Adolfo Phillips
From BR Bullpen
Adolfo Emilio Phillips Lopez
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 0", Weight 177 lb.
- Debut September 2, 1964
- Final Game May 13, 1972
- Born December 16, 1941 in Bethania, Panama
[edit] Biographical Information
Adolfo Phillips was a centerfielder for eight seasons in the majors during the second dead-ball era. He had moderate power and stole bases.
He was the first major league position player to strike out in nine straight plate appearances. Following him were Steve Balboni, Eric Davis, Reggie Jackson, Bo Jackson and Mark Reynolds.
Phillips came up originally with the 1964 Phillies, where he was the same age (22) as Dick Allen, who was playing in his first full major league season.
From 1966-69, Phillips would play the bulk of his major league career for the Chicago Cubs. He was traded in June 1969 before the Cubs' famous "swoon".
His best season with the bat was 1967, when he hit 17 home runs with a .268 batting average (the league hit .249), adding 7 triples and 24 stolen bases.
Born in Panama, Phillips was a year younger than fellow Panamanian Chico Salmon, whose major league career was during the same years as Phillips, 1964-72. The two of them played almost the same number of games in the majors and had almost the same major league batting average. The two, however, are not on each others' similarity scores lists, presumably because Salmon didn't have much power, didn't steal as many bases and was primarily an infielder.
