It’s always a good time to sit down with former Phillies slugger Greg Luzinski. But it’s particularly timely this week, as the team marks the 45th anniversary of its first World Series championship. The Bull discusses his starring role in the 1980 NL Championship Series, his career with the Phillies, the current team’s struggle to get over the postseason hump, the power of Kyle Schwarber, and more. Watch here.
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The decision was looming in June 2021 for the National League to adopt the designated hitter when Rick Wise thought that meant his night — pairing a no-hitter in 1971 with the Phillies with two homers — would never be matched.
“If they do the DH, no one is ever going to break the record,” Wise said. “Maybe it might work out with Ohtani.”
And maybe Wise is right. But Shohei Ohtani didn’t break it yet. Ohtani hit three homers on Friday night and struck out 10 in six shutout innings as the Dodgers swept the Brewers with a 5-1 win in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series to reach the World Series.
Ohtani may be the greatest player ever, and his latest epic feat already is being called the “greatest game in baseball history.” Perhaps it is.
But let’s not forget what Wise did in June of 1971 at Riverfront Stadium against a lineup of Hall of Famers days after having the flu.
“I didn’t really know if I could pitch that day, but it was my turn to take the ball, so I knew I was going to pitch,” Wise recalled four years ago. “It was just a matter of how long I was going to last.
“I felt very, very weak. It was in Cincinnati, and those cookie-cutter stadiums with AstroTurf, man, I’m telling you it was 130 degrees there, even though it was a night game. Warming up, it seemed like the ball was stopping halfway to the plate. I didn’t have any pop.”
Rick Wise hit two homers and threw a no-hitter in June 1971 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
Wise reached the majors as an 18-year-old “bonus baby” in 1964, pitching in 25 games for those star-crossed Phillies. He pitched in a rotation with Jim Bunning and Chris Short and took batting practice every afternoon when the team was home.
“We only got 20 minutes when the team was home,” Wise said. “On the road, the starting pitcher hit with the lineup. That was the extent of it.”
Maybe that’s all Wise needed. He hit 11 homers from 1968 to 1971 with an OPS that was near league average. Wise was Ohtani-like every fifth day.
“I was a good hitter when I was 8 or 9 years old starting in Little League,” said the 80-year-old Wise, who lives in Washington. “That’s what we did. We played sports. We weren’t in front of a TV. We were outside playing whatever that season was. Baseball, football, basketball. That’s what we were doing as kids growing up. In Little League, Babe Ruth, Legion ball, and high school, I always hit third, fourth, or fifth. Pick a number.”
The Phillies pitchers played a game every afternoon — “50 cents a man,” Wise said — where each hit had to clear the infield dirt. The batting practice pitcher would be the umpire and decided if the ball was a hit or out. The money was pooled together every day.
“At the end of the year, the pitchers went out for a party,” Wise said.
And that’s how he prepared for his memorable night. Wise — who later was the winning pitcher when Carlton Fisk waved his home run fair at Fenway Park in 1975 — homered off Reds left-hander Ross Grimsley in the fifth and worked a 2-0 count in the eighth against Clay Carroll.
“I stepped out of the box and looked down at George Myatt and he turned his back on me,” Wise said of the team’s third-base coach. “So that meant the green light was on for me. I got a cripple fastball. I mean it was right down the middle to a pitcher. And I was ready for it. I took my hacks when I was up there. If I saw something I liked, I was swinging.”
Roger Free greets Rick Wise after his first homer in the fifth inning at Cincinnati in June 1971.
Wise had his two homers and was six outs away from no-hitting a lineup that featured Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Pérez, George Foster, Lee May, and Dave Concepcion. He ended the 4-0 no-hitter by retiring Rose, who Wise called “the last guy you want to see to get the 27th out.” Third baseman John Vukovich grabbed Rose’s liner, and the Phils mobbed Wise at the mound before they celebrated in the clubhouse.
“It’s not that easy against any team because all it takes is a chopper or a bunt or a blooper or whatever, and there goes the no-hitter,” Wise said. “But against that team under the conditions that I felt, it was tremendous. That lineup was tremendous.”
Wise was traded after that season to St. Louis for Steve Carlton, one of the most significant trades in Philadelphia sports history. Wise wanted a bigger contract from the Phillies, and Carlton wanted more money from the Cardinals.
“Back then, I didn’t have any agent or anything. I was making, at that time, after seven years in the big leagues, $25,000,” Wise said. “I’d be a multimillionaire these days, but then, a lot of pitchers from those days would be, too. You can’t miss what you never had.
“John Quinn was giving it to the veteran players, but he was lowballing the younger players. He wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t budge. The same thing happened with Carlton. He went to Philly and got what he wanted, and I went to St. Louis and got what I wanted. They doubled my salary, and that’s what I was looking for.
“[The Phillies] had a record attendance that year, and we didn’t have a real good team, per se [67-95 in Veterans Stadium’s first season]. Just the type of year I had, to really become the ace of the staff, I thought I deserved more than he offered. I never got anything for throwing the no-hitter. They didn’t give me a bonus, or anything like that. But then, to be traded after all that.
“I was down in spring training when I was traded, and the traveling secretary was the one who came to my door, knocked on my door, and told me I’d been traded. It wasn’t from John Quinn. It wasn’t from the president of the Phillies. It was the traveling secretary.”
Rick Wise holds the Life Saver of the Month Trophy awarded in July 26, 1971. He was honored for his performance against the Cincinnati Reds.
Ohtani was named the MVP of the NLCS and likely will be named the National League’s MVP next month for a second straight year. He will pitch next week for the Dodgers in the World Series, something Wise did twice with Boston. And Ohtani will have a chance to write another October chapter.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani after Friday’s win. “There’s been a lot of postseason games. And there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet.”
It often seems that there’s nothing Ohtani can’t do on a baseball field, from throwing triple-digit fastballs to hitting 500-foot homers. But there’s still something Wise did that Ohtani has yet to match.
“What he’s doing right now is captivating the baseball world, and I imagine Japan follows every single game he plays,” Wise said in 2021. “He has such a unique capability.”
When he looks up from assembling the Phillies’ roster, Dave Dombrowski watches sports. One thing recently caught his eye. The Golden State Warriors are poised to open the NBA season with four starters who are 35 or older.
“It’s never happened before,” he said.
Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations, brought this up Thursday, midway through his 54-minute news conference in Citizens Bank Park, to make a point: Aging teams can contend for titles.
It’s relevant because if the Phillies achieve their offseason priority of re-signing free agents Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto, who will be 33 and 35 next season, at least four of the top hitters in the projected opening-day lineup will be 32 or older and locked up to multiyear contracts. It would be so uncommon that Schwarber joked about it several months ago.
“We would love to all finish our careers together,” he said. “But who would want to come out and want to watch a bunch of 40-year-old dudes play baseball? Right?”
Warriors fans might not mind the basketball version, but there’s a notable difference. Whereas Stephen Curry and Draymond Green won four championships together before teaming with Jimmy Butler and Al Horford, the Phillies’ core — Bryce Harper (33), Trea Turner (32), Schwarber, Realmuto, and pitchers Zack Wheeler (35) and Aaron Nola (32) — is still title-less.
The Phillies are coming off 96 wins, 95 last season, and 90 the year before. It would be irrational to blow it all up based on one bad week in each of the last three Octobers and impractical given all the long contractual commitments made by Dombrowski and owner John Middleton.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski must balance blending an aging core with young players from the farm system.
But in addition to an eyebrow-raising challenge to Harper — “I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good. … I’ve seen guys at his age that level off, or I’ve seen guys rise again. We’ll see what happens” — the takeaway from Dombrowski’s end-of-season gab session was that he realizes the need for an infusion of youth, even as the Phillies prepare a nine-figure offer to Schwarber and discuss how far to go to retain Realmuto.
To extend the NBA comparison, the Phillies must incorporate their Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, the 23-year-olds among the Warriors’ graybeards.
“We have some young players that we’re going to mesh into our club,” Dombrowski said. “I’m not going to declare that anybody has a job. But there will be some people that we’re really open-minded to being with our big league club next year, coming out of spring training.”
Unsurprisingly, Dombrowski mentioned outfielder Justin Crawford and right-hander Andrew Painter. He also name-checked Otto Kemp, who made his major-league debut in June and could fit next season as a right-handed bench bat.
But Dombrowski said he “wouldn’t even preclude [infielder] Aidan Miller from being that type of guy” to contribute in 2026, an indication that the Phillies are ready to push down harder on the prospect pedal.
They were conservative this season, consistent with their recent philosophy. A recent Fangraphs study showed that only 24 players have made their major- league debut with the Phillies since 2022, the third-fewest in baseball after the Yankees and Braves.
The trend must change.
“It’ll be very interesting next spring training because those guys, they’re on the doorstep, and a couple of them are ready to go,” manager Rob Thomson said of Crawford, Painter, and Miller. “So we’ll see. I love young players because they always bring energy. But they have to perform, too.”
Phillies outfield prospect Justin Crawford won the triple-A International League batting crown with a .334 average.
Front and center, or stage left?
At times this summer, the Phillies got “very close,” a team source said, to calling up Crawford.
Instead, they left the 21-year-old in triple A.
Never mind that left fielder Max Kepler was drowning, with a .201 average and .661 OPS through July 25. Rather than releasing the $10 million veteran and replacing him with Crawford, the Phillies gave Kepler a longer rope. And after trading for Harrison Bader at the deadline, there wasn’t an opportunity for Crawford to play every day in the majors.
But Crawford reached base at a .411 clip for Lehigh Valley and won the International League batting crown with a .334 average. He stole 46 bases and led the farm system with 147 hits.
“I don’t know what else he really does at the minor-league level at this point,” Dombrowski said. “He’s led leagues in hitting. He steals bases. He’s a good energy guy. He’s a solid outfielder.”
Go ahead, then, and pencil in Crawford for a spot in the season-opening outfield.
Differences of opinion about Crawford once focused on his offense, notably his extreme tendency to hit the ball on the ground. Now, it’s more whether he’s best suited for center field or left.
Crawford got drafted as a center fielder and played there exclusively for three years. He shifted to left field more often late this season, especially once Johan Rojas got sent back to triple A. Crawford’s dad, Carl, played left field for 15 years in the majors.
Dombrowski might have hinted at the Phillies’ thinking by saying Kepler is “not going to most likely be back because he’s a free agent and we have Justin Crawford coming.” And Thomson said Crawford is “maybe a little better in left than he is in center,” based on internal reports.
Other team officials don’t fully concur.
Some Phillies officials believe Justin Crawford is best suited to play left field. Others think he can handle center.
“I see Justin as a center fielder,” minor-league director Luke Murton said. “We’re very confident in his ability to play center field. It’s just a matter of, he’s played less left field over the course of his career, so give him exposure to that so when the opportunity comes, if he has to go to the big leagues and play left field, then he’s prepared to do that.
“But I think, as an organization, we see him as a center fielder.”
It would simplify the outfield picture if Crawford is able to handle center field.
Bader, who stabilized center field after the trade, is expected to decline his $10 million mutual option. The Phillies would feel less urgency to bring him back in free agency off his career-best season at the plate.
And they could commit to Brandon Marsh, also a better defender in left field than center, as at least the lefty-hitting side of a corner outfield platoon, which would enable them to focus on finding a replacement for malcontented right fielder Nick Castellanos, all but certain to be traded or released.
Regardless, it will be Crawford’s time. At last.
“I don’t expect him to carry our club in the very beginning of the season, but you also don’t want to put him in where you think it would be a bit too much for him,” Dombrowski said.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. He has never been overwhelmed when he’s been with us at any level, and we keep moving him up. You want to just see that he just continues to handle himself the same way that he has,” Dombrowski said.
Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter struggled in triple A in his first season back from Tommy John elbow surgery.
‘He’s going to be fine’
Don’t look now, but there will probably be a spot for Painter in the season-opening starting rotation.
Really. It’s true this time.
In 2023, a few team officials predicted that Painter would make the team out of camp even though he was 19 and hadn’t pitched above double A. He injured his elbow and wound up needing Tommy John surgery.
Last winter, in outlining the plan to build Painter’s workload in his return to the mound, Dombrowski infamously said he could be ready for the majors by “July-ish.” Instead, the top prospect had a 5.40 ERA in triple A.
It’s doubtful, then, that Dombrowski will pin yet another timetable on Painter. But with Ranger Suárez headed to free agency and Wheeler recovering from thoracic outlet decompression surgery, Painter’s long-awaited debut could come early next season.
“I think he’s going to be better the second year out after the Tommy John [surgery],” Thomson said. “The command’s going to get better. The quality of stuff’s going to get a little bit better. He’s going to be fine.”
Rival talent evaluators generally agree. One NL scout said last month that he has “appropriate concern” about the decline in Painter’s command but is inclined to “cut him some slack” after not pitching for two years.
There were encouraging signs last month. In his second-to-last start, Painter tossed five scoreless innings. He shut out Syracuse for three innings before allowing three runs in the fourth in his final start.
Even if Suárez bolts, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Nola, and Taijuan Walker are rotation holdovers. The Phillies are optimistic that Wheeler will return. They can’t say for sure that he will still be elite.
Painter’s time is coming. Maybe even in April.
“He still throws his fastball in the upper-90s, touches 100, still has quality breaking stuff,” Dombrowski said. “Most importantly, he remained healthy. So, those things are the encouragement. He used to have great command. It wasn’t quite as good this year. And normally, when you trace back to a lot of people that have had Tommy John, that’s the last thing that comes back. We’re optimistic that he’ll be able to regain that.”
Phillies infield prospect Aidan Miller went 9-for-27 with two doubles and a homer in an eight-game triple-A cameo to end the season.
Miller time?
Murton was skeptical in spring training when minor-league baserunning coordinator Gary Cathcart recommended that Miller be among the players who got a green light to run.
“I was like, ‘Hey man, I don’t think Aidan Miller’s going to steal a ton of bases in the big leagues. That’s just me,’” Murton said. “He’s like, ‘Well, I think he’s going to.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t.’”
Murton relented. A few months later, he marveled that Miller already swiped more than 20 bases. Miller finished with 59, including seven steals in eight games at triple A to end the season.
In hindsight, even Miller didn’t see it coming.
“Honestly, no,” he said last month. “I don’t really know if I’m faster this year. Maybe a little bit. But I think I’m just being more aggressive on the bases.”
Miller’s path to the majors might be accelerated, too.
After a slow start, he batted .356 with a 1.099 OPS in his last 36 games. If the Phillies trade Alec Bohm this winter, after dangling him in talks last offseason, Miller could be in the wings at third base, even though he has played shortstop so far throughout the minors.
“He’s played some second, he’s played some third, but he’s primarily been a shortstop, so we’d have to make sure that we properly prepared him to do that,” Dombrowski said. “That’s still a discussion that we’ll have to have. But he’s a really good player and a good athlete. And he can hit.
“If Miller’s coming up here, he’s going to be an everyday player at the beginning of his career. We’re not going to bring him up and not play the majority of time.”
Miller was scheduled to play in the Arizona Fall League, but the Phillies decided that it was better if he rested after a long season. Besides, he could be in for a big spring training.
If it seems fast, consider this: When Dombrowski ran the Red Sox, he called up Andrew Benintendi from double A in 2016 and Rafael Devers a year later after only six triple-A games, two fewer than Miller played this season.
