The Beautiful Losers: An Oral History Of The Philadelphia Phillies

--Rich Westcott, co-author of the Phillies Encyclopedia, on the perpetually undercapitalized Jazz Age Phils, who were in effect their own farm team

Loss number 3,586, Sept. 28, 1930

"Have you looked at my pitching, by any chance?"

--Burt Shotton, manager, on why his Phils had finished last, 40 games back, despite a team batting average of .315, second highest in the NL since 1900. The pitching staff, meanwhile, had a 6.71 ERA and surrendered 1,993 hits in 1,372 innings.

Loss number 4,257, June 30, 1938

"Baker Bowl passed out of existence as the home of the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday afternoon. Equal to the occasion, the Phillies almost passed out with it by providing one of their inimitable travesties, a delineation in which they drolly absorbed a 14 to 1 pasting [at the hands of the New York Giants]."

--Bill Dooly, The Philadelphia Record sportswriter

Losses number 4,751 through 4,840, April�24 to Sept. 29, 1943

"The guy knew next to nothing about baseball. Otherwise, why would he have put money on the Phillies?"

--Rich WesTcott, on owner William Cox, who was banned from the sport for life by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis after betting on his team, which lost 90 games that season