Philly Front Office

The Phillies of yore have a couple early stars like Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ed Delahanty, and Sherry Magee, but their first slugger of the modern era was Chuck Klein. After getting a late start in the pros, Klein was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in his early 20s and ran roughshod through their minor league system. There was just one problem, by essentially having two minor league systems running to stockpile prospects, the Cardinals were not incompliance with National League rules. They were forced to sell off half their players including Chuck Klein. For the price of $7,500, Klein joined the Phillies in 1928.

THE Calendar

Klein promptly showed out for the Phillies, especially at home. Utilizing a short porch in right field of the Baker Bowl (280 feet), in 6 seasons with the Phillies Klein managed 34 WAR, 191 HRs, and a 1.044 OPS. In 1930 he had 170 RBI (WTF!). Even for the time, these were absolutely bonkers numbers that resulted in 4 consecutive top 4 MVP finishes from 1930-1933. He won the award in 1932 damn near unanimously. The following year though was his finest as he became the first modern NL Triple Crown winner with 28 HRs, 120 RBIs, and a .368 average.¹ How did the Phillies repay him for these landmark seasons? By getting him a one-way ticket to Chicago.

On November 21, 1933, the Phillies traded Klein to the Chicago Cubs for Harvey Hendrick, Ted Kleinhans, Mark Koenig, and – the kicker – $65,000 ($1.6m in 2025 dollars). This was the Great Depression and the Phillies weren’t just bad, they were poor. Not only did they get the cash, but they didn’t have to pay the $30k salary Klein would make in 1934. As much as this trade is terrible in retrospect, the Phillies were hovering near bankruptcy at the time.

The player return is laughable. Hendrick was good for -.1 WAR in his only season with the team which also happened to be his last in the big leagues. Kleinhans had a 9 ERA in his 6 total innings in Philly before being traded a month later. Koenig never played a game for the Phillies. Somehow Koenig was the best return in the deal as he was the only one who wasn’t a negative.

The Phillies would try to atone for their mistake by reacquiring Klein 2 years later, but he wasn’t the same ballplayer anymore. He did have one last memorable moment with the Phillies though, hitting 4 HRs in one game on May 21, 1936. He became the 2nd of 4 Phillies to ever do so, most recently matched by Kyle Schwarber.

Klein was initially snubbed for the Hall of Fame during his original time on the ballot, never receiving more than 28% of the vote. However, 22 years after his death the Veteran’s Committee finally put him in his rightful place. He became the 23rd player to play for the Phillies to get inducted but probably should have been #10. Too bad he didn’t get to experience it.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. All other info thanks to SABR

1. He wasn’t even the best in town though as the Athletics Jimmie Foxx hit .356 with 48 HRs and 168 RBIs in the AL to also win the Triple Crown. ↩︎