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The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: Philadelphia Phillies: Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Philadelphia Phillies History
Genuine fans take the best team moments with the less than great, and know that the games that are best forgotten make the good moments truly shine. This monumental book of the Philadelphia Phillies documents all the best moments and personalities in the history of the team, but also unmasks the regrettably awful and the unflinchingly ugly. In entertaining—and unsparing—fashion, this book sparkles with Phillies highlights and lowlights, from wonderful and wacky memories to the famous and infamous. Such moments include the rapturous season of the “Whiz Kids” and the magical 2008 run to the World Series, as well as the lows of the historically inept Phillies of the 1930s and the equally historic collapse of 1964. Whether providing fond memories, goose bumps, or laughs, this portrait of the team is sure to appeal to the fan who has been through it all.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 20, 2011
after nearly 130 years of baseball, it would be hard to write anything approaching a definitive or exhaustive work on the philadelphia phillies. while there has been far more frustration and disappointment (10,000+ club losses) than success and elation (only two world series titles), after a century and a quarter there ought to be myriad stories, well-known and obscure alike, to fill innumerable pages. the good, the bad, & the ugly, like its hackneyed title, is little more than a poorly written collection of tales and moments that even the most cursory phils fan would already know well. a more superficial treatment of a sports team's history may not exist anywhere else in print.
scant attention is paid anywhere other than the whiz kids, the wheeze kids, the '93 near-miss, and the recent run under skipper charlie manuel. though the book recalls some important figures, games, and seasons in phillies history, it does next to nothing to recapture the joy, heartbreak, or frenzy that originally accompanied them. todd zolecki covered the fightin' phils for the philadelphia inquirer for six years and now writes about them for mlb.com, and while his articles are often insightful, the good, the bad, & the ugly leaves a whole lot to be desired (including a competent editor). knowing that zolecki is capable of so much more makes reading this work all the more unbearable.
worst of all, is the unforgivable omission, save for a passing sentence or two, about legendary broadcaster harry kalas, who called phils games for nearly four decades. how in the hell anyone can write anything about this franchise's history and not include at least a few pages about harry and his influence is beyond insulting. the phillie phanatic (unarguably the best mascot in all of sports) gets more than five pages, but everyone's beloved harry the k gets but a few sentences? shameful.
a cynic may conclude that this book was but a hurried effort to capitalize on the remarkable and unprecedented success (for this team, at least) the phils and their fans have enjoyed in recent years (four consecutive nl east titles, two pennants, and a world championship). while one may not often turn to sports writing for a glimpse of literary heroics, there has been many an excellent book about baseball over the past many decades. sadly, this is not one of them. for the newly-anointed phillies fan, the good, the bad, & the ugly may well serve as a necessary introduction to more than a century of shattered dreams made bearable by the occasional triumph, but for those raised on tastykakes, soft pretzels, water ice, and tales of heroes in red pinstripes, this book drags like the seemingly never-ending winter before opening day.
go phils!
scant attention is paid anywhere other than the whiz kids, the wheeze kids, the '93 near-miss, and the recent run under skipper charlie manuel. though the book recalls some important figures, games, and seasons in phillies history, it does next to nothing to recapture the joy, heartbreak, or frenzy that originally accompanied them. todd zolecki covered the fightin' phils for the philadelphia inquirer for six years and now writes about them for mlb.com, and while his articles are often insightful, the good, the bad, & the ugly leaves a whole lot to be desired (including a competent editor). knowing that zolecki is capable of so much more makes reading this work all the more unbearable.
worst of all, is the unforgivable omission, save for a passing sentence or two, about legendary broadcaster harry kalas, who called phils games for nearly four decades. how in the hell anyone can write anything about this franchise's history and not include at least a few pages about harry and his influence is beyond insulting. the phillie phanatic (unarguably the best mascot in all of sports) gets more than five pages, but everyone's beloved harry the k gets but a few sentences? shameful.
a cynic may conclude that this book was but a hurried effort to capitalize on the remarkable and unprecedented success (for this team, at least) the phils and their fans have enjoyed in recent years (four consecutive nl east titles, two pennants, and a world championship). while one may not often turn to sports writing for a glimpse of literary heroics, there has been many an excellent book about baseball over the past many decades. sadly, this is not one of them. for the newly-anointed phillies fan, the good, the bad, & the ugly may well serve as a necessary introduction to more than a century of shattered dreams made bearable by the occasional triumph, but for those raised on tastykakes, soft pretzels, water ice, and tales of heroes in red pinstripes, this book drags like the seemingly never-ending winter before opening day.
go phils!
May 27, 2017
This book has many amusing and fascinating stories about the Phillies. It also includes many stats from various players in their history. These players show that you can improve a skill and to never give up.
June 25, 2023
Phillies Memories
Excellent book, well researched. Loved the stories of some of those great and interesting characters that played for and managed the Philadelphia Phillies over the years.
Excellent book, well researched. Loved the stories of some of those great and interesting characters that played for and managed the Philadelphia Phillies over the years.
September 24, 2023
Factual and fun read.
This book was gifted to me years ago and not sure why I didn't read it then. Greatly to read about the players on the teams I grew up watching and those before my time.
One thin that is true: it's not easy being a Phillies fan, but they sure can make it fun!
This book was gifted to me years ago and not sure why I didn't read it then. Greatly to read about the players on the teams I grew up watching and those before my time.
One thin that is true: it's not easy being a Phillies fan, but they sure can make it fun!
May 12, 2025
Zolecki found some really interesting angles on each story, but I would've liked more fresh material - revisiting 1950, 1980, 1993, etc. again and again in the same book misses some of the charm of those in-between years.
February 27, 2011
As with Jazz Anecdotes, the most enjoyable aspect of this book is the insight I gained into the history.For example I never knew who CHICO RUIZ was, nor that his name should be reviled for his surprise steal of home plate on 19640921. Now that I know this and many other insider stories, I have a deeper appreciation of the Phillies. An interesting side effect of mlb today is the advent of twitter accounts for players. There are some great stories about Larry Bowa in Zolecki's book, and reading Bowa's timeline @LarryFNBowa you really get a feel for the public persona of the man. He follows 0, saing Larry Bowa follows no one in his profile. Personally, I could have done without the "Dream Team" content. An index would be nice too.
March 4, 2012
After reading Drinking Coffee with a Fork, this book was a disappointment. The author chose to jump around in time to relate the story, moving from 2008 to 1983 to 1993 to 1964 to 1950 to 1915 and back in random order, for no apparent purpose. It worked for Vonnegut, but not here. Most of the content deals with the 21st century Phillies, the least interesting group of characters in their long history. The other eras are given short shrift and little in the way of cohesive narrative. The section on the all-time best Phillies team in particular is a definite skipper. It's more of a semi-nostalgic outline than a coherent history of the franchise.
January 8, 2016
This book is very informative to readers about the Philadelphia Phillies's history. There are some parts of their history which I, one of their biggest fans, didn't even know. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is completely based off facts with a pinch of opinion from the writer.
July 31, 2025
The gray boxes of text in a section of a chapter about the previous section in that chapter are distracting, and the typo in the foreword annoyed me. But it was cool to learn new things about my favorite baseball team, even if there are so many statistics that I glazed over most of them.
July 16, 2010
I would have preferred just stories, but if you're a ststs junkie this book is for you!
May 7, 2012
An enjoyable look at great (and not-so-great) moments in Phillies history. I could have done without all the Sabermetrics to prove their selection of the greatest Phillies line up of all time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews