Twenty years ago this June, the first chapter of the most recent glory era of Phillies baseball began when the Phillies drafted a diminutive high school shortstop named Jimmy Rollins. Over the following six years, the Phillies continued to find extraordinary success in the draft and brought in players who would eventually form a World Championship core including Pat Burrell (’98), Ryan Madson (’98), Brett Myers (’99), Chase Utley (’00), Ryan Howard (’01), and Cole Hamels (’02). There was, however, a draft between the Rollins draft and the Burrell/Madson draft and, although that 1997 Phillies draft would become most (in)famous for the failure of first round pick J.
Crash Landing: So Long, Wolfie
