Happy 45th Birthday Bobby Higginson - 1991 Phillies Draftee

Why is a marginal player like Bobby Higginson showing up in a Phillies blog.

Well the man has a couple of Philadlephia connections. He was born in the City of Brotherly love and went to school locally at Frankford High and Temple U.

In addition to all that he was selected by the Phillies in the 18th round of the 1991 draft. Unfortunately the Phillies were unable to sign Higginson.

2002 UD Vintage #94 Bobby Higginson

The Phillies planned to move Higginson from the Outfield to second base. Since Higginson was not comfortable with the approach he asked for a signing bonus of $20,000 which was 14k more than the Phillies offered. The draftee wanted the bonus to insure that the Phillies would not give up on him too quickly if his play at second didn't go well initially.

The Phillies never countered the 20K number. A year later Higginson was picked in the 12th round of the Tigers who signed him as an Outfielder for 10 grand, plus an additional 10 thousand college provision.

It turned out to be a good move for the Tigers. Bobby Higginson had an 11 year career spent entirely in Detroit.

War and the Draft - 1991
At the top of this article I dismissed Bobby Higginson as a marginal player, well this is simply not true. He had a career WAR of 23.0. This ranks #1 among all players the Phillies Selected in 1991. 2nd Round pick Kevin Stocker ranks #2 at 5.9. #10 overall pick Tyler Green pitched 70 games for the big club but yielded a negative WAR (-0.5)

Among all outfielder picked in 1991 Higginson ranks #3 Behind Mike Cameron (46.5) and Shawn Green (34.5). Fourth and fifth place on the list are held by Phillies Alums Raul Ibanez (20.1) and Doug Glanville (10.9).

Among all #473 Picks in the history of the Draft Higginson ranks #1 in WAR. Glenn Hubbard (19.1) and Phils Alum Dick Ruthven (18.6) are the only other players drafted at that position to have positive WAR numbers.  Bobby Higginson also achieved the standard for his selection in the 1992 draft - He outpaced Rick Honeycutt (22.3) and five other players that made the majors including Orioles Outfielder David Lough who remains active. 

Higginson's 23.0 career WAR is in the top 100 among Left Fielders, this ranks him in front of Bernard Gilkey, Carlos Gonzalez (Active), Hideki Matsui, 1987 AL MVP George Bell, 1962 Hit, Batting and RBI Champ Tommy Davis, the aforementioned Raul Ibanez, and this years Phillies Wall of Fame inductee Pat Burrell.

 1971 Topps #94 Don Hahn

2002 UD vintage stole their design from 1971 Topps. The Card occupied by Higginson was originally the residensce of Montreal Expos outfielder Don Hahn.

Don Hahn played a few games for the Phillies at the tail end of his career. As far as I know he was never issued a Phil, but apparently he did make it into the teams photocard set.

2002 UD Vintage #94 Bobby Higginson (b-side)
1971 Topps #94 Don Hahn (b-side)

UD changed the color of the flip sides just to show they weren't totally pilfering the original Topps design. Interesting that UD moved around the stats, and opted to drop Total Bases - actually giving LESS info on the updated card.

Four Consecutive HR Club
Didn't want to leave this article without mentioning that Bobby Higginson once hit four Home Runs in four consecutive At Bats. It wasn't four in one game or Four Plate Appearances in a row - there were some walks mixed in there, but it was four Homers in four official ABs. It is a fairly rare accomplishment - I think most recently by Carlos Gonzalez (2012). Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt hit four in a row during an 18-16 victory over the Cubs on April 17 1976.

Sources and Links
the Phillies Room
WAR and the Draft Index
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sam Carchidi
baseball-ref
MLB
History Channel 

2008 08 27 Mets 6 @ Phillies 3 - Payback

2008 Topps #305 Carlos Delgado

The New York Mets defeated the Phils 6-3 on Wednesday night taking first place back from the Fightins. Carlos Delgado led the Mets offense hitting his 29th and 30th Home Runs of the season. The two homers extended Delgado’s record for career home runs by a Puerto Rican born player to 461. I would have to say that Delgado is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate.

The Mets and Phils split the two game series, with the Mets giving up the lead in the 9th inning of game one and the Phils returning the favor in the 8th of game two.

Plus - Free tickets from our dear friends Susan n Dave! Kyle Kendrick holds his own versus Johan Santana. This year’s edition of Sam Adams October Fest is out at the ball park.

Minus - Phils cannot manage any key hits after dingers by Howard and Werth in the first two innings. Phils don't acquire Mark Kotsay.

Meh - Parking $10, Turkey BLT Wrap $10.50, Beers $20, Pretzel 3.75. So our night at the ballpark with free tickets still amounted to cost $44.25.

Welcome Aboard – Drew Carpenter made his major league debut for the Phillies last night. Carpenter was ranked ninth among Phillies prospects by Baseball America prior to the 08 season. He pitched a scoreless top of the 9th keeping the Phils within three runs of the Mets.

BlogBlogBlog – In other prospect news the Arizona Fall League rosters have been posted. The Phils will be sending their US Olympic team members, Catcher Lou Marson and Second Baseman Jason Donald, out to the Grand Canyon state. Other Phils on the way to the AFL are Pitchers Carpenter, Joe Bisenius Sergio Escalona, and Patrick Overholt as well as Outfielder’s Quinitin Berry and Jeremy Slayden. The Phils will play for the Mesa Solar Sox squad who count Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg as a member of their coaching staff.

2007 Topps '52 Rookies #88 Joe Bisenius

Around the League - Preliminary 2009 MLB schedules have been leaked and according to the New Jersey Star Ledger the NL and AL East will each play each other. The Phils are expected to visit the New Yankee Stadium in 09.

In more schedule news the local A-10 Basketball teams all released their slates for the upcoming season:
LaSalle St. Joe's Temple

Off the Diamond - The LPGA is thinking of requiring that it's members speak English - I find this odd as there are moments after I have done something wrong, bad, or just plain dumb I find that I wish my favorite Lady would stop speaking English.

Useless Info – Phils set a Citizen’s Bank record with there 45th sellout of the season. Last night was potentially the final game the Phillies will ever play without instant replay.

On Deck – It will most likely be the Mets again. Team Phungo has scheduled a farewell trip to Shea Stadium on the first Saturday in September to catch one more Phils vs Mets contest. In the interim the Phils embark on a road trip to Chicago and Washington.

Scoop – By losing the Phils fell out of first place, which puts them in position to block any waiver claim made by the Mets. This could potentially relate to a potential move for Rockies closer Brian Fuentes.

And finally right before it got ugly I took this photo of what I call the baseball card inning. This is one is sponsered by Upper Deck. As far as I know this is not a design used on any of their cards. They just make it appear like a UD Card. As for the ugly part look at the scoreboard. This picture was taken when thing were still happy. The Phils were still leading in the bottom of the 7th but you can also see doom lurking. On the right it is noted that Greg Dobbs has already pinch-hit for Scott Eyre, foreshadowing the appearance of the games eventual loser Rudy Seanez. Then look to the left. We can see that The Mets #3 hitter for the upcoming inning is Carlos Delgado who will hit the game tying homer that will extend the fateful 8th inning.