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 an ultimate 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.
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.
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.
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
136
471
111
.236
15
64
1B
151
493
121
.245
0
45
2B
123
404
93
.230
16
59
3B
154
534
136
.255
40
109
SS
158
497
126
.254
4
45
LF
132
446
115
.258
10
50
CF
97
324
89
.275
4
32
RF
124
351
93
.265
6
32
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
101
258
80
.310
8
38
91
253
61
.241
6
43
136
245
74
.302
0
29
122
221
51
.231
1
15
55
140
30
.214
6
23
84
118
34
.288
2
9
28
80
22
.275
4
16
41
66
16
.242
0
4
18
65
18
.277
2
5
18
39
11
.282
0
7
19
18
2
.111
1
3
13
8
1
.125
0
1
10
7
1
.143
0
2
8
7
2
.286
0
2
2
4
1
.250
0
0
9
4
3
.750
0
3
2
3
1
.333
0
0
3
0
0
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0
0
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Other pitchers
Relief pitchers
Post-season
The Phillies post-season roster had nine players 30 years of age or over and three rookies, Charlie Hudson, Kevin Gross, and Juan Samuel. The Dodgers entered the series as favorites after winning 11 of 12 games against the Phillies in the regular season. The Dodgers had shut out the Phillies five times, allowed only 15 runs total, and held Phillies hitters to a.187 batting average.
