Quote:
Originally Posted by Sagitta
You said the Phillies were a dynasty in the 30's... who were their stars back then that allowed that to happen?
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The Phils were quite the dynasty in the 30's. They finished under .500 just once and won five World Series from 1930-1940. Of course, one of the main reasons they were so good in the 30's was the fact they were so horrible in the 20's, allowing them to draft several excellent prospects over a short span, and have them all come up to the majors around the same time.
The first one to come up was Charlie Gehringer in 1925, and he was joined next by Bill Dickey at catcher in 1929. Buddy Meyer joined them in 1930, and together, those three started almost every game at their respective positions for the entire decade. Of course, in 1935, Johnny Mize began his career at first base, and over the next three seasons, the Phils won two titles and didn't win less than 100 games in any of those years. Surprisingly enough, their outfied never had any real stars in it, and the starters bounced back and forth almost every year.
The one constant that was there through everything though was Satchel Paige. Remember, this database included Negro League stars, so he was imported at the beginning of his career, and was absolutely lights out during the 1930s. Over that ten year span, he won 287 games for Philadelphia and had eight postseason wins with a 1.87 ERA in 13 starts. Aside from that, they had a few good years from pitchers like Danny MacFayden and Guy Bush, but Paige really was the rock for the whole pitching staff.
So yeah, they had one of the best infields in baseball history to go along with one of the best pitchers ever. I'd say that would be the reason they took the baseball world by storm through the 1930s.