The Story of MLB’s First Super Utility Player Tony Phillips

In this weeks piece, we are looking back at Major League Baseballs' first super-utility player Tony Phillips, born on April 25th, 1959 in Atlanta Georgia. Phillips started out at Roswell High School located in Georgia. After his playing career at Roswell in the 1977 June MLB Amateur Draft, he was selected in the 16th round by the Seattle Mariners. Phillips would not sign with the team and elect to attend the New Mexico Military Institute. While playing baseball there in just the following year; 1978 Phillips was drafted 10th overall in the January Second-Phase MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos. From 1978 to 1982 Phillips would spend his time grinding through the minor league system. Phillips played decent in the minors but was traded by the Montreal Expos to the San Diego Padres for Willie Montanez in 1980. In the following year, the Padres would Trade Tony to the Oakland Athletics where eventually he would make his Major League Debut.

In the big leagues, Tony would become what some consider to be the first super-utility man. In his first full season in 83,' Phillips would play at 2B, SS,3B, and DH all in one season. What made Tony a super-utility player as proven in his career is the fact that he could play practically anywhere in the infield and outfield. Along with a great glove and phenomenal versatility in the field, Phillips would provide a solid bat while being a switch hitter. In Philips's first year in 82,' he came in mid-season and would end up playing 40 games. With 100 plate appearances in this season, Tony would end up with a .326 on-base percentage. Once Tony was in the Major Leagues for a full season is when he really started to add great production that at the time was not seen often or at all. In 1983 Tony would play a full season where he would move around to different infield positions and improve on the short year prior by increasing his on-base percentage along with the start of great improvement on his slugging percentage, bringing it up to .320. This isn't anything spectacular but when you have a player who is playing his first full season in the Majors and can play all over the infield, production at the plate becomes an extra asset. Especially at the time when the utility player was just at the helm of being created. In just his 3rd Major League season and second full season Phillips would start playing in the outfield along with improvements at the plate. He clicked up a rise in his batting average to .266 and added some pop into his bat improving on his slugging percentage. At this time, Phillips was becoming the league's first super-utility man. From 1985–1987 Tony was a very consistent player averaging out his numbers and playing all over the field on defense. With Phillips performance averaging out the Athletics would release him in late 1987 only to resign him in free agency in March of 1988. Tony played well on defense but continued to average out his performance at the plate. In 1989 Tony went into free agency and signed with the Detroit Tigers. In his 1992 season, Phillips had the American League-leading 114 runs. Other teams owners and managers would get ideas on how to build their team with utility-type players as it adds a huge advantage to the depth of a ball club. In 1993 is when Tony would have his best season at the plate. During this season Phillips would play games in every position in the outfield along with 2B, 3B, and as a DH. Phillips finished this 93' season with a batting average of .313 and an on-base percentage of .443 and would end the season with 132 walks leading the American League. Phillips was providing production all over the field with his glove and his bat. Tony had some of his best offensive seasons with the Tigers from 89'-94'. Right at the begging of the 1995 season, Tony would be traded to the California Angels where he still provided great utility play. From 1995 -1998 Phillips would play with an upper .200 batting average and as he did throughout his entire career he would play well at about every position on the field you could put him. Phillips loved the game in 1999 he would play his final season in the Majors with the team it all started with, the Oakland Athletics. Phillips 18 year career in the Majors was very important as he had very solid production at the plate and would pave the way for the utility player and prove to the league the advantage of someone who could provide production at the plate as well as help out on defense practically anywhere you needed them.

Tony Phillips's love for the game carried him through a career in which he had a big impact on the game. He wasn’t a super star-studded player but his impact lives on through the great super-utility players that play today. Phillips loved the game so much that even at age 50 he competed for fun in independent leagues. Unfortunately Tony passed away in 2016, but his love for the game will carry on as we remember the lasting impact that Phillips had on the game.

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