The Philadelphia Phillies are based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Phillies have played their home games at Citizens Bank Park in the South Philadelphia section of the city. The organization is tied with the San Francisco Giants as the fifth-oldest team in the majors, behind the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.
The "Phillies" name originates as a shortened version of the "Philadelphias", as the convention at the time was to call the team by their home city. They are nicknamed "the Fightins' ", or "The Phils". It is a convention in 'Phillies' culture to substitute "F" with "Ph" in various terms or names.
One of the 19th century National League franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia in . Then the Philadelphia Quakers, the names "Quakers" and "Phillies" would coexist starting with their second year of existence, and continue until . The team attempted to change names in to the Philadelphia Blue Jays to change the team's image, but it only lasted two years.
At the outset of the 20th century, the team made its home in the Baker Bowl. After much fighting to get out of their lease and the badly aging stadium, they moved into Connie Mack Stadium (then Shibe Park) in , home of their American League rivals, the Philadelphia Athletics. The A's would move in to Kansas City, Missouri, eventually moving to Oakland to become today's Oakland Athletics.
The Phillies have won one World Series Championship in their history, against the Kansas City Royals in 1980. In addition to their 1980 World Series victory, the Phillies have made four other World Series appearances, losing in 1983 to the Baltimore Orioles, in 1993 to the Toronto Blue Jays, in 1915 to the Boston Red Sox and being swept by the New York Yankees in 1950.
On September 30, 2007, the Phillies won the NL East Division for the first time since 1993, overcoming the New York Mets, who led the division for most of the season, on the season's last day.
Of the sixteen original American and National League teams (i.e, those in existence prior to the 1961-1962 expansion of the two leagues), the Phillies were the last team to win their first World Series, with their 1980 defeat of the favored Kansas City Royals in six games being their only World Series championship. Due in part to the age of the club, the Phillies became the first team in the four major sports to surpass 10,000 losses in franchise history in 2007.
