history, Bunning had the Phils in cruise control on the way to the pennant in 1964 – well, until they imploded down the stretch.
Nick: And Short, as a lefty, was right behind him with a 17-9 record and a 2.20 ERA in that '64 season, but couldn't help stave off the downfall alone.
Evan: A slow start to his career is what kept Lee from a Hall of Fame career. He was as dominant a pitcher to ever suit up in red pinstripes. A look at some of his career ranks as a Phillie:
| Category | Stat | Rank |
| ERA | 2.94 | 18th |
| Adjusted ERA + | 132 | 5th |
| Strikeouts per 9 | 8.8 | 4th |
| Walks per 9 | 1.3 | 2nd |
| SO to BB ratio | 6.6 | 1st |
Shamus: After finishing second in NL Cy Young voting with the Phillies in 2021, Wheeler hit another level during the next two postseasons in Philly. In 11 appearances over 63.1 innings, Wheeler sported a 2.42 playoff ERA with a strikeout-to-walk ratio (68-to-11) better than any single regular season campaign in his career.
Wheeler gets it done during the dog days of the summer and is his best when things matter most.
Shamus: Just 21 during the Phillies' classic 1950 "Whiz Kids" pennant-winning campaign, Simmons had a great four-season peak from 1950-1954 with the Phils, posting a 3.06 ERA in 118 starts. That includes a season he missed in 1951 while in active military service during the Korean War.
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