​PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – JUNE 7: A view of American flags flying above the 2026 All-Star Game sign in center field during a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox at Citizens Bank Park on June 7, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies won 9-5. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On a mid-September day in 1787, residents of Philadelphia gathered outside Independence Hall, awaiting the moment when the nation’s foremost statesmen would craft an institution destined to influence not only their young country but the world. When the doors opened, men whose names would echo through generations emerged. Elizabeth Willing Powel, observing Benjamin Franklin, asked what kind of institution they had built. The reply, famous yet not entirely factual, was, “A baseball team, if you can keep it.” Yet Philadelphia could not keep its baseball team, and the Athletics would eventually relocate to Kansas City. Fortunately, the Phillies stepped in and endured, much as the Constitution replaced the fragile Articles of Confederation (though the Phillies existed in a time overlapping with Philadelphia’s other teams, so the comparison is imperfect but close enough). The nation’s founders did not live to see the Phillies, but the spirit they exemplified—principle, wisdom, and learning—lives on in American institutions, including baseball and its teams. Today, we could name Phillies who embody those founding ideals, but it’s easier to pick those whose names echo the founders’ names, so we’ll do that instead.
George Washington: George Washington Harper (1924–1926)
Though George Washington hailed from Virginia, he faced pivotal challenges in Philadelphia. It’s fitting that George Washington Harper, an outfielder from Arlington, Kentucky, carved his path there. After stints in Detroit and Cincinnati, he was traded to Philadelphia, where he completed the current season and the next two. While he never achieved the political prominence of his namesake, he played well, posting a .349/.391/.558 line in the 1925 season and earning some down-ballot MVP consideration. Like the nation’s first president, he would later move to New York, not by election but by trade (New York being the president’s home before Washington, D.C.).
Thomas Jefferson: Thomas “Tommy” Jefferson Dowd (1897)
What nickname fits a man named Thomas Jefferson? “Mr. President” might seem apt, but Tommy Dowd’s nickname was Buttermilk Tommy. An outfielder from Holyoke, Massachusetts, Dowd played for the Phillies in a period when the team’s search for greatness was as much about identity as performance.