By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Friday evening, the Philadelphia Phillies inducted former first baseman Jim Thome into their Wall of Fame, making him the 63rd member of the team's Wall of Fame. His induction, and a few recent rule tweaks, could set up an interesting battle for 2017 induction.
Prior to 2016, someone like Thome wouldn't have been eligible to join the team's Wall of Fame for numerous reasons. The first being that to be eligible to even appear on the Wall of Fame ballot, a player must have been out of the league for at least three years. Thome last played in 2012, meaning 2016 was the first time he became eligible on that front. Thome also only played parts of four seasons in Philadelphia, which prior to 2016 wouldn't have met the requirement of playing for the team in five different seasons. The team adjusted that rule prior to the 2017 season, presumably setting up someone like Thome to be inducted.
That same rule change could potentially set up an interesting battle for 2017 induction: Roy Halladay against Brad Lidge.
While someone like Fred Luderus probably belongs in before either of the two, fans get to vote for the Wall of Fame and Luderus hasn't even been alive for going on 60 years, making it hard to envision him getting inducted over any modern players.
Halladay and Lidge both played four seasons with the Phillies, providing signature moments during the team's five year playoff run from 2007-2011.
Halladay won 55 games in four years, including winning 40 in his first two seasons with the team. Halladay won 21 games in 2010, his first season with the team, while pitching nine (!!) complete games and throwing a no-hitter against the Miami Marlins en route to his second Cy Young award. He also tossed just the second no-hitter in playoff history that year. In 2011, when he was a part of "the four aces", Halladay was even better, posting a 2.35 ERA and tossing eight complete games while the Phillies won a franchise record 102 games. Halladay was never able to help the Phillies win a World Series, and his final two years saw his historic workload catch up to him, but for two seasons, Halladay displayed for Philadelphia why he will one day be a Hall of Famer.
As dominant as Halladay was for his first two seasons, Lidge had the greatest overall season that a closer has ever had in Phillies history in 2008. Including the playoffs, Lidge converted 48 of 48 save attempts, including the last outs to clinch the NL East title, the NLDS, the NLCS and World Series. Lidge's season was so impressive that even though Francisco Rodriguez broke the MLB record for single-season saves with 62 in 2008, Lidge beat him on save percentage, ERA and FIP.
The rest of Lidge's career in Philadelphia was strange. He was horrendous in 2009, posting a 7.21 ERA and blowing 11 save attempts. In 2010, Lidge returned to being a fairly serviceable closer, saving 27 of 32 attempts and posting a 2.96 ERA. In 2011, Lidge became a secondary piece in the team's bullpen behind closer Ryan Madson and set-up man Michael Stutes, but did post a 1.40 ERA in 25 appearances, using his signature slider almost exclusively.
Though the two played four seasons with the club, both of their cases are rather sentimental. Halladay has a much stronger case for the actual Hall of Fame than he does for the Wall of Fame, but the same could be said for Thome. Lidge's case is based more on individual moments than his overall body of work with the Phillies — four players have more saves than him in the history of the team and none are in the Wall of Fame — but with fans voting that isn't especially important. When given the chance to vote, fans will think of Lidge closing the 2008 World Series and Halladay throwing a no-hitter in the playoffs, not their weaker seasons with the team.
It's unclear who would win if the two headlined a ballot or if the Phillies would even put both on the ballot in the same year. Lidge had been out of the league for three years when this year's ballot was announced, but the team didn't place him on the ballot. Perhaps next year Lidge will be put on and Halladay won't be until 2018. If both are ever on at the same time, the guess here is that Halladay would get the nod from the fans, because for as good of a closer as Lidge was in 2008, the closer position has been devalued. Since Halladay has left the league and CC Sabathia has declined, there seems to have been a noticeably lack of dominant "horse" type aces, making fans pine for when Halladay seemed like a lock to throw two complete games a month.
The nuggets
- It's unclear when, if ever, the Phillies will put Pete Rose on the Wall of Fame ballot. If they do, considering fans get to vote, I'm not sure his case is as clear-cut as some would like to think. Without knowing the exact demographics of which fans would vote, internet voting lends itself to a younger audience, many of whom weren't alive when Rose helped the Phillies win their first World Series in 1980. In an unscientific poll conducted on my Twitter account, Brad Lidge received 36 percent of the vote to Roy Halladay's 33 and Rose's 31 in a poll asking which of the three fans would vote for on the Wall of Fame ballot. I'm 20, so perhaps I draw a younger audience. However, on the Sports Talk Philly Twitter account, I asked the same question and Halladay won this time with 42 percent of the vote, while Rose got 33 and Lidge got 25. In either case, Rose didn't win. Yes, 1980 was the first World Series that the Phillies won, but it was also 36 years ago, and these polls prove that Rose, who certainly has his detractors, may struggle beating out heroes from the team's most recent golden era to end up on a Wall of Fame that fans vote for online.
- Ryan Madson has a better Wall of Fame case than Jamie Moyer.
- Cliff Lee will be eligible for the Wall of Fame in 2019, barring a shocking comeback. If Thome is in, it's hard to make a case for why Lee wouldn't get in.
- If Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino all retire after this season, all would be eligible to be on the ballot in 2020. While the Phillies are unlikely to put them all on the same ballot, my guess is Rollins would win the first year. I wouldn't be shocked if Ruiz actually beat out Howard after that, though that would be wrong.
- Jayson Werth has the most playoff home runs in the history of the Phillies. He deserves to eventually get in, end of discussion.
- Bobby Abreu last played in 2014, after taking 2013 off, meaning he won't be eligible until 2018. He's (at least) one of the top 15 Phillies ever, so regardless of him not having the greatest legacy, he deserves to be on fairly quickly.
- I struggle with Scott Rolen. Statistically, he should be a lock, but I can't see fans ever voting him in. It's also worth noting that there has never even seemed to be interest from him in making peace with the organization after his career. Jonathan Papelbon seems more likely to get in than Rolen, with both statistically being worthy.
