Philadelphia Phillies

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. Since 2004, the team's home has been Citizens Bank Park which is located in South Philadelphia.

The Phillies have won two World Series championships (against Kansas City in 1980 and Tampa Bay in 2008) and seven National League pennants, the first of which came in 1915. The franchise has also experienced long periods of struggle. Once the modern World Series began in 1903, it took the Phillies 77 years from that point (and 97 years from the club's establishment) to win their first World Series—longer than any other of the 16 teams that made up the major leagues for the first half of the 20th century. The 77 years of drought is the fourth longest World Series drought in Major League Baseball history. The longevity of the franchise and its history of adversity have earned it the dubious distinction of having lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. Notwithstanding the collectively poor performance over the years, the Phillies have performed much better in recent seasons, winning five consecutive division titles from 2007 through 2011.

The franchise was founded in Philadelphia in 1883, replacing the team from Worcester, Massachusetts in the National League. The team has played at several stadiums in the city, beginning with Recreation Park and continuing at Baker Bowl; Shibe Park, which was later renamed Connie Mack Stadium in honor of the longtime Philadelphia Athletics manager; Veterans Stadium; and now Citizens Bank Park.

The team's spring training facilities are located in Clearwater, Florida, where its Class-A minor league affiliate Clearwater Threshers plays at Bright House Field. Its Double-A affiliate is the Reading Fightin Phils, which plays in Reading, Pennsylvania, and its Triple-A affiliate is the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, which plays in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

CITIZEN BANK PARK

Citizens Bank Park is a 43,651-seat baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, and home of the Philadelphia Phillies. It is commonly referred to by locals simply as "The Bank" or "CBP". Citizens Bank Park opened on April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular season baseball game on April 12 of the same year, with the Phillies losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 4–1. The ballpark was built to replace the now-demolished Veterans Stadium (a football/baseball multipurpose facility), and features natural grass and dirt playing field and also features a number of Philadelphia-style food stands, including several which serve cheesesteaks, hoagies, and other regional specialties. The ballpark lies on the northeast corner of the Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Wells Fargo Center, and Xfinity Live!