The Phillies Nation Top 100 continues today with #49. Our mission is to assess the Top 100 Phillies players of all time using impact to the Phillies, individual achievement, team achievement, traditional stats, and analytics as our criteria. The list was compiled by Ian Riccaboni and Pat Gallen with input from the rest of the Phillies Nation staff.
From this point forward, each weekday, we will reveal two Phillies from the PN Top 100 in separate posts. To view the 2008 iteration of the list of Greatest Phillies of All Time as compiled by Tim Malcolm, please click here.
Please check back this afternoon for #49.
#50 – Andy Seminick
Years: 1943-1951, 1955-1957
.244/.351/.419, 123 HR, 20 SB in 3449 PA
Previous Rank: 56 (+7)
fWAR Phillies Rank: 33rd among position players, 49th among Phillies
Signature Series: Hit .288/.400/.524 with 24 HR, finishing 14th in MVP voting, in 1950 Whiz Kids season
All-Star in 1949
“Grandpa Whiz”, as Seminick was affectionately known, was the starting backstop for the 1950 pennant-winning Phillies, navigating the rotation of Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, Bob Miller, Russ Meyer, Bubba Church, and Ken Heintzelman to a 91-win season. Seminick was a reliable battery mate for the young rotation, seeing over 400 PA in five straight seasons (1946-1950). While Seminick was reliable, and a pretty potent hitter, he was not very sure-handed: a premier offensive catcher of his generation, ranking second in homers among catchers from 1943-1951, fourth in runs, seventh in OBP, sixth in SLG, and eighth in OPS, Seminick struggled defensively. Seminick led baseball in errors in 1946, 1948-1950, and 1952, while allowing the most stolen bases from 1946-1948 and in 1950. To be fair, Seminick also led baseball in runners thrown out in 1948 and 1949.
Seminick would play through a broken ankle in the 1950 World Series, which may have contributed to his .182/.250/.182 line against the Yankees. In 1952, he was traded in a seven player deal to the Reds for his first replacement, Smokey Burgess. Seminick would return to the Phillies in a 1955 trade that sent Seminick back to the Phillies for, among other players, Smokey Burgess. It is Seminick’s rare power behind the plate that puts him into the Top 50 Phillies of all-time. Seminick retired with the seventh-most homers ever as a catcher and ranks third among Phillies catchers in homers, fourth in runs scored, fifth in RBIs, third in BB%, 11th in OBP, and ninth in slugging.
Seminick would remain with the Phillies organization after his retirement, including stints as a coach in 1958-1959 and 1967-1969, managing minor league clubs from 1959-1966 and 1970-1973, and working as a roving scout and instructor until his death in 2004. Seminick’s name lived on long beyond the end of his career with the Phillies: he managed or coached 90 players in the minors that would reach the Majors, including Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski.
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