100 Greatest Phillies: 81 – Jim Lonborg

Jim Lonborg
Starting Pitcher
1973-1979

Career w/Phillies: 1142.1 IP / 75-60 / 3.97 ERA / 548 K

Jim Lonborg picked up where Wise left off, filling the right-handed void behind Steve Carlton once Lefty established himself in Philadelphia. “Gentleman Jim” had a banner year in 1967 for the Red Sox, winning the Cy Young award off a 22-9, 3.16 ERA, 246 strikeout season. But a skiing accident in the offseason injured his knee, curtailing his power. He had to reinvent himself as a pitcher, and finally found a groove with the Phillies in 1973. While he recorded a 4.88 ERA, he racked up the innings, setting up a strong 1974 campaign. Then, he went 17-13 with a 3.21 ERA. He fared just as well in 1976, winning 18 games with the high-octane Phils. He finished his career a Phillie, and after retiring, became a dentist.

Comment: Like Wise, Lonborg was a second-tier arm who had his best success in Boston. Still, the Phils scored some quality out of him. Another throwback from the early Vet days, Lonborg had a couple solid years in powder blue.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.