August 04, 2023
The last man standing from the Phillies' 2008 championship squad has hung up his spikes. Cole Hamels, the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP, retired from baseball on Friday. The San Diego Padres, who Hamels signed a minor-league deal with this past offseason, placed the left-handed pitcher on the voluntarily retired list.
Hamels last pitched in 2020, making just a single start for Atlanta. In his post-Philly career, he made stops with the Rangers, Cubs and Braves.
Hamels was the best homegrown Phillies pitcher in decades. He played nine-and-a-half seasons in red pinstripes from 2006 to 2015, posting a 3.30 ERA in 294 starts while striking out opposing batters with a nasty changeup. He was a part of five-straight Phillies NL East champion teams from 2007 and 2011 and a member of the franchise's iconic "Four Aces" along with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt.
Last summer when the Phillies handed out Hamels' No. 35 jersey to a back-of-the-roster player, I was irate and made the case that he should have his number retired. The Phillies' organization has been around since 1883, has over 11,000 losses in franchise history and has won just two World Series titles. The MVPs of those series? Michael Jack Schmidt and Hamels. That's legendary stuff.
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