Categories: History

Opening Day with the Philadelphia Phillies by the numbers

Wall of Famer Mike Lieberthal started behind the plate on Opening Day more times (10) than any catcher in Phillies history. (alipineinc/Flickr via UCInternational/WikiCommons)

The Phillies have been around since 1883. That’s a lot of opening days. Mike Schmidt has been in the Opening Day lineup 16 years. Not a lot, but the Phillies’ all-time leader.

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com we’ve been able to come up with a cluster of notes about Phillies Opening Day lineups, dating back to the 1908 season.

Most starts, by position

C Mike Lieberthal (10) . . . Darren Daulton/Carlos Ruiz (8)

1B Ryan Howard (10) . . . Fred Luderus (9)

2B Chase Utley (8) . . . Otto Knabe/Tony Taylor (6)

SS Jimmy Rollins (14) . . . Larry Bowa (12)

3B Mike Schmidt (16) . . . Willie Jones (10)

LF Greg Luzinski (9) . . . Pat Burrell (8)

CF Richie Ashburn (10) . . . Garry Maddox (7)

RF Johnny Callison (9) . . . Bobby Abreu (8)

P Steve Carlton (14) . . . Robin Roberts (12)

Merry-go-round positions

Left field: Raul Ibanez was the starter in 2009-10-11. Since 2011, seven different players–John Mayberry (2012), Domonic Brown (2013), Tony Gwynn Jr. (2014), Ben Revere (2015), Cedric Hunter (2016), Howie Kendrick (2017), Rhys Hoskins (2018).

Right field: Jayson Werth started in 2008-09-10. He’s been followed by eight different players–Ben Francisco (2011), Hunter Pence (2012), John Mayberry (2013), Marlon Byrd (2014), Grady Sizemore (2015), Peter Bourjos (2016), Michael Sanders (2017), Nick Williams (2018)

Designated hitter

The Phillies have opened the season once in an American League city, 2014, against the Texas Rangers. Domonic Brown was the DH.

World Series teams

April 14, 1915: 3-0 win over Beaneaters in Boston. Byrne, 3b; Bancroft, ss; Becker, lf; Cravath, rf; Whitted, cf; Niehoff, 2b; Luderus, 1b; Killefer, c; Alexander, p.

April 18, 1950: 9-1 W vs. Brooklyn. Ashburn, cf; Hamner, ss; Waitkus, 1b; Ennis, rf; Jones, 2b; Sisler, lf; Goliat, 2b; Seminick, c; Roberts, p

April 11, 1980: 6-3 W vs. Montreal, Veterans Stadium. Rose, 1b; McBride, rf; Maddox, cf; Schmidt, 3b; Luzinski, lf; Boone, c; Bowa, ss; Trillo, 2b; Carlton, p.

April 5, 1983: 2-0 L to Mets at Shea Stadium. Rose, rf; Morgan, 2b; Matthews, lf; Schmidt, 2b; Perez, 1b; Diaz, c; DeJesus, ss; Dernier, cf; Carlton, p.

April 5, 1993: 3-1 W over Astros in the Astrodome. Dykstra, cf; Morandini, 2b; Kruk, 1b; Hollins, 2b; Daulton, c; Thompson, lf; Eisenreich, rf; Bell, ss; Mulholland, p.

March 31, 2008: 11-6 L to Washington at Citizens Bank Park. Rollins, ss;
Victorino, cf; Utley, 2b; Howard, 1b; Burrell, lf; Feliz, 3b; Werth, rf; Ruiz, c; Myers, p.

April 9, 2009: 4-1 L to Braves at Citizens Bank Park. Rollins, ss; Werth, rf; Utley, 2b; Howard, 1B; Ibanez, lf; Victorino, cf; Feliz, 3b; Ruiz, c; Myers, p.

Larry Shenk is author/editor of the Phillies.com Alumni section. Articles re-printed at Phillies Nation by permission of Major League Baseball and the Philadelphia Phillies.

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Larry Shenk

More than a half-century with the Philadelphia Phillies organization from 1964-2015 as Director of Public Relations. Winner of the 2007 Dallas Green Award for Special Achievement. Items for Phillies Nation are re-printed from Phillies.com with permission from the organization. Email directly to lshenk@phillies.com