Thursday, October 30, 2008

Champions


The Philadelphia Phillies are World Series Champions. It feels so good to type that. Carthartic, even. It seems like a lifetime has passed since the Phillies were Champions. Some would say it was worth the wait. Scott Eyre would probably not let them supervise his bowel movements. Personally, I was sick of waiting a decade ago. Hopefully, the Phils will just go ahead and win it all next season, and not keep us waiting for another three decades.

Steve Carlton (1980) 24-9, 2.34
Tug McGraw (1980) 5-4, 20, 1.47
Mike Schmidt (1980) .286, 48, 121

Perhaps, I was born too soon. Or too late. I'm not sure which. But, as a seven year old, I wasn't fully able to appreciate how remarkable the Phillies' 1980 season was. I was just becoming a baseball fan, and my favorite team was, well, awesome. My memories from that great season consist of Pete Rose catching the ball that popped out of Bob Boone's glove, horses on the field at The Vet, and Tug McGraw celebrating on the mound.
It was a good time to be a Phillies fan. Unless, maybe, if you were living hundreds of miles away from the Phillies' sphere of influence. Long before the series of tubes, it was a lot more difficult to follow teams outside of your region. With only occasional Game of the Week broadcasts, and broadcasts of games against the local team, there weren't too many opportunities to watch the Phillies in action. The only viable course of action was to devour every issue of Baseball Digest and Sports Illustrated, as well as every baseball book available.
My favorite ensemble, red Phillies hat w/red 1950 Whiz Kids Phillies t-shirt, drew many a quizzical look, but I didn't care. The Phillies had many more Championships in their near future. I was proud to be a Phillies fan.

John Denny (1983) 19-6, 2.37
Al Holland (1983) 8-4, 25, 2.26
Mike Schmidt (1983) .255, 40, 109

It was during the 1983 season that I made an incredible discovery. I could pick up Phillies games on my radio! Though hundreds of miles away, if I turned the dial on my radio just right, WCAU 1210 AM came in loud and clear. I spent my nights listening to Harry Kalas and Whitey Ashburn call the games. It was a great season, that culminated in a World Series loss. But, that was OK. The Phillies played well, and they would be back. Thanks to my radio, I wouldn't miss a thing. I was excited to be a Phillies fan.

Bruce Ruffin (1986) 9-4, 2.46
Pat Combs (1989) 4-0, 2.09
Chris James (1987) .293, 17, 54 (358)

"You want ALL of my Chris James rookie cards?", the baseball card dealer inquired. He probably didn't expect to sell 38 Chris James rookie cards that day. But, for less than $4.00, I had cornered the Chris James rookie card market. In the off-chance that a baseball scholarship didn't put me through college, I would just sell a couple of my CJ rookies. He was the next great baseball superstar, and baseball card values would never stop rising.
The Phillies seemed to spend the next decade mired in fifth or sixth place. But they were a team on the rise. Combining a few free agents (Lance Parrish, Mike Easler), with the harvest from their bountiful farm system, would be a winning formula. I spent many an afternoon matching the current Phillies up against the greatest teams in MLB history on my computer. In MicroLeague baseball, the stats proved just how good the Phillies really were. Past performance guaranteed future results. The Phillies would be back in the Series soon. I was a confident Phillies fan.

Curt Schilling (1993) 16-7, 4.02
Mitch Williams (1993) 3-7, 3.34, 43
Lenny Dykstra (1993) .305, 19, 66

I spent the summer of 1993 in South Jersey. Every Phillies game was on TV. The Philadelphia Inquirer was delivered to my door each morning. The Vet was a 30 minute drive away. To me, for that summer, New Jersey was Baseball Heaven.
In early July, the Phillies played a doubleheader against San Diego. There were almost six hours of rain delays, and the second game started at 1:26am. It ended at 4:40am, with a game-winning single from Phillies closer Mitch Williams. Surely, this was a team destined for greatness.
Unfortunately, they fell short. The only possible response I had to Joe Carter's Series-ending home run, was to pound my soccer ball, repeatedly, into a brick wall.
It was either the soccer ball, or my head.
Even worse, a heaping helping of coursework in Statistics and Economics had taught me things I would have preferred not to know. Learning what "sample size" was tempered my optimism. I realized the importance of a strong farm system, and, worse, that the Phillies' farm system was not quite as strong as I had believed. Past performance did not guarantee future results any more. Gone was my youthful naivety. I was a disillusioned Phillies fan.

Cole Hamels (2008) .272 , 145, 1.082
Brad Lidge (2008) .297, 225, 1.226
Chase Utley (2008) .293/.380/.535

There's been no better time in history to be a baseball fan. With MLB.TV, and MLB Extra Innings, pretty much every game can be seen, in HD (!) wherever you may live. (Well, except for some Saturdays, when Fox bastardizes select fans from 3:55pm-7pm.) The series of tubes has all of the baseball info a fan could crave. Our understanding of baseball statistics grows every day.
Maybe I was born at just the right time.

I can't really put into words how amazing this season was. This Championship season. I guess I'm just really glad it happened at a time when I was fully able to appreciate it. That, and the fact that I know the Phillies will be back in the playoffs in 2009. I'm a proud, excited, and confident Phillies fan.