On June 19, 2015, another Day That Will Live In Infamy in an endless series of them this year, Phillies management, in their infinite wisdom, decided to hold a Sixties Retro Night.
How appropriate is that?
In 1961 the Phillies set the all time record for consistent futility, a record that’s still standing, for their 23 game losing streak. They ended that year with a record of 47 and 107 for a .305 winning percentage, a mere 46 games behind the pennant winner.
They finished last in the NL in 1960 and 1961, and last in the first season of divisional play in 1969. They finished next to last twice in that decade.
In 1964, they blew the pennant with a 6 1/2 game lead and two weeks left in the season by losing 10 in a row. Gene Mauch panicked and pitched Chris Short and Jim Bunning every other day. They lost one game when the Reds’ Chico Ruiz stole home. I had already ordered my world series tickets by mail. Thud. The envelope was returned, unopened.
From 1962 to 1967 they actually won more games than they lost, but for the decade as a whole their record was 759 and 843. They amassed a total games behind of 181. Excluding that dream to nightmare year of 1964 when they finished one stinking game behind the leader, they finished, on average, 20 games behind in the other 9 years.
So last night the Phillies appropriately commemorated Sixties Retro Night with one of the worst stinker exhibitions they have put on since that glorious year of 1961. They stand a good chance of amassing an even worse record than they did then, and they have a shot at breaking their greatest record- the streak.
When I built this website in 2013, as you can see by the site tagline, I was hoping to, in some small way, stop the Phillies’ management’s dream of returning to the fifties and sixties glory years.
Too late.
They have succeeded.