Michael Jack Schmidt!!

After beating Chase Utley easily in the March Madness Finals, Mike Schmidt became the ultimate Phillie. Here is the bracket tracking the entire tournament.

Phillies March Madenss: Finals

The best hitter of the 1980 World Champions team will go up against the best hitter of the 2008 World Series team: Mike Schmidt vs. Chase Utley. I went into details about the two superstars here. Here is the updated bracket so you can track to see how Mr. Utley and Michael Jack got here.

Phillies March Madness: Final Four

Here is your Philadelphia Phinal Phour

#1 Chase Utley vs #2 Curt Schilling

Why Utley: Mr. Utley was THE man for the Phillies since 2005. He has a .298 average going into the 2009 season and is one of the few guys producing offensively during the Phillies current slow start. Some of his career achievements in Philly include his grand slam in his MLB debut versus the Rockies and most recently his infamous pump fake to first - throw out at home during game 5 of the World Series which kept the game tied.

Career w/ Phillies: .298 AVG / 130 HR / 492 RBI / 60 SB

Why Schilling: He started his career in Baltimore and then was traded to Philadelphia. he quickly became their ace, most notably during the 1993 NL Pennant team. He posted great numbers throughout his career in Philly but got the 3 rings he owns somewhere else, one in 2001 with Arizona where he and Randy Johnson were one of the greatest pitching duos of all time and two in 2004 and 2007 with Boston. Sure he was successful elsewhere but he became the pitcher he was playing in Philly.

Career w/ Phillies: 16591.1 IP / 101-78 / 3.35 ERA / 1554 K

#1 Mike Schmidt vs #1 Richie Ashburn

Why Schmidt: Michael Jack Schmidt, as we affectionately remember Harry Kalas calling him that, is considered the greatest Phillie of all time and greatest third baseman in the history of baseball. He is the only Phillie on this list to play his entire career in Phillie (we hope guys like Utley, Ryam Howard, and Cole Hamels do so as well) and be great. I could go on for hours as to why the 9 time Gold Glover, 12 time All Star, 6 time Silver Slugger, and 1 time world champion is the best ever. His #20 is also retired in Philly and was inducted into the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1995. 

Career w/ Phillies: .267 AVG / 548 HR / 1,595 RBI / 174 SB

Why Ashburn: Whitey is considered more than just a player. He was also the 2nd half to the greatest broadcast team in Philadelphia history, Harry and Whitey. Ashburn was one of the greatest center fielders of all time and a member of the 1950's "Whiz Kids" team. He could hit, get on base and steal them. He is 3rd in Phillies history in runs scored. He is a 5 time All Star and has his #1 retired. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame with Schmidt in 1995

Career w/ Phillies: .311 AVG / 22 HR / 499 RBI / 199 SB

Phillies March Madness Elite 8

Here is the match ups. Due to a lack of time since I am going to Florida, I couldn't go into detail on the matchups but I will for the Final 4. There were no upsets but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few #2's make the Final 4. I will post pictures and summaries of the Finall 4 contestants next week. Here are the matchups:

2008:
#1 Chase Utley vs #2 Ryan Howard

1993:
#1 Lenny Dykstra vs #2 Curt Schilling

1980:
#1 Mike Schmidt vs #2 Steve Carlton

Other Years:
#1 Richie Ashburn vs #2 Robin Roberts

Here is an updated bracket.

Phillies March Madness Round 3

Only one upset this week as #4 Ed Delehanty lost to #5 Chuck Klein. But this is where it will start to get really interesting. The 2008 bracket is basically a tossup for a an Elite Eight bid. The other three brackets look like the top 3 seeds can fight for an Elite Eight bid.

2008:
#1 Chase Utley vs #4 Jimmy Rollins
#3 Cole Hamels vs #2 Ryan Howard

1993:
#1 Lenny Dykstra vs #4 John Kruk
#3 Darren Daulton vs #2 Curt Schilling

1980:
#1 Mike Schmidt vs #4 Tug McGraw
#3 Pete Rose vs # 2 Steve Carlton

Other Years:
#1 Richie Ashburn vs #5 Chuck Klein
#3 Grover Alexander vs #2 Robin Roberts

Here is the link for the printable bracket. Email your picks to spartanc63@yahoo.com or leave them as a comment.

Phillies March Madness Round 2

As you all may know, I started an NCAA-like bracket system to determine the greatest Phillie of all time.

After round one, only 3 upsets were made as #9 Pedro Feliz up-ended #8 Brett Myers and #10 Larry Bowa beat #7 Greg Luzinski in close battles while #11 Scott Rolen easily beat #6 Dick Allen. The 2008 bracket is becoming more and more heated in the second round as some of the featured match ups are #5 Brad Lidge vs #4 Jimmy Rollins and #6 Pat Burrell vs #3 Cole Hamels.

In other brackets, some interesting matchups include #5 Mitch Williams vs #4 John Kruk and #7 Pete Incaviglia vs #2 Curt Schilling. There are a few other close matchups but in the end, they shouldn't be any other upset oppurtunities until the Sweet Sixteen.

Here is this weeks matchups:

2008:
#1 Chase Utley vs #9 Pedro Feliz
#5 Brad Lidge vs #4 Jimmy Rollins
#6 Pat Burrell vs #3 Cole Hamels
#7 Shane Victorino vs #2 Ryan Howard

1993:
#1 Lenny Dykstra vs #8 Terry Mulholland
#5 Mitch Williams vs #4 John Kruk
#6 Tyler Greene vs #3 Darren Daulton
#7 Pete Incaviglia vs #2 Curt Schilling

1980:
#1 Mike Schmidt vs #8 Garry Maddox
#5 Bake McBirde vs #4 Tug McGraw
#6 Bob Boone vs #3 Pete Rose
#10 Larry Bowa vs # 2 Steve Carlton

Other Years:
#1 Richie Ashburn vs #8 Jim Bunning
#5 Chuck Klein vs #4 Ed Delehanty
#11 Scott Rolen vs #3 Grover Alexander
#7 Bobby Abreu vs #2 Robin Roberts

Here is the updated bracket. Send your results for round 2 to either this site as a comment or email them to spartanc63@yahoo.com.

Phillies March Madness

I am going to get the Rowan students involved with this finally. I will be doing a little experiment that was inspired to me by both March Madness and the Phillies Nation's 100 Greatest Phillies. I will make a 64 player tournament like the NCAA basketball tournament but it will be comprised of 64 Phillies players.

I made it up of 4 regions, the 2008 World Series Championship team, the 1993 NL Championship team, the 1980 World Series Championship team, and players from other years. The voting in each round will be done by students around the Rowan campus. The first player to 10 votes in each round will move on. The brackets and first round matchups will look like this:

2008:
1 Chase Utley vs. 16 Chris Coste
8 Brett Myers vs. 9 Pedro Feliz
5 Brad Lidge vs. 12 Ryan Madson
4 Jimmy Rollins vs. 13 Greg Dobbs
6 Pat Burrell vs. 11 Jayson Werth
3 Cole Hamels vs. 14 JC Romero
7 Shane Victorino vs. 10 Jamie Moyer
2 Ryan Howard vs. 15 Carlos Ruiz

1993:
1 Lenny Dykstra vs. 16 Larry Anderson
8 Terry Mulholland vs. 9 Kevin Stocker
5 Mitch Williams vs. 12 Wes Chamberlain
4 John Kruk vs. 13 Milt Thompson
6 Tyler Greene vs. 11 Dave Hollins
3 Darren Daulton vs. 14 Jim Eisenreich
7 Pete Incaviglia vs. 10 Micky Morandini
2 Curt Schilling vs. 15 Ricky Jordan

1980:
1 Mike Schmidt vs. 16 Ron Reed
8 Gary Maddox vs. 9 Manny Trillo
5 Bake McBride vs. 12 Dick Ruthven
4 Tim McGraw vs. 13 Greg Gross
6 Bob Boone vs. 11 Larry Christenson
3 Pete Rose vs. 14 Randy Lerch
7 Greg Luzinski vs. 10 Larry Bowa
2 Steve Carlton vs. 15 John Vukovich

Other Years:
1 Richie Ashburn vs. 16 Mike Leiberthal
8 Jim Bunning vs. 9 Jim Thome
5 Chuck Klein vs. 12 Sam Thompson
4 Ed Delehanty vs. 13 Juan Samuel
6 Dick Allen vs. 11 Scott Rolen
3 Grover Alexander vs. 14 Von Hayes
7 Bobby Abreu vs. 10 Cy Williams
2 Robin Roberts vs. 15 Steve Bedrosian

Here is my bracket for download. I don't know how long Send Space allows you to keep files up so if the link doesn't work, just email me at spartanc63@yahoo.com and I will quickly respond with the bracket. You can also either comment the related threads or email me your picks. I will be doing some field reporting as well to get my results.