Adolfo Phillips

Philadelphia Phillies

Phillips was called up to the Phillies in mid-July 1965, and played in his first game on July 15, as a pinch hitter.^[19][20] He appeared in 41 games for the Phillies that season, starting 21 in centerfield.^[1] He hit .230 in 87 at bats, with three home runs and 14 runs scored.^[21] He began the 1966 season with the Phillies, but after appearing in only two games, on April 21 he was traded along with rookie Ferguson Jenkins, and John Hernstein to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Larry Jackson (34-years old) and Bob Buhl (37-years old). The Phillies were still recovering from their 1964 collapse and were willing to risk trading young players for veteran pitchers in an attempt to win a pennant immediately.^[4][22][23] The Phillies did not win a National League title until 1980,^[24] Jackson pitched three more years and Buhl two, and Jenkins went on to a Hall of Fame career; the trade being considered one of the very worst in Phillies history.^[25][26]

Chicago Cubs

In 1966, Phillips played in 116 games for the Cubs, batting .262 in 416 at bats. He had 16 home runs, 68 runs scored and 38 RBIs, with an .800 OPS. He was fourth on the team in home runs and runs scored.^[27] He started 107 games in center field for the Cubs.^[1]

Cubs Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher^[28] had been hard on Phillips’s mental errors in 1966, and decided to use a more positive approach to bring out Phillips’s best in 1967.^[29] And Phillips’s best Major League season came in 1967, when he had career highs in batting average (.268), home runs (17), runs batted in (70), OPS (.842) and bases on balls (80), and a career second best in runs scored (66).^[1] He led the Major Leagues in intentional base on balls with 29.^[30] He reduced his strikeouts from 135 to 93 in 32 more at bats.^[1] On June 11, 1967, in the second game of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field, Phillips hit three home runs in the Cubs' 18–10 victory over the New York Mets.^[31] Phillips also hit a home run in the first game of the double header, giving him four on the day.^[32] The second game home runs came in three consecutive at-bats; not until Tuffy Rhodes in 1994, would a Cub hit three home runs in a game at Wrigley in three consecutive trips to the plate.^{[citation needed]}

In 1968, Phillips appeared in 143 games for the Cubs. He hit .241, with 13 home runs, 49 runs scored and 33 RBIs.^[33] He began the 1969 season with the Cubs, and had appeared in 28 games with only 49 at bats when he was traded along with Jack Lamabe to the expansion Montreal Expos for Paul Popovich on June 11.^[4][34]

Montreal Expos and Cleveland Indians

He started 48 games in centerfield for the Expos, during the team's first year in Major League Baseball, batting only .216 in 199 at bats, with four home runs, 25 runs scored and seven RBIs.^[1][35][36] In 1970, he started 52 games in center field for the Expos, batting .238 in 214 at bats. He hit six home runs, with 36 runs scored and 21 RBIs.^[1][37]

He played for two Triple-A MiLB teams in 1971, the Winnepeg Whips and the Salt Lake City Angels, where he had a combined .276 batting average in 243 at bats.^[38][39][40] In December 1971, the Expos sold Phillips's contract rights to the Cleveland Indians.^[4] 1972 was his final season in Major League Baseball, appearing in 12 games for Cleveland, without a hit.^[41]

Phillips finished his major league career with a .247 batting average, 59 home runs, 270 runs scored, 173 RBIs, a .753 OPS and 82 stolen bases.^[1]