Categories: Opinion

Why Ryan Howard should go on the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2024

Ryan Howard spent his entire career with the Phillies. (Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

After a weekend of celebrating the 1983 and 1993 National League champions, it’s time for the Phillies to move forward.

The next half decade of alumni weekend in Philadelphia will be dominated by players from the 2008 World Series and the years that followed.

Only three representatives from the team, Pat Burrell, Charlie Manuel and Pat Gillick, are on the Phillies Wall of Fame. That should change soon, maybe as soon as 2024.

The big three, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, might as well have a plaque already reserved for them. The recently retired Cole Hamels is a lock for the Wall of Fame, but he’ll have to wait at least three years following retirement for enshrinement. Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz and Jayson Werth should get in. We can have a debate on whether or not Brad Lidge and a few others should be included.

So who should symbolically kick off this celebration of the greatest era of Phillies history? It should absolutely be Ryan Howard and here’s why.

Howard, at this peak, was must-see TV and his arrival in the big leagues symbolized the beginning of a special time in franchise history. His long home runs are some of the greatest memories associated with the era.

From 2005 to 2011, nobody drove in more runs than Howard. Albert Pujols was the only player to hit more home runs than Howard in that same span. He won the NL MVP Award in 2006 and finished in the top 10 in voting for the award in each of the next five seasons.

At his peak, Howard was one of the most feared sluggers in baseball.

That can sometimes be forgotten because of the way his career ended.

Howard spent 13 years with the Phillies and the last five, following his Achilles tear at the very end of Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS, crushed his Hall of Fame case.

Howard, after one season, fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after receiving 2% of the vote in 2022. Rollins, who also debuted in 2022, remains on the ballot and has the counting statistics to back up an interesting case. Utley debuts on the ballot in 2024. He should remain in consideration for years and arguably has a better case than Rollins for the Hall of Fame.

Even if Utley and Rollins fall short in Hall of Fame voting, their careers will be studied and celebrated as part of the voting process. Howard’s career will not get that same treatment.

For the Phillies, it’s also a chance to permanently get rid of the organization’s nonsensical policy of only retiring the uniform number of players who are in the Hall of Fame.

The Phillies could turn alumni weekend into Ryan Howard weekend. They can put him on the Wall of Fame on a Saturday, retire his number Sunday and announce that Utley and Rollins are next.

If the Baseball Hall of Fame is meant to tell the story of baseball, the Wall of Fame is meant to tell the story of the Phillies. Utley and Rollins may be the more beloved figures of the era, but the era began when Howard arrived.

Nobody else symbolizes the successes and failures of the mid 2000s to early 2010s Phillies quite like Howard. It’s why he should be next up on the Wall of Fame.

Answer this week’s Philly Sports Trivia question for a chance to win free Philly sports apparel.