Phillies To Blue Jays To Phillies

  By Danny Coleman for the "Old Images of Philadelphia" page on Facebook

What's in a name.... The Philadelphia Blue Jays???Hold on to your hats this is a doozy...In 1942 the "Phillies" officially changed their name to "Phils".  In 1943 lumber baron William Cox bought the team and changed it back to "Phillies". He was only able to buy the team because Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis blocked Bill Veeck's attempt to buy the team and load it with players from the Negro League.  That being said under Cox's ownership he devoted the resources to fund a real team with an actual farm system as the Phillies finished last perennially. They finally were "out of the basement ". But.... the owner, Cox, was caught betting on the team and subsequently was banned from baseball.  The Carpenter family then bought the team and tried to clean up the image by subtlety naming it the "Blue Jays".  The name did not take but the farm system did and yielded Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and the 1950 National League Champion Whiz Kids!!! Yes it's ironic the "Phillies" lost to the "Blue Jays" in the 1993 World Series.