The Phillies Lose In Every Conceivable Way

As the Phillies attempt to stave off lost number 10,000, The Morning Call in Allentown has a nice list of hilarious Phillies losses throughout the years, most of them due to forfeit. (Baseball games seem to have been forfeited a hell of a lot more 50-100 years ago.)

The whole list is pretty awesome, but I think my favorite is this:

AUG. 21, 1949 — New York at Philadelphia. A pop-bottle barrage with one out in the top of the ninth inning of the second game of a doubleheader resulted in a forfeit win for the visiting team. New York was ahead 3-2 when umpire George Barr ruled that Richie Ashburn had missed a diving catch of a ball off the bat of Joe Lafata, scoring Willard Marshall with the fourth run. The players objected, but when the call was not reversed the fans got involved. The barrage continued despite pleas over the loudspeaker system. Umpire Lee Ballanfant was grazed by a bottle and Al Barlick was struck by a tomato. After waiting more than 15 minutes, Barlick called the game for the Giants.

Even though brooms are banned from Citizens Bank Park — not that the Phillies sweep anyone, anyway — I don’t think tomatoes are. I’m totally bringing a whole bushel of ‘em next game.

A Sampler Of Bad Losses From The Early Years Of The Phillies [The Morning Call]