100 Greatest Phillies: 31 – Larry Bowa

Larry Bowa
Shortstop
1970-1981

Career w/Phillies: .263 AVG / 13 HR / 421 RBI / 288 SB

Not many players epitomize Philadelphia quite like Larry Bowa. The long-time shortstop entered the city in 1970 and helped to open Veterans Stadium with its first hit. He continued his career through the franchise’s best seasons, helping to lead the team to its first world championship in 1980. Through it all, he gave his most to the team, getting on base, stealing bases, diving for balls, speaking out, raising hell. His best seasons came with the division titles, as he hit .305 in 1975 (a year before the first crown) and .294 in 1978. He also stole a ton of bases – more than 30 three times and more than 20 a handful more. In 1974 he actually stole more bases than the number of runners he drove in. Combine those leadoff man numbers with strong defense and leadership and you have a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner. Of course, he was a coach who managed the Phillies between 2001 and ’04, but didn’t quite gel with his players.

Comment: Bowa was one of the hardest players to peg for this list. I thought he belonged in the top 50 because of his leadership, name value, leadoff skills and defensive ability. But to me, Bowa wasn’t one of the franchise’s truly legendary players. Compare him, if you will, to Jimmy Rollins. In a shorter period of time, Rollins has trumped Bowa in practically all of his most redeeming qualities, and is a much more productive offensive player. Ultimately, that is why Bowa comes in here and not a little higher, toward Rollins.

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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.

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