Philadelphia: This One’s For You
This one’s for Whitey Ashburn and Vuk, Johnny Marz and the Tugger who
was the first one to teach us that You Gotta Believe.
This one’s for those guys who will always be Phillies For Life: Randy
Wolf, Doug Glanville, Mike Lieberthal (yes, even Lieberthal).
This one’s for Marlon Anderson and Marlon Byrd, Ricky Jordan and Kevin
Jordan.
This one’s for the Bench Dawgs: Todd Pratt, Jason Michaels, Nicky Punto,
and especially Tomas Perez and his shaving cream pies.
This one’s for The Wolf Pack, The Daal House, Padilla’s Flotilla,
Person’s People and all other fan groups in the 700 Level at the Vet.
This one’s for our can’t miss catchers, Bobby Esta llela and Johnny
Estrada – who would’ve ever believed that Chris Coste and Chooch Ruiz
would outlast both of you.
This one’s for the great names of the past 15 years: Randy Ready,
Heathcliff Slocumb, Jeff Juden, David Doster, Kevin Sefcik, Amaury
Telemaco, Desi Relaford, Rob Ducey, Eude Brito, & Les Walrond.
This one’s for the guys who gave it their all in the brief time they
were here: Rico Brogna, Placido Polanco, Jim Thome, Ricky Bottalico and
Aaron Rowand, who left a piece of himself in the centerfield wall and
helped teach this team how to win.
This one’s NOT for Tartabull’s foot, Abreu’s heart, Freddy Garcia’s
elbow, Mesa’s goatee, Bell’s back and Wagner’s mouth.
This one’s for the biggest collection of stiff pitchers ever assembled:
Bobby Munoz, Garret Stephenson, Mark Leiter, Mark Portugal, Carlton
Loewer, Chad Ogea, Andy Ashby, Paul Abbott, Bruce Chen, Omar Daal, Joe
Roa, Brandon Duckworth and Adam Eaton. If not for them, we would never
appreciate Cole Hamels.
This one’s for the veteran journeymen who passed through the Red & White
pinstripes over the years: Fernando Valenzuela, Ron Gant, Kenny Lofton,
Rheal Cormier, Jeff Brantley, Jeremy Giambi, Ricky Ledee, John Mabry,
Dave Delucci, Norm Charlton, Mark Whiten, Charlie Hayes, Jeff Conine,
and Sal Fasano.
This one’s for Harry the K, Wheels, Larry Anderson, and even Scott
Graham, who’s somewhere putting this one in the win column for the
Phightin’ Phils.
This one’s for Dan Baker and the Phillie Phanatic, who always kept us
coming back to the ballpark in the dog days of summer.
This one’s for Dallas Green, whose cleanup hitter is no longer killing
him, and Ed Wade, who made the deal of the century…when he traded us
Brad Lidge.
This one’s for Bill Conlin who always knew how to capture 25 years of
frustration in less than 1,500 words.
This one’s for the guys who were “too big” for Philly: Gregg Jeffries,
Todd Zeile, Travis Lee and Scott Rolen. In reality, Philly was too big
for you.
This one’s for all the bullpen arms that have shaved numerous years off
of all our lives: Wayne Gomes, Roberto Hernandez, Turk Wendell, Tim
Worrell,Terry Adams, Geoff Geary, Todd Jones, Ugueth Urbina, Felix
Rodriguez, Aaron Fultz, Ryan Franklin, Arthur Rhodes and Jose Mesa.
But most of all, this one’s for all the fans who stuck with this team
and this city through thick and thin, through 90-loss seasons and
pennant race heartbreak, through the 10,000th loss and 7 back with 17 to
play, from the Vet to the Bank & the Linc, from the Spectrum to the
CoreStates/FU/Wacko Center, from Randall to McNabb, Barkley to AI,
Hextall to the Legion of Doom, Buddy’s Boys to Macho Row, Claude Lemieux
to Joe Jurevicius, T.O. to Smarty Jones, the Fog Bowl to the 46-Hour
Reign Delay, from Joe Carter to the Detroit Red Army to Kobe & Shaq to
the Super Bowl Puke, through 15 years without an NL Pennant, 28 years
without a World Series title, 25 years without a major sports
championship, 100 SEASONS as the City of Losers.
To the fans who booed and bitched and complained but never gave up. To
the fans who said “Wait till next year” but deep down feared that we and
our children would grow up and grow old and “next year” would never
come. Breathe easy. The drought is over. “Next year” is here. This one’s
for you. It was worth the wait.
R.I.P. Negadelphia.: 5/31/83 – 10/29/08
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