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. Detroit Tigers (1963-1964) In , 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 , 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. Summary 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. Post baseball Phillips worked in real estate and was a tennis instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi and the city of Hattiesburg. In 1972, he was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. In 1981, Phillips played "Coach Hardy" in the TV film, Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige, which starred Louis Gossett Jr. as legendary pitcher Satchel Paige. The film is based on the 1993 book, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever. Paige appears briefly in the film as himself. Death Phillips died from a heart attack at age 65 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and is buried at Cedarlawn Cemetery in Philadelphia, Mississippi. References External links 1928 births 1993 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Mississippi Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Detroit Tigers players Flint Arrows players Major League Baseball third basemen People from Macon, Mississippi People from West Point, Mississippi Southern Miss Golden Eagles baseball players Southern Miss Golden Eagles football players Stroudsburg Poconos