clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Desperately Seeking Glenn Wilson Rambo Picture

Before there was Delmon Young's amazing throw, the Phillies had another right fielder with a cannon for an arm: Glenn Wilson. His nickname, based on the strength of his arm, was Glennbo. The Phillies had a commercial that featured him dressed as Rambo, holding a machine gun with ammunition draped over his shoulder. Unbelievably, the internet has no record of that picture. We ask you to change that.

Glennbo.
Glennbo.
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

The Phillies lost to the Giants yesterday. With the Phils having won the series 2-1 though, there wasn't too much anguish after the loss. Rather, there was a lot of attention paid to this:

Delmon_medium

In the bottom of the fifth with two outs, Gregor Blanco hit a ball to deep right field. It hit the wall on the fly and caromed right into the waiting glove of Delmon Young. Not known for being a good fielder, to his credit Young was perfectly positioned to make the play. He got the ball and then fired a laser directly to Jimmy Rollins on the second base bag.

It was a perfect throw. It sailed probably over 250 feet in the air. It was a rope. It hit Rollins chest high. He didn't have to move from the bag. For all of us who have ragged on Young ever since he was signed (for so many good reasons), he showed us at the very least that he has an arm that has to be respected.

If you're a Phillies fan of a certain age, Young's throw probably immediately made you think of another Phillies right fielder with a gun for an arm -- Glenn Wilson. Wilson played four seasons for the Phillies, from 1984 through 1987. His best year was 1985, when he hit 14 home runs but drove in 102 runs. He earned a spot on the All-Star team that year.

Wilson posted a below-average 92 OPS+ in his 4 years as a Phillie, so he was not known for his hitting prowess. Rather, what made Wilson memorable was his arm. Wilson led the NL in outfield assists in 1985 (18) and 1986 (20). In 1987, he twice threw out runners at first base on balls hit into the outfield. Because of his gun of an arm, Wilson had a nickname based on Rambo -- Glennbo.

The Phillies capitalized on Wilson with an advertising campaign based on Glennbo's arm. In one such commercial, Glennbo appeared in military garb carrying a machine gun with ammunition draped over his shoulder. That image is probably more memorable than almost anything else that occurred in Phillies baseball in the 1980s post-1983.

Amazingly though, there's no evidence of this campaign on the internet. Advanced searches in Google and Google image turn up nothing other than the usual images of Glenn Wilson. But there's no Glennbo.

In other words, the internet is incomplete!

So we turn to you, dear readers. Someone out there must have or have access to an image of Glenn Wilson as Glennbo. We beg of you -- complete the internet! Get this picture out there so the world can enjoy the image of Glenn Wilson as Rambo.

After all, without it, will you ever be able to trust Google again?