Bubba Phillips

Phillips made his major league debut on April 12, 1955 with the Detroit Tigers at the age of 27 and wearing number 11. Though he spent most of the year as a bench player, in 184 at-bats he hit .234. He started in left field on Opening Day and went 0-for-3 against the Kansas City Athletics. He hit three home runs, had 23 RBIs, in 95 games played.

After the 1955 season, he was traded from the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Virgil Trucks.

In 1956, Phillips spent his first season on the White Sox team like Detroit, mostly a bench player. He was used sometimes as a pinch hitter, an outfield defensive replacement, and a one time as a third baseman. He hit .273 with 2 home runs, and 11 RBIs, in 67 games played.

In 1957, Phillips became the White Sox starting third baseman. He hit .270 with 7 home runs, and 42 RBIs, in 121 games. He took the starting job at 3rd base from Fred Hatfield who hit .202 that year.

In 1958, Phillips spent time almost evenly at third base and in the outfield, playing 10 more games at third base than in the outfield. He hit .273 with five home runs, and 30 RBIs, in 84 games. Unfortunately, on June 8, he broke his right foot for six weeks tripping over first base and was replaced by utility player, Billy Goodman. Phillips was a consistent hitter who did not walk much but did not strike out much either.

In 1959, Phillips reclaimed his starting job at third base from Goodman (74 games at third base) playing 100 games at third and 23 games in the outfield, helping the White Sox win the American League Pennant championship. Phillips hit .264 with 5 home runs, 40 RBIs, 27 doubles, and 27 walks, in 117 games. He also did well in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting .300 in 10 at-bats. After the 1959 season, Phillips was traded to the Cleveland Indians with Norm Cash and Johnny Romano for Minnie Miñoso, Dick Brown, Don Ferrarese, and Jake Striker. The White Sox also acquired Gene Freese from the National League's (NL) Philadelphia Phillies for their third base position in exchange for outfielder Johnny Callison.

In 1960, Phillips batted only .207 with 4 home runs. He ended up having to relinquish time at third to Ken Aspromonte and other players.

In 1961, Phillips rebounded, finding a power stroke that led him to hit 18 home runs, including the only two grand slam's of his career. He finished the season hitting .264 with 72 RBIs. Manager Jimmy Dykes even tried for a time him as the Indians' cleanup hitter. He led the American League with 188 putouts as third baseman.

In 1962, Phillips was not as successful as he was 1961. He hit .258 with 10 home runs, and 54 RBIs. He was part of a rare back-to-back-to-back home run feat, in which he, Jerry Kindall, and Jim Mahoney all connected home runs in succession off pitcher Bill Stafford on June 17.

After the 1962 season, Phillips was traded to the Detroit Tigers for pitchers Ron Nischwitz and Gordon Seyfried. Cleveland was making room for rookie third baseman, Max Alvis.

In 1963, Phillips was the Tigers starting third baseman, he hit .246 with 5 home runs. He had a career high of 6 stolen bases and led the American League with 10 sacrifice flies.

In 1964, Phillips lost his starting job to a young Don Wert. Phillips hit .253 with 3 home runs and 6 RBIs. He finished his major league baseball career on September 18 as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning in a game against the Indians.

Phillips had a .255 lifetime batting average with 62 home runs and 356 RBIs. He had a .964 fielding average. He walked 182 times and struck out only 314 times in 3,278 at-bats. He collected his final major league hit off Gerry Arrigo and his final home run off Dave Stenhouse. According to Baseball-Reference, the player he is most similar to statistically is Mike Shannon. He was teammates with Barry Latman for 6 seasons, longer than any other teammate. He mostly wore number #5 during his career, although during part of the 1960 season he wore #7, and during his final two years at Clevland he wore #1.