Phillies near 10,000 losses

PHILADELPHIA, June 12 (UPI) -- Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies are bracing for an approaching milestone -- the team is 14 losses from being the first to amass 10,000 losses.

The team, which only took home one World Series title in its history -- in 1980 -- has lost more games than any other team in professional sports during its 125 years of operation, the Elias Sports Bureau said, and is rapidly approaching the 10,000-loss mark, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

"I didn't know this until a week ago," Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said Monday. "It means they've had a team here a long time. I don't think we need to celebrate it, though."

The Phillies have a long, if uncelebrated, history of losing benchmarks: the team lost at least 103 games each year from 1938 to 1942 and in 1962 the team held a 6 1/2- game lead in the National League before it lost the pennant by losing 10 of its final 12 games.

"We might be first to 10,000, but we're first in something," Glen Macnow, a host at WIP-AM in Philadelphia and the co-author of "The Great Philadelphia Fan Book," said in the Times article.