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{{Short description|Former professional football team}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox Pre-modern NFL team
| name = Philadelphia Phillies
| bgcolor = #D10707
| fontcolor = white
| helmet =
| logo =
| founded = 1901
| suspended =
| folded = 1902
| relocated =
| location = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], [[United States]]
| field = [[Baker Bowl|National League Park]]
| league = [[National Football League (1902)]]
| conference =
| division =
| colors = Red, White, Blue
{{color box|#D10707}} {{color box|white}} {{color box|#263473}}
| history = '''Philadelphia Phillies (1902)''' Philadelphia Athletic Club (1901)
| nickname = "Philadelphia Stars" "All-Stars" "Quakers" "Philadelphia Professionals" "Pros"
| coach = [[Ben Roller]] (1902) [[Blondy Wallace]] (1901)
| manager = [[Bill Shettsline]] (1902) Wilson Wright (1901)
| owner = [[John Rogers (baseball)|John Rogers]] (1902) Wilson Wright (1901)
| championships =
| Other League championships =
| Undefeated seasons =
| named for =
| mascot =
| website =
}}
The '''Philadelphia Phillies''' were a professional [[American football]] team based in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] in 1902. The team was a member of what was referred to as the [[National Football League (1902)|National Football League]]—not to be confused with the [[National Football League]] of today.<ref name="Peterson">Peterson, p. 34.</ref> The whole league was a curious mixture of football players as well as baseball players who adapted to playing football. The Phillies were owned and financed by baseball's [[Philadelphia Phillies]] just as the owners of the [[Philadelphia Athletics]] financed their team, the [[Philadelphia Athletics (NFL)|Philadelphia Athletics]]. The [[Pittsburgh Stars]] made up the third team and was suspected of being financed by the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] baseball team.<ref>"Football Chronology II", p. 3</ref>

==History==
===Origins===
The Phillies began as the '''Philadelphia Athletic Club''' in 1901. The team was more commonly called throughout Philadelphia as the '''Philadelphia Professionals''' or the '''Philadelphia Pros'''. It was the region's first entirely professional football squad. Wilson Wright, a [[University of Pennsylvania|Penn]] graduate, was the team's manager and chief financial backer. The team, led by Penn's [[Blondy Wallace]], was largely made up of former Penn players along with a few veterans of such teams as the [[Duquesne Country and Athletic Club]] and the [[Latrobe Athletic Association]].<ref name="Ghosts">{{cite web|title= Phillies vs. Athletics, National Football League 1902|url=http://home.comcast.net/~ghostsofthegridiron/Professionals.htm|publisher=Ghosts of the Gridion|access-date=April 3, 2012}}</ref>

====1901====
Philadelphia opened its 1901 season with shut outs of the [[Conshohocken Tigers]], the [[Orange Athletic Club]], [[Susquehanna University]] and a tough squad from [[Lafayette College]]. Next Philadelphia had to play the [[1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team]]. Homestead was a successful team that gave up only seven points over a span of two seasons and was clearly the strongest of the many competitive teams of Western Pennsylvania. In fact Homestead was considered it the best professional team in the nation. This match-up was generally accepted as the professional championship of the United States. Both teams worked diligently to prepare for the game. However Philadelphia proved no match for the Homestead team and lost by a score of 18–0. The two teams then closed out their seasons in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] the following Saturday. This time Philadelphia lost by a score of only 6–5. They held Homestead to a single touchdown and managed to score the only touchdown against the team in two seasons.<ref name="Ghosts"/>

===Phillies===
Although still lacking the established fan base of college football, Philadelphia Athletic Club benefited from being built on a strong foundation of well known local college talent. Philadelphia's first experience with pro football left fans in anticipation for the next season. This gained the attention of [[John Rogers (baseball)|John Rogers]], the owner of baseball's Philadelphia Phillies.<ref name="Ghosts"/> In 1902 the war between baseball's well established [[National League (baseball)|National League]] and the new [[American League]] was really heating up. In an effort to get the upper hand in the battle for fans, Rogers took over the professional football club and renamed them the Phillies, after his baseball team. Blondy Wallace, who was a captain of the 1901 Pros team, left the team to join its cross town rival, the Athletics football team owned by baseball's [[Ben Shibe]]. The Phillies baseball manager, [[Bill Shettsline]] became the team's manager, while [[Ben Roller]] became the team's coach.<ref name="Peterson"/>

Both Rogers and Shibe knew that to lay claim to the "World Championship", they had to play a team from Pittsburgh, which was the focal point of football at the time. They called on pro football promoter [[Dave Berry (American football)|Dave Berry]] and a Pittsburgh team was soon formed. These three teams are all that made up the first NFL. The league played all of its games on Saturdays, since there were no Sunday sports events according to Pennsylvania [[blue laws]] in 1902. The teams began playing various colleges and local football clubs before finally playing each other.<ref name="Carroll1">Carroll p.5</ref>

====1902====
The Athletics had split on the 1902 season with the Phillies, as had the Pittsburgh Stars. However each team carried a record of 2-2 for league play, with a complete record of 8–3.<ref name="Peterson" /> Pittsburgh had by far the better point ratio, scoring 39 points to their opponents' 22. Both the Athletics and the Phillies gave up more points than they scored in their league games. This led to a championship game between the A's and Stars. After playing the first game to a scoreless tie, Pittsburgh finally won the second championship game late in the fourth quarter to give them a controversial championship win. The defeated A's then went home and defeat the Phillies 17–6 to give them the city championship and a second showing in the league.<ref name=Carroll2>Carroll p.8</ref>

===World Series of Football===
In late December [[World Series of Football (1902-1903)|the 1902 World Series of Football]] was held at [[Madison Square Garden (1890)|Madison Square Garden]] in [[New York City]].<ref>Peterson, p. 35.</ref> While neither the Phillies nor Athletics participated in this event, several members of both squads joined on a team known variously as "[[New York (World Series of Football)|New York", the "New Yorks" and the "New York Philadelphians"]]. The New York team played in the first indoor football game against the [[Syracuse Athletic Club]].<ref>"The First Football World Series" p. 3</ref>

==Seasons==
*[[1901 Philadelphia Football Club season]]
*[[1902 Philadelphia Phillies (NFL) season]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite journal | title=Football Chronology II; The First Pros: 1884 to 1903 | journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=23 | issue=2 | year=2001 | pages=1–3 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-02-886.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326071421/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-02-886.pdf | archive-date=2009-03-26 }}
*{{cite journal | title=Dave Berry and the Philadelphia Story | journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=2 | issue=Annual | year=1980 | pages=1–9 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-053.pdf | first=Bob | last=Carroll | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218220541/http://profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-053.pdf | archive-date=2010-12-18 }}
*{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCnbhSRZpgIC | title=Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football | first=Robert W. | last=Peterson | isbn=0-19-511913-4 | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | year=1997}}
*{{cite journal | title=The First Football World Series | journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=2 | issue=Annual | year=1980 | pages=1–8 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-054.pdf | author=Carroll, Bob | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218232146/http://profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-054.pdf | archive-date=2010-12-18 }}

{{NFL (1902)}}
{{Early PA football}}
{{Defunct Pennsylvania sports teams}}
{{Philadelphia Phillies}}

[[Category:Philadelphia Phillies (NFL)| ]]
[[Category:National Football League (1902) teams]]
[[Category:Defunct American football teams in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Defunct sports clubs and teams in Philadelphia|Philadelphia Phillies]]
[[Category:American football teams in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:1901 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American football teams established in 1901]]
[[Category:1902 disestablishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1902]]

Philadelphia Phillies (NFL) - Revision history

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