1947 Philadelphia Phillies season

The 1947 Philadelphia Phillies season saw the Phillies finish in seventh place in the National League with a record of 62 wins and 92 losses. It was the first season for Phillies television broadcasts, which debuted on WPTZ.

1947 Philadelphia Phillies
Also known as the Philadelphia Blue Jays
League	National League
Ballpark	Shibe Park
City	Philadelphia
Owners	R. R. M. Carpenter
General managers	Herb Pennock
Managers	Ben Chapman
Television	WPTZ
Radio	WIBG (By Saam, Chuck Thompson)
← 1946 Seasons 1948 →

Offseason

• Prior to 1947 season: Carl Sawatski was acquired from the Phillies by the Boston Braves.^[1]

On July 27, 1946, the City of Clearwater had announced that the Phillies had accepted Clearwater's invitation to train at Clearwater Athletic Field in 1947 on a one-year agreement. On March 7, 1947, the Phillies and city signed a 10-year deal for the Phillies to train in Clearwater. The Phillies lost their first spring training game in 1947 at Athletic Field to the Detroit Tigers by a score of 13–1. The Phillies' attendance that spring was 13,291 which was ninth out of the ten teams training in Florida.^[2]

Regular season

• April 22: During a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Phillies manager Ben Chapman hurled racial slurs at Jackie Robinson. Commissioner Happy Chandler warned the franchise to keep the manager under control or face disciplinary action.^[3] Of note, it was the first major league game in which Robinson committed an error.^[4]

• June 2: The Phillies travel to Egypt, Pennsylvania to recruit Curt Simmons and play a team of all-star high school players from the Lehigh Valley. The game was played on the opening day of Egypt Memorial Park, June 2, 1947, in front of a crowd of 4,500. Simmons struck out eleven and the game ended in a 4–4 tie (a late-game error was the only thing that prevented the high school team from winning).^[5]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	94	60	.610	—	52‍–‍25	42‍–‍35
St. Louis Cardinals	89	65	.578	5	46‍–‍31	43‍–‍34
Boston Braves	86	68	.558	8	50‍–‍27	36‍–‍41
New York Giants	81	73	.526	13	45‍–‍31	36‍–‍42
Cincinnati Reds	73	81	.474	21	42‍–‍35	31‍–‍46
Chicago Cubs	69	85	.448	25	36‍–‍43	33‍–‍42
Philadelphia Phillies	62	92	.403	32	38‍–‍38	24‍–‍54
Pittsburgh Pirates	62	92	.403	32	32‍–‍45	30‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1947 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BSN	BRO	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	12–10	13–9	13–9	13–9	14–8	12–10	9–13
Brooklyn	10–12	—	15–7	15–7	14–8	14–8	15–7	11–11–1
Chicago	9–13	7–15	—	12–10	7–15	16–6–1	8–14	10–12
Cincinnati	9–13	7–15	10–12	—	13–9	13–9	13–9	8–14
New York	9–13	8–14	15–7	9–13	—	12–10	15–7–1	13–9
Philadelphia	8–14	8–14	6–16–1	9–13	10–12	—	13–9	8–14
Pittsburgh	10–12	7–15	14–8	9–13	7–15–1	9–13	—	6–16–1
St. Louis	13–9	11–11–1	12–10	14–8	9–13	14–8	16–6–1	—

Notable transactions

• May 3, 1947: Ron Northey was traded by the Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals for Harry Walker and Freddy Schmidt.^[6]

Roster

1947 Philadelphia Phillies
Roster
Pitchers 30 Blix Donnelly 27 Ken Heintzelman 36 Lefty Hoerst 28 Tommy Hughes 17 Oscar Judd 21 Al Jurisich 26 Dick Koecher 20 Dutch Leonard 15 Dick Mauney 29 Lou Possehl 16 Ken Raffensberger 19 Schoolboy Rowe 18 Charley Schanz 33 Freddy Schmidt 32 Curt Simmons 37 Homer Spragins		Catchers 32 Rollie Hemsley  8 Don Padgett 35 Hugh Poland 24 Andy Seminick Infielders 22 Jack Albright 27 Putsy Caballero 36 Nick Etten 35 Granny Hamner 35 Lee Handley 12 Willie Jones 26 Al Lakeman 22 Ralph LaPointe 10 Frank McCormick  6 Skeeter Newsome 26,10 Howie Schultz  5 Jim Tabor  9 Emil Verban		Outfielders  2 Buster Adams 14 Del Ennis  3 Charlie Gilbert -- Jesse Levan 12 Ron Northey  4 Harry Walker  1 Johnny Wyrostek Other batters 12 Lou Finney		Manager  7 Ben Chapman Coaches 11 Benny Bengough 25 Benny Culp 31 Cy Perkins

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Andy Seminick	111	337	85	.252	13	50
1B	Howie Schultz	114	403	90	.223	6	35
2B	Emil Verban	155	540	154	.285	0	42
SS	Skeeter Newsome	95	310	71	.229	2	22
3B	Lee Handley	101	277	70	.253	0	42
OF	Harry Walker	130	488	181	.371	1	41
OF	Del Ennis	139	541	149	.275	12	81
OF	Johnny Wyrostek	128	454	124	.273	5	51

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jim Tabor	75	251	59	.235	4	31
Ralph LaPointe	56	211	65	.308	1	15
Buster Adams	69	182	45	.247	2	15
Al Lakeman	55	182	29	.159	6	19
Don Padgett	75	158	50	.316	0	24
Charlie Gilbert	83	152	36	.237	2	10
Jack Albright	41	99	23	.232	2	5
Willie Jones	18	62	14	.226	0	10
Ron Northey	13	47	12	.255	0	3
Nick Etten	14	41	10	.244	1	8
Frank McCormick	15	40	9	.225	1	8
Jesse Levan	2	9	4	.444	0	1
Hugh Poland	4	8	0	.000	0	0
Putsy Caballero	2	7	1	.143	0	0
Granny Hamner	2	7	2	.286	0	0
Lou Finney	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Rollie Hemsley	2	3	1	.333	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dutch Leonard	32	235.0	17	12	2.68	103
Schoolboy Rowe	31	195.2	14	10	4.32	74
Ken Heintzelman	24	136.0	7	10	4.04	55
Curt Simmons	1	9.0	1	0	1.00	9

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Oscar Judd	32	146.2	4	15	4.60	54
Tommy Hughes	29	127.0	4	11	3.47	44
Blix Donnelly	38	120.2	4	6	2.98	31
Al Jurisich	34	118.1	1	7	4.94	48
Ken Raffensberger	10	41.0	2	6	5.49	16
Dick Koecher	3	17.0	0	2	4.76	4
Lefty Hoerst	4	11.1	1	1	7.94	0

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Charley Schanz	34	2	4	2	4.16	42
Freddy Schmidt	29	5	8	0	4.70	24
Dick Mauney	9	0	0	1	3.86	6
Homer Spragins	4	0	0	0	6.75	3
Lou Possehl	2	0	0	0	4.15	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Utica Blue Sox	Eastern League	Eddie Sawyer
B	Terre Haute Phillies	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Ray Brubaker, Whitey Gluchoski and Jack Sanford
B	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Interstate League	Jack Saltzgaver
C	Schenectady Blue Jays	Canadian–American League	Leon Riley
C	Vandergrift Pioneers	Middle Atlantic League	Floyd "Pat" Patterson
C	Salina Blue Jays	Western Association	Ed Walls
D	Dover Phillies	Eastern Shore League	Dick Carter
D	Americus Phillies	Georgia–Florida League	Jack Sanford and Lew Krausse, Sr.
D	Carbondale Pioneers	North Atlantic League	Patrick Colgan
D	Bradford Blue Wings	PONY League	George Savino
D	Appleton Papermakers	Wisconsin State League	Andy Latchie and Whitey Gluchoski

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Utica, Wilmington, Schenectady, Vandergrift^[7]

Notes

1. Carl Sawatski at Baseball Reference
2. Lewis, Allen (March 1986). "Philadelphia '47 '86 Clearwater". 1986 Phillies: Spring Training 40th Year in Clearwater. Clearwater, Florida: Philadelphia Phillies. pp. 4–5.
3. Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season, p. 76, Jonathan Eig, Simon & Schuster, 2007, New York, ISBN 978-0-7432-9461-4
4. Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season, p. 75
5. "Curt Simmons Fans 11 Phils; Egypt Tied". Philadelphia Inqurier. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 3, 1947. p. 24.
6. Harry Walker at Baseball Reference
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

• 1947 Philadelphia Phillies season at Baseball Reference