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Monday, April 28, 2008

MLB: Lieberthal to officially retire as a Phillie

And word has it that Darren Daulton will zoof in from Planet Quarloop for the ceremony!

Mike Lieberthal never wanted to leave the Phillies, and now he’s going to leave baseball as a member of the organization for which he spent most of his career.

The former catcher, who spent 13 of his 14 Major League seasons in Philadelphia and holds the franchise record for games caught, before playing his final season in 2007 with his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, will officially retire as a Phillie on June 1.

“Philadelphia has always been a second home to me, so I’m really looking forward to this,” said Lieberthal in a statement. “I spent half my life there and still follow the team closely on television.”

Repoz Posted: April 28, 2008 at 08:00 PM | 6 comment(s)
Related News: General, Philadelphia

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1. Edmundo(Erstwhile Master of Diagramming Sentences) Posted: April 28, 2008 at 08:40 PM (#2761853)

In the time I was away from Philly between 1996 and 2001, Lieberthal went from being an example of why not to draft smallish HS catchers to two-time All-Star to one of the reasons that the Phils couldn't win -- not clutch, didn't care enough, not into the game or emotional enough. He wasn't appreciated for what he was -- a pretty darn good player to have as your catcher.

2. Alan Keiper Posted: April 28, 2008 at 08:53 PM (#2761868)

Does he have to retire? The IronPigs are 3-22, they could use some help.

3. Crashburn Alley Posted: April 28, 2008 at 09:04 PM (#2761884)

Lieberthal is probably the second-best catcher in Phillies history, next to Darren Daulton. He deserves this -- he meant so much to the Phillies teams he was on and to the fans who watched him.

4. Lake Placido Polanco (Crispix Attacks) Posted: April 28, 2008 at 09:11 PM (#2761890)

Does he have to retire? The IronPigs are 3-22, they could use some help.

Yeah, really.

Just because the Phillies are the first MLB team to 10,000 losses doesn't mean the IronPigs have to try to equal that number as soon as possible.

I count two players on that team (Jason Jaramillo and Brandon Watson) who have a good chance at appearing in more than 30 major-league games in the future.

The offense contains a few AAAA journeymen in their thirties (Chris Woodward, Andy Tracy, Val Pascucci), and then a bunch of guys who are young but not prospects.

The pitching staff contains:
- 3 prospects in their late twenties who are getting their last chance to prove themselves, and failing to do so (J.A. Happ, J.D. Durbin, Travis Blackley)
- 7 AAAA journeymen in their thirties (Kevin Beirne, Matt Childers, John Ennis, Gary Knotts, Steve Green, Brian Mazone, Ron Chiavacci)
- 2 guys in their LATE thirties who were once good MLB relievers (Steve Kline and Vic Darensbourg)

5. AndrewJ Posted: April 28, 2008 at 09:37 PM (#2761911)

Lieby joined the Phils the year AFTER they won in '93 and left them the year BEFORE they won again in '07 -- almost a Don Mattingly thing going on...

6. Crashburn Alley Posted: April 28, 2008 at 10:02 PM (#2761930)

Courtesy PhuturePhillies, a list of the 20 best OPS+ seasons by Phillies catchers since WWII:

Daulton, 1992 - 156
Daulton, 1993 - 135
Burgess, 1954 - 147
Seminick, 1950 - 143
Seminick, 1949 - 138
Lopata, 1956 - 137
Sawatski, 1959 - 131
Burgess, 1952 - 125
Lieberthal, 1999 - 123
Lieberthal, 2003 - 121
Dalrymple, 1962 - 121
Santiago, 1996 - 117
Daulton, 1990 - 117
Daulton, 1990 - 117
Diaz, 1982 - 115
Boone, 1978 - 115
McCarver, 1970 - 111
Boone, 1979 - 113
Virgil, 1984 - 112
Seminick, 1947 - 115
Seminick, 1946 - 114

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Monday, April 28, 2008

MLB: Lieberthal to officially retire as a Phillie

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