The Phillies inducted Ron Reed and Bake McBride, two key players on the 1980 Phillies World Series championship team, into the Wall of Fame prior to Saturday’s game against the Washington Nationals. They became the 43rd and 44th players to receive the honor.
Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone, Juan Samuel, John Kruk, Mike Lieberthal, Charlie Manuel, Bobby Abreu and Manny Trillo were among the Phillies Wall of Famers in attendance.
McBride did not attend the ceremony due to personal reasons.
The outfielder McBride batted .309 during the regular season in 1980 and finished 10th in National League MVP voting. In five seasons with the Phillies, McBride slashed .292/.335/.435 with 44 home runs and 258 RBIs. He started all 11 games of the 1980 postseason and went 7-for-23 with a three-run home run against Dennis Leonard in the third inning of Game 1.
Reed compiled a 3.06 ERA in eight seasons as a reliever with the Phillies and pitched in 21 games in the postseason with Philadelphia from 1976 to 1983. He was traded to Philadelphia from St. Louis in December 1975. He said he was excited to join the Phillies rotation, but was told he would be a reliever. Reed doubted his arm would be able to hold up pitching five or six times a week. Then Phillies general manager Paul Owens told him that he would trade him if he didn’t like the new role.
Embed from Getty Images“Man am I happy that man didn’t trade me,” Reed said.
Reed said his one regret of his career was not being able to spend all 17 years of his career with his 1980 teammates. He also thanked Phillies fans for the support throughout his tenure with the club.
“I want to thank you for all the times I walked off the mound and given me a hand for doing my job and all the times I didn’t do my job and you reminded me I needed to work a little harder on my pitching,” Reed said.