Phillies Nation

Folks, if you missed out on the party, here’s your chance to be involved in the Phillies Nation Opening Day trip to Washington D.C.  Phillies Nation, along with our partner radio station 97.3 ESPN FM in South Jersey, is giving away two tickets, including a ride on the bus and a spot at the tailgate.  Here’s how to win:

Up until we give the tickets away on April 1st, listen in to the Sports Bash with Mike Gill from 3-7 Monday through Friday on 97.3 ESPN FM or 973ESPN.com. Mike will ask Phillies trivia questions to callers at a specific time in the show (listen in, he’ll tell you when), and if you answer the question correctly, you’ll be entered to win the two spots on the DC Bus trip.

For readers of the site, here’s the added bonus:  Below are the questions we will be asking today.  Each day we will ask a new set of 10 questions and they will be posted here on Phillies Nation.  Be sure to listen in and give yourself a chance to hang with hundreds of Phillies fans as Roy Halladay takes the mound for the first time in DC.

Good luck and remember, the only way to win is to tune into 97.3 ESPN FM or 973ESPN.com from 3-7 today up until the giveaway on April 1st!

Today’s 10 Phillies Trivia Questions:

DAY 5:

• Name 3 of the 4 Phillies who have been named NLCS MVP:
• This former Phillie is the oldest player in MLB history to hit a home run.
• This TOP 20 Phillie of all-time has led the team in stolen bases in a season more times than any other player in franchise history?
• Who were the last 2 Phillies to lead off a game with back-to-back home runs.  Hint: they still play together:
• Name the only 2 Phillies to hit for the Cycle since 1980:
• In the 2007 NLDS in which the Phillies were swept by the Rockies, the Phils only managed to score 8 runs.  Who was the only Phillie to cross the plate more than once in that series?
• Name 2 of the 3 former Phillies that played on the Florida Marlins 1997 World Series team:
• In the epic NLCS Game 4 comeback last season (the one in which J-Roll hit a 2-run double to win it off Jon Broxton) who was the pinch runner that scored the tying run in the 9^th before Carlos Ruiz came around to score the winning run?
• Name 3 of the 5 players in the infamous 5-for-1 deal that brought Von Hayes to Philadelphia.
• In 1997, this huge free agent signing managed just 7 at-bats before missing the season after fouling a ball off his foot and breaking it. He had over 200 career home runs before his time in Philly, but couldn’t manage a hit during his quick stint here.   Who was this masher ?

This is the final installment of Fan Friday – thanks to everyone who sent in a story!

I was born and raised in West Philly. I am a die-hard Phillies fan.

Since I moved to North Carolina, my love for the Phillies has not changed.

I still attend a half dozen or so games. I even got a personalized North Carolina plate to support the team.

Phillies pride is here to stay.

I have followed the team since before the 1993 season. Along the way, I have collected much merchandise. My pride and joy is my hat collection: all sizes, shapes, colors and types.

Many of you may remember one of our more beloved Fan Friday participants, Sister Janice, from her post three weeks ago (if not, read it now).  I know one generous person from South Carolina in particular can recall the story.  Just over a week ago, this anonymous fan mailed Sister two free tickets to the April 20th game versus the Padres.  While not quite a Phillies miracle, it really goes to show the true nature of Phillies fans – good-hearted people that flat-out love the Phillies and consider fellow fans family.  If the anonymous ticket donor is reading this post, please know that Sister Janice was brought to tears by your gift and will certainly be attending the game.  For anyone else going to the game that day, be on the look out for one of the biggest Phillies fans around.

As weird as it may seem, my life has always been defined as being a Phillies fan. That’s what I’m known for.

That’s how and part of the reason why I married my husband. We even had a Phillies-themed wedding.

The best story about my insane Phillies obsession comes from when I was 13 years old. I just had spinal surgery and was being watched closely in recovery by the nurses. The Phillies were playing the Dodgers in LA and Carlton was pitching. Even in my pain, I was listening to the game. I had a little ear piece attached to a small radio. No one could hear except for me. It was around 11 p.m. and pretty quiet on the girl’s ward. All of a sudden, Lefty hit a grand slam, and I started screaming! Well, all of the nurses came running and even called the doctor on call. Needless to say, they were not very happy when they realized my screams were caused by the Phillies! From then on, I was allowed to watch on a TV by the nurses’ desk so that they would know why I was screaming!

When I was released from the hospital, I had a full body cast, but my sister was able to draw Tug’s jersey on the back.

I have found that rooting for the Phillies is a wonderful way to unite people and a city that might otherwise have nothing in common. It is a great game, and the Phillies are not just someone to root for, they are a way of life.

Let’s Go Phillies!!

I am without a doubt the biggest Phillies fan to ever draw breath, and I think my lifetime of accomplishments speaks for itself. I have written in Mike Schmidt for president in every presidential election since I was old enough to vote.

The 1980 World Championship means so much to me that I’m able to forgive Tug McGraw not only for playing for the Mets, but for fathering Tim McGraw. In fact, I’d likely forgive him for Pearl Harbor and the Irish Potato Blight. I have dressed as the Phanatic every Halloween since 1989. When a friend pointed out that it was getting a little small on me I called the CIA and had him arrested for being a terrorist. I once started a bar fight with Daryl Strawberry just because. As a teenager I attempted to break into the Vatican and repaint the saints on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the image of the Phillies championship team. I was discovered and kicked out of the Vatican before I was halfway through.

I used to be an astronaut, but I got kicked out of the space program when NASA discovered my plan to plant a Phillies pennant on Mars. Betsy Ross originally intended the U.S. flag to be beige, teal, and salmon, but I built a time machine, traveled back to 1777, and kicked her in the stomach until she saw reason and changed it to Phillies Red, White, and Blue.

I have devoted my life to the Phillies and I have only one regret; not selling my left kidney for World Series Tickets when I had the chance. Please Phillies Nation, help me keep my organs and fulfill my dream by voting me the biggest Phillies fan.

I am a Sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and I work at Holy Family University.

I believe I qualify as a great Phillies fan, because from 2000 to 2007, I lived in Texas, and I guarantee that I was the only Phillies fan in that great state! I could not listen to the games, of course, but I subscribed to MLB.com and I watched every single game that was not blacked out for me (Houston games). The Sisters all knew when I was having my “holy hour.”

My office here at the University is decorated with Phillies photos, bobble heads, and everything else that my co-workers, who know how much I love the Phillies, have brought in for me. I have my red shirt ready to wear during the World Series games, and my rally towel to wave. I have to add that I really do storm heaven for them during their games!

This past summer Dunkin Donuts held the Cole Hamels promotion where in every Dunkin Donuts they had a life size cut out him and a big poster with him and ice coffee. Cole Hamels is one of my favorite Phillies and I definitely wanted that cut out. Whenever I went into Dunkin Donuts, I always said to myself I need that cut out and poster. Now this is where my journey began.

By the end of July I began cracking jokes to the crazy people who worked there, like “Oh my I love him!! Can I have him?” The crazy people just looked at me like I was insane. They probably just did not understand me. Finally, after begging for my Cole the cashier gave in and told me that on Tuesday morning, he was giving Cole away to the first customer that came. Well, I was determined to be that first customer, so that Tuesday morning my boyfriend and I woke up at 4:30am and drove down to the Dunkin Donuts. As soon as we walked in the cashiers began laughing and slapping their heads and told us, “AHHH! We left it in the truck at home! Come back later today I will have it.” I was so mad. So then I stopped by around 11:00am that same morning and there was a new cashier who I began to tell my story to and she did not understand anything I was saying so she called her dad and handed me the phone. He said for me to come back again the next morning so I agreed and my boyfriend and I woke up again at 4:30am and drove down to Dunkin Donuts for the second time.

So we got there and they played us for fools AGAIN! They told us to come back in a few days because Cole was at another Dunkin Donuts that the same manager owned. This really pissed me off, but I thought of Cole so I agreed to stop in and try again for Cole’s sake. The day that the guy told us to come back was the morning my boyfriend and I were leaving for the shore so it was now or never. As we drove there it was pouring rain and we were so fired up and were determined to leave with Cole because be fought for him and we deserved him.

As soon as we walked in the Dunkin Donuts guys were laughing and acting weird so we were positive that we got punk’d again. That is until Cole came out we went crazy and thanked everyone so much. This was definitely one of my favorite Phillies memories. Since then, whenever we are watching the Phillies we always have Cole by our side. He is like a good luck charm and everybody loves him.

Every since I raced to the door on Sunday mornings on Glenview St. off Roosevelt Boulevard to beat my father to the morning Inquirer when I was just learning to read at Solis Cohen Elementary School, my day hasn’t been complete without a Phillies update. Dad passed on his love of this team to my brother and me, just as a slew of returning WWII vets had done, as the Whiz Kids helped soothe the trauma of that war. He’d tell me tales of sneaking into Shibe park as a boy to watch games with my uncles. His heroes – Ashburn, Roberts, Simmons, Hamner, et al., became my treasured baseball cards that I would buy with my first allowances at the drug store on Tyson and Bustleton.

My zeal for the Phillies was so great, that I committed my only crime at the age of 6. My dad kept a collection of silver dollars in the same drawer in his bedroom chest in which a calendar picture of Marilyn Monroe lay temptingly under some undershirts. Not sure how many dollars I took, but it was enough to buy a whole box of cards- the entire series of Topps baseball cards, circa 1952.

Proudly, the next day, I showed off all the Whiz Kids cards to my Glenview street stick and step ball buddies. But my glee was short lived. I guess the druggist snitched, for my mother called me inside and scared me with a fake call to the Philadelphia police to get me to confess my crime. I returned all of the cards. Ironically I spent many years as a public defender for juveniles. She kept the deed quiet from my dad. His only concern was who was looking at the Marilyn Monroe calendar portrait.

The Phils’ fortunes have bookmarked each day since. No matter where I’ve been, I’ve known before sleep what they had done that day.

I’m not as bitter about 1964 as many fans became over the collapse. Great movie, sad ending. I can remember leaving for Penn State the day Bunning beat the Dodgers to give the Phils a 6 1/2 game lead with just 12 to play. I could barely hear the radio feed up there in Happy Valley, but the Pittsburgh fans that filled West Halls sure let me know the results of those fateful 10 games. I just attended a reunion party with friends from Marple-Newtown’s class of that year, and there was substantial reminiscing about that team and the year of hope turned sour.

When I went to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in ’69 I listened to static filled accounts on 1210 radio when the sun went down to assuage my homesickness. In 1980 I staged a one man drunken soiree through the streets of Raleigh after McGraw sealed the long awaited title deal.

Last week, 56 years and 500 miles removed from those days on Glenview St, this haggard attorney slumped into Court with the glow of the Phillies pennant somehow blanketing the gloom our current economic troubles. I reflected upon those early days during lulls and doodled lineups from the 50′s on my notepad. Go Phillies. An unbroken umbilical chord to my hometown.