The 1983 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 101st season in the history of the franchise, and the 13th season for the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies won the National League East title with a record of 90–72, by a margin of six games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, three games to one in the NLCS, before losing the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles, four games to one. The Phillies celebrated their centennial in 1983, were managed by Pat Corrales (43–42) and Paul Owens (47–30), and played their home games at Veterans Stadium.
Offseason November 4, 1982: Willie Montañez was released by the Phillies.Willie Montañez at Baseball Reference December 9, 1982: Manny Trillo, Jay Baller, Julio Franco, George Vukovich, and Jerry Willard were traded by the Phillies to the Cleveland Indians for Von Hayes.Manny Trillo at Baseball Reference December 14, 1982: Mike Krukow, Mark Davis, and Charles Penigar (minors) were traded by the Phillies to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Morgan and Al Holland.Mike Krukow at Baseball Reference January 13, 1983: Rowland Office was released by the Phillies.Rowland Office at Baseball Reference January 31, 1983: Tony Pérez was signed as a free agent with the Phillies.Tony Pérez at Baseball Reference March 1, 1983: Kiko Garcia was signed as a free agent by the Phillies.Kiko Garcia at Baseball Reference
Wheeze Kids The 1983 Phillies were nicknamed the "Wheeze Kids" because of the numerous veteran players on the team. The 1950 National League pennant winning Phillies had been nicknamed the "Whiz Kids" due to their youth; stars Richie Ashburn, Robin Roberts, Willie Jones, Del Ennis, and Granny Hamner were all 25 years old or younger. Prior to the 1983 season, the Phillies acquired Morgan, age 39 and Tony Pérez, age 40, to complement Pete Rose, age 41, and as Morgan told Sports Illustrated in March 1983, "...help win them a world championship." At the time, the Phillies also had Ron Reed, 40, Bill Robinson, 39, Steve Carlton, 38, and Tug McGraw, 38. Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Stan Hochman gave them the Wheeze Kids nickname and it was quickly adopted and used by Phillies president Bill Giles. By the 1983 World Series, the moniker was commonly used to refer to the team.
Regular season
Season chronology April 13: Bo Díaz hit a walk off grand slam home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Phillies a 10–9 win over the New York Mets. May 1: On the 100th anniversary of their first game, the Phillies defeated the Houston Astros, 11–3, at Veterans Stadium. Tony Pérez drove in 5 runs. Johnny Enzmann, 93 years old and the then-living oldest former Phillies player threw out the first-pitch prior to the game. June 7: Steve Carlton temporarily passed Nolan Ryan as the all-time strikeout leader with 3,526 strikeouts to Ryan's 3,524.Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, June 7, 1983 at Veteran's Stadium June 25: Kevin Gross was the winning pitcher in his major league debut. The Phillies defeated the Mets, 4–2, at Shea Stadium. July 17: The Phillies lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5–2. It is the last game for manager Pat Corrales, who was fired despite the team being in first place in the National League East. He was replaced by Paul Owens. August 1: Steve Carlton struck out 12 batters in a 2–1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Joe Carter drove in the Cubs' run with his first major league hit. August 6: A single by Von Hayes scored Joe Morgan in the 11th inning, giving the Phillies a 1–0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. This put the Phillies back into first place, one-half game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates. August 26: The Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4–1, at Veterans Stadium. It was their only win against the Dodgers all season. September 18: The Phillies took over first place for good with a 5–3 win over the Cardinals. Mike Schmidt drove in his 100th run of the season with a first-inning home run. Joe Lefebvre followed Schmidt with a home run of his own. September 23: Steve Carlton won his 300th career game, defeating his former team, the Cardinals.Steve Carlton | The Baseball Page September 28: The Phillies became National League East champions with a 13–6 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The clincher was also the 7000th victory for the Phillies in their history.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions May 22, 1983: Dick Ruthven and Bill Johnson were traded by the Phillies to the Chicago Cubs for Willie Hernández.Willie Hernández at Baseball Reference May 22, 1983: Sid Monge was traded by the Phillies to the San Diego Padres for Joe Lefebvre.Joe Lefebvre at Baseball Reference June 17, 1983: Jim Rasmussen (minors) and Kelly Faulk (minors) were traded by the Phillies to the New York Yankees for Dave Wehrmeister.Dave Wehrmeister at Baseball Reference August 31, 1983: The Phillies traded players to be named later to the San Diego Padres for Sixto Lezcano and a player to be named later. The Phillies completed their part of the deal by sending Marty Decker, Ed Wojna, Lance McCullers, and Darren Burroughs (minors) to the Padres on September 20. The Padres completed their part of the deal by sending Steve Fireovid to the Phillies on October 11.Steve Fireovid at Baseball Reference
Draft picks June 6, 1983: 1983 Major League Baseball draft Ricky Jordan was drafted by the Phillies in the 1st round (22nd pick). Player signed June 28, 1983.Ricky Jordan at Baseball Reference June 6, 1983: Mike Henneman was drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.Mike Henneman at Baseball Reference
Roster 1983 Philadelphia Phillies Roster Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches
Game log Regular season Legend Phillies win Phillies loss Phillies tie Postponement Clinched divisionBoldPhillies team member
|- style="background:#fbb" | 1 || April 5 || || @ Mets || 0–2 || Doug Sisk (1–0) || Steve Carlton (0–1) || None || || 46,687 || 0–1 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 2 || April 7 || || @ Mets || 2–6 || Craig Swan (1–0) || John Denny (0–1) || Neil Allen (1) || || 5,730 || 0–2 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 3 || April 8 || || @ Giants || 2–3 || Fred Breining (1–0) || Larry Christenson (0–1) || Greg Minton (1) || || 13,624 || 0–3 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 4 || April 9 || || @ Giants || 5–4 || Sid Monge (1–0) || Mike Krukow (0–2) || Ron Reed (1) || || 13,937 || 1–3 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 5 || April 10 || || @ Giants || 10–2 || Steve Carlton (1–1) || Bill Laskey (0–2) || None || || 20,988 || 2–3 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 6 || April 12 || || Mets || 4–3 || Ron Reed (1–0) || Neil Allen (0–1) || None || || 31,236 || 3–3 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 7 || April 13 || || Mets || 10–9 || Porfi Altamirano (1–0) || Neil Allen (0–2) || None || || 20,228 || 4–3 || |- style="background:#bbb" | – || April 15 || || Braves || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#bfb" | 8 || April 16 || || Braves || 8–4 || Steve Carlton (2–1) || Phil Niekro (0–1) || None || || 17,557 || 5–3 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 9 || April 17 || || Braves || 1–3 || Pascual Pérez (3–0) || Ed Farmer (0–1) || Gene Garber (2) || || 27,522 || 5–4 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 10 || April 18 || || Cubs || 8–2 || John Denny (1–1) || Paul Moskau (0–1) || None || || 13,832 || 6–4 || |- style="background:#bbb" | – || April 19 || || Cubs || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#bfb" | 11 || April 20 || || Cubs || 2–0 || Steve Carlton (3–1) || Chuck Rainey (0–3) || None || || 11,271 || 7–4 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 12 || April 22 || || @ Astros || 6–3 || Sid Monge (2–0) || Nolan Ryan (1–1) || Ron Reed (2) || || 32,130 || 8–4 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 13 || April 23 || || @ Astros || 7–3 || John Denny (2–1) || Joe Niekro (0–2) || None || || 22,790 || 9–4 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 14 || April 24 || || @ Astros || 2–3 || Mike Madden (1–0) || Ron Reed (1–1) || None || || 9,344 || 9–5 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 15 || April 26 || || @ Braves || 4–10 || Pascual Pérez (4–0) || Larry Christenson (0–2) || Terry Forster (2) || || 22,511 || 9–6 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 16 || April 27 || || @ Braves || 6–2 || Dick Ruthven (1–0) || Phil Niekro (0–2) || None || || 20,341 || 10–6 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 17 || April 29 || || Astros || 3–6 || Frank LaCorte (2–2) || Steve Carlton (3–2) || Bill Dawley (1) || || 30,067 || 10–7 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 18 || April 30 || || Astros || 8–0 || John Denny (3–1) || Mike LaCoss (0–2) || None || || 24,845 || 11–7 ||
|- style="background:#bfb" | 19 || May 1 || || Astros || 11–3 || Larry Christenson (1–2) || Bob Knepper (1–3) || None || || 27,968 || 12–7 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 20 || May 2 || || Reds || 2–5 || Ted Power (1–0) || Dick Ruthven (1–1) || None || || 18,587 || 12–8 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 21 || May 3 || || Reds || 13–7 || Sid Monge (3–0) || Frank Pastore (2–4) || None || || 18,634 || 13–8 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 22 || May 4 || || Reds || 9–4 || Steve Carlton (4–2) || Rich Gale (3–1) || None || || 22,619 || 14–8 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 23 || May 6 || || @ Expos || 5–2 || Ron Reed (2–1) || Bryn Smith (0–1) || None || || 25,178 || 15–8 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 24 || May 7 || || @ Expos || 2–3 || Bill Gullickson (3–3) || Porfi Altamirano (1–1) || None || || 25,191 || 15–9 || |- style="background:#bbb" | – || May 8 || || @ Expos || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#bfb" | 25 || May 10 || || @ Reds || 3–1 || Steve Carlton (5–2) || Ted Power (1–1) || None || || 18,694 || 16–9 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 26 || May 11 || || @ Reds || 0–2 || Mario Soto (4–2) || John Denny (3–2) || None || || 16,337 || 16–10 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 27 || May 12 || || @ Cubs || 3–6 || Chuck Rainey (3–3) || Dick Ruthven (1–2) || Bill Campbell (1) || || 8,162 || 16–11 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 28 || May 13 || || @ Cubs || 2–10 || Steve Trout (2–5) || Larry Christenson (1–3) || None || || 11,254 || 16–12 || |- style="background:#bbb" | – || May 14 || || @ Cubs || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#bfb" | 29 || May 15 || || @ Cubs || 5–3 || Steve Carlton (6–2) || Lee Smith (0–2) || Ron Reed (3) || || 19,467 || 17–12 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 30 || May 17 || || Giants || 2–1 || John Denny (4–2) || Andy McGaffigan (2–4) || Al Holland (1) || || 21,123 || 18–12 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 31 || May 18 || || Giants || 1–8 || Mike Krukow (2–2) || Dick Ruthven (1–3) || Greg Minton (5) || || 20,987 || 18–13 || |- style="background:#fbb" | 32 || May 20 || || Padres || 0–5 || Andy Hawkins (3–2) || Steve Carlton (6–3) || None || || 26,607 || 18–14 || |- style="background:#bbb" | – || May 21 || || Padres || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#bbb" | – || May 22 || || Padres || colspan=8 | Postponed (rain); |- style="background:#fbb" | 33 || May 23 || || Dodgers || 0–2 || Fernando Valenzuela (5–2) || John Denny (4–3) || None || || 24,249 || 18–15 || L3 |- style="background:#fbb" | 34 || May 24 || || Dodgers || 0–3 || Alejandro Peña (5–1) || Larry Christenson (1–4) || None || || 24,016 || 18–16 || L4 |- style="background:#fbb" | 35 || May 25 || || Dodgers || 1–6 || Burt Hooton (2–2) || Marty Bystrom (0–1) || Dave Stewart (5) || || 22,735 || 18–17 || L5 |- style="background:#fbb" | 36 || May 27 || || Expos || 4–7 || Scott Sanderson (4–4) || Steve Carlton (6–4) || Jeff Reardon (5) || || 25,573 || 18–18 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 37 || May 28 || || Expos || 5–3 || Willie Hernández (2–0) || Jeff Reardon (2–2) || None || || 30,608 || 19–18 || |- style="background:#bfb" | 38 || May 29 || || Expos || 5–2 || Larry Christenson (2–4) || Bill Gullickson (4–6) || Al Holland (2) || || 18,875 || 20–18 || |- style="background:#fbb"