1989 Philadelphia Phillies season
| 1989 Philadelphia Phillies | |
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| Owner(s) | Bill Giles |
| General manager(s) | Lee Thomas |
| Manager(s) | Nick Leyva |
| Local television |
WTAF (Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Andy Musser) PRISM (Andy Musser, Chris Wheeler, Garry Maddox) |
| Local radio |
WCAU (Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Andy Musser, Chris Wheeler) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1989 season was the Phillies 107th season. The Phillies finished in 6th place in the National League East for the second consecutive season. It would also be Mike Schmidt's final season.
Injuries to Mike Schmidt's knees and back caused him to miss much of the 1988 season. After a poor start to the 1989 season, Schmidt chose to suddenly announce his retirement in San Diego, on May 29. Known as "Captain Cool" by many in Philadelphia sports circles, Schmidt surprised many with an emotional, and occasionally tearful, retirement speech. In honor of his career, fans voted Schmidt to the NL All-Star team; Schmidt declined to play but was announced with the team. His last game was May 28, 1989, against the San Francisco Giants.
The Phillies played 163 regular season games due to a tie game on June 5 when they hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the score tied 3-3, the game ended due to rain after only 8 innings had been played. Under the playing rules in place at the time, all player and team statistics generated during the tie game would stand (except since neither team had won, there could not be a winning or losing pitcher); a replacement game would be played at a later date. This game would mark the last regular season tie game for the Phillies as playing rules changed in 2007 allowing tie games to continue from the point of interruption at a later date.
On June 8, 1989, Steve Jeltz hit two of his five career home runs in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, despite not starting the game. A switch-hitter, Jeltz hit one of these homers from the right side of the plate and one from the left side. This was the first time in the history of the Phillies that this feat had been accomplished. It was in this same game that, after the Pirates scored 10 runs in the top of the first, Pirate broadcaster Jim Rooker said on-air, "If we lose this game, I'll walk home." The Phillies came back to win 15-11, and after the season Rooker conducted a 300-mile charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
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