In June, the Phillies will host a ‘Cole Hamels Retirement Night’ for the D-backs series.
Cole Hamels is presented with the MVP trophy during the celebration of the Phillies’ 2008 World Series title.
Cole Hamels called it a career in August and this June the Phillies will bring him back to town for one last celebration.
The club has added a “Cole Hamels Retirement Night” for June 21 against the Diamondbacks to its 2024 promotional schedule, as first spotted by Phillies Nation, which will also coincide with a giveaway of replica 2009 NL champions rings to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Phils’ run to a second straight pennant.
Hamels, the organization’s first-round pick in the 2002 draft, was a fully homegrown prospect who made his way up to the big-league club in 2006. The lefty quickly established himself as the Phils’ next ace and, more importantly, a key part of the core that would go on to see them through their most successful era as a franchise.
In 2007, his pitching helped put the Phils over the top in a down-to-the-wire race with the rival Mets for the NL East title, snapping an at-the-time 14-year postseason drought.
Four more division titles and back-to-back NL pennants followed from there, but at the very height of it all: The 2008 World Series championship, only the franchise’s second ever, with Hamels there to take World Series MVP honors after a stellar postseason run, and with an impact that still echoes through the city to this day.
Hamels spent 10 years in Philadelphia in total, posting an overall record of 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA and 1,844 strikeouts. He was dealt to the Texas Rangers during the 2015 trade deadline, well after the Phillies’ window of contention had closed – though not before throwing a no-hitter on his way out – and pitched five more seasons with the Rangers, Cubs, then Braves, but on a decline as he entered his mid-late 30s.
