# 1947 Philadelphia Phillies season

The 1947 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 65th season in the history of the franchise.
The Phillies finished in 7th place in the National League with a record of 62 wins and 92 losses. It was the first season for Phillies television broadcasts, which debuted on WPTZ.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1947 season: Carl Sawatski was acquired from the Phillies by the Boston Braves.
On July 27, 1946, the City of Clearwater had announced that the Phillies had accepted Clearwater's invitation to train at Clearwater Athletic Field in 1947 on a one-year agreement. On March 7, 1947, the Phillies and city signed a 10-year deal for the Phillies to train in Clearwater. The Phillies lost their first spring training game in 1947 at Athletic Field to the Detroit Tigers by a score of 13–1. The Phillies' attendance that spring was 13,291 which was ninth out of the ten teams training in Florida.

## Regular season

* April 22: During a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Phillies manager Ben Chapman hurled racial slurs at Jackie Robinson. Commissioner Happy Chandler warned the franchise to keep the manager under control or face disciplinary action. Of note, it was the first major league game in which Robinson committed an error.
* June 2: The Phillies travel to Egypt, Pennsylvania to recruit Curt Simmons and play a team of all-star high school players from the Lehigh Valley. The game was played on the opening day of Egypt Memorial Park, June 2, 1947, in front of a crowd of 4,500. Simmons struck out eleven and the game ended in a 4–4 tie (a late-game error was the only thing that prevented the high school team from winning).

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 94 | 60 | .610 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 42‍–‍35 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 89 | 65 | .578 | 5 | 46‍–‍31 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Boston Braves | 86 | 68 | .558 | 8 | 50‍–‍27 | 36‍–‍41 |
| New York Giants | 81 | 73 | .526 | 13 | 45‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 73 | 81 | .474 | 21 | 42‍–‍35 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 69 | 85 | .448 | 25 | 36‍–‍43 | 33‍–‍42 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 62 | 92 | .403 | 32 | 38‍–‍38 | 24‍–‍54 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 62 | 92 | .403 | 32 | 32‍–‍45 | 30‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1947 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BSN | BRO | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 12–10 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 9–13 |
| Brooklyn | 10–12 | — | 15–7 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 11–11–1 |
| Chicago | 9–13 | 7–15 | — | 12–10 | 7–15 | 16–6–1 | 8–14 | 10–12 |
| Cincinnati | 9–13 | 7–15 | 10–12 | — | 13–9 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| New York | 9–13 | 8–14 | 15–7 | 9–13 | — | 12–10 | 15–7–1 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 8–14 | 6–16–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 7–15 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 7–15–1 | 9–13 | — | 6–16–1 |
| St. Louis | 13–9 | 11–11–1 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 16–6–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 3, 1947: Ron Northey was traded by the Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals for Harry Walker and Freddy Schmidt.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Andy Seminick | 111 | 337 | 85 | .252 | 13 | 50 |
| 1B | Howie Schultz | 114 | 403 | 90 | .223 | 6 | 35 |
| 2B | Emil Verban | 155 | 540 | 154 | .285 | 0 | 42 |
| SS | Skeeter Newsome | 95 | 310 | 71 | .229 | 2 | 22 |
| 3B | Lee Handley | 101 | 277 | 70 | .253 | 0 | 42 |
| OF | Harry Walker | 130 | 488 | 181 | .371 | 1 | 41 |
| OF | Del Ennis | 139 | 541 | 149 | .275 | 12 | 81 |
| OF | Johnny Wyrostek | 128 | 454 | 124 | .273 | 5 | 51 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Jim Tabor | 75 | 251 | 59 | .235 | 4 | 31 |
| Ralph LaPointe | 56 | 211 | 65 | .308 | 1 | 15 |
| Buster Adams | 69 | 182 | 45 | .247 | 2 | 15 |
| Al Lakeman | 55 | 182 | 29 | .159 | 6 | 19 |
| Don Padgett | 75 | 158 | 50 | .316 | 0 | 24 |
| Charlie Gilbert | 83 | 152 | 36 | .237 | 2 | 10 |
| Jack Albright | 41 | 99 | 23 | .232 | 2 | 5 |
| Willie Jones | 18 | 62 | 14 | .226 | 0 | 10 |
| Ron Northey | 13 | 47 | 12 | .255 | 0 | 3 |
| Nick Etten | 14 | 41 | 10 | .244 | 1 | 8 |
| Frank McCormick | 15 | 40 | 9 | .225 | 1 | 8 |
| Jesse Levan | 2 | 9 | 4 | .444 | 0 | 1 |
| Hugh Poland | 4 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Putsy Caballero | 2 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Granny Hamner | 2 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Finney | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Rollie Hemsley | 2 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 1 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Dutch Leonard | 32 | 235.0 | 17 | 12 | 2.68 | 103 |
| Schoolboy Rowe | 31 | 195.2 | 14 | 10 | 4.32 | 74 |
| Ken Heintzelman | 24 | 136.0 | 7 | 10 | 4.04 | 55 |
| Curt Simmons | 1 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | 9 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Oscar Judd | 32 | 146.2 | 4 | 15 | 4.60 | 54 |
| Tommy Hughes | 29 | 127.0 | 4 | 11 | 3.47 | 44 |
| Blix Donnelly | 38 | 120.2 | 4 | 6 | 2.98 | 31 |
| Al Jurisich | 34 | 118.1 | 1 | 7 | 4.94 | 48 |
| Ken Raffensberger | 10 | 41.0 | 2 | 6 | 5.49 | 16 |
| Dick Koecher | 3 | 17.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.76 | 4 |
| Lefty Hoerst | 4 | 11.1 | 1 | 1 | 7.94 | 0 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Charley Schanz | 34 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4.16 | 42 |
| Freddy Schmidt | 29 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 4.70 | 24 |
| Dick Mauney | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.86 | 6 |
| Homer Spragins | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Lou Possehl | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.15 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A | Utica Blue Sox | Eastern League | Eddie Sawyer |
| B | Terre Haute Phillies | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Ray Brubaker, Whitey Gluchoski and Jack Sanford |
| B | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Interstate League | Jack Saltzgaver |
| C | Schenectady Blue Jays | Canadian–American League | Leon Riley |
| C | Vandergrift Pioneers | Middle Atlantic League | Floyd "Pat" Patterson |
| C | Salina Blue Jays | Western Association | Ed Walls |
| D | Dover Phillies | Eastern Shore League | Dick Carter |
| D | Americus Phillies | Georgia–Florida League | Jack Sanford and Lew Krausse, Sr. |
| D | Carbondale Pioneers | North Atlantic League | Patrick Colgan |
| D | Bradford Blue Wings | PONY League | George Savino |
| D | Appleton Papermakers | Wisconsin State League | Andy Latchie and Whitey Gluchoski |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Utica, Wilmington, Schenectady, Vandergrift