Phillies Nation

You’re invited to the first annual Wiffadelphia wiffleball tournament to benefit Philabundance.

On Saturday, March 9 starting at 6pm, we’ll be hosting a huge party at Big League Dreams – an indoor wiffleball facility in Medford, NJ.   We are raising money to help Philabundance provide meals for families in the Delaware Valley.  There will be lots of activities and different ways you can participate, but the main event will be an 8-team wiffleball tournament and home run derby.  Each team will consist of a maximum of 8 players (all 8 will bat, but only 5 play the field at a time) and each team is guaranteed to play in three games.  You can register as a whole team or we can assign you and some friends to a team ($25/person).  If you don’t want to play wiffleball, you can get a guest ticket ($15/person) and have fun in lots of other ways:

Beer Mini-golf T-shirts for everyone Giveaways Speed pitch Phillies trivia

Tailgate games Ballpark food Special guests Arcade Raffles Silent Auction

So call your friends now and make your plans for attending.  There are a limited number of wiffleball tournament tickets available so get yours now before it’s too late.  You must be over 21 years old to attend.

As a youngster I grew up watching the Clay Dalrymple show before each Phillie game. My heroes back then were Johnny Callison, Wes Chamberlain, Tony Gonzales, Tony Taylor, Bill White, Johnny Briggs, Bobby Wine, Jim Bunning, Chris Short, and of course the man who would hit a shot off the wall in right field and only leg out a single, Clay Dalrymple. His show was brought to us by Tastycake, cakes and pies, they had a guy laying down the foul lines which were not chalk, but a white line of cloth which would end up a bit askew as he went from home to first, he would then simply tug on the cloth line to straighten it out, I still chuckle about the simple humor in simpler times.

In 1964, I was 10 years old, I put together a scrapbook, full of newspaper clippings of each game, becoming more and more excited about a possible World Series appearance. Then the bottom dropped out , I still have an ache in my heart over that one. We all blamed Gene Mauch. Through it all I remained an ardent fan , never giving up hope, and rightly so. The Phillies are a great , storied franchise. I actually cried in 1980 , pumping my fist in the air, just like Tug did when he closed it out on the mound. Having moved out to Tucson , Az. some 30 odd years ago, I have remained true blue to the Phitins’ . What a ride it has been. Here we are in mid September 4 games under .500 and I still believe we will make the play offs. Go Phils!!!!!.

- Charles

Read more “Why I Love the Phillies” stories from Phillies Nation readers here.

Although it was a disappointing season for the Phillies, I hope you will agree it was a great year for Phillies Nation. We welcomed Ryan and Eric to the writing team, officially registered our charity, debuted Phillies Nation TV on air in Allentown and the Lehigh Valley, passed 250,000 Likes on Facebook and served up over 5 million pageviews on PhilliesNation.com.

We have plenty more in store for 2013 including our Wiffadelphia charity wiffleball tournament, a Spring Training road trip, Philly Sports quizzo at bars around the region and Phillies Nation TV will be back for Season 3 with new features and distribution.

As we anticipate the new year, take a moment to review the top 10 most viewed posts on PhilliesNation.com in 2012. As you can tell, the Phillies front-office generated more interest than the players on the diamond. Have a Happy New Year!

1. What Trading Pence to the Giants Would Mean by Ian on July 30
2. Lee Claimed Off Waivers by Pat on August 3
3. Report: Phillies Talked with Cleveland About Cabrera by Pat on December 11
4. July 16 Trade Rumor Round-Up: Victorino, Hamels, Rollins by Ian on July 16
5. Revere the First Step to a Successful Offseason? by Corey on December 6
6. Updated 2012 Phillies Roster and Payroll Projections by Pat on several occasions prior to the season
7. Rosenthal: D’backs Attempting Blockbuster for SP by Corey on July 31
8. Phillies Rumors: Lee, Blanton, Pierre by Pat on July 30
9. Report: Phillies Close to Acquiring Michael Young? by Corey on December 6
10. Phils Have Enough Money, Space to Land Ross by Ian on December 15

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' Here was my favorite album this year.

Welcome to the sixth Phillies Nation mailbag! Because nobody asked for it, and everybody else is doing it, here are some of my picks of my favorite things that happened this year. Just hit “Page Down” a few times to get to the baseball stuff. Or just click on “Read More” – it’s after that jump. I promise I answer Phillies’ related questions eventually.

Music:

Favorite Album of 2012: Here – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Favorite Pop Single of 2012: “Some Nights” – fun.

Hardest Pop Song to Get Out of My Head in 2012: Three-way tie – “Want U Back” by Cher Lloyd, “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, and “Domino” by Jessie J.

Most Disappointing Album of 2012: Wrecking Ball – Bruce Springsteen

and finally, the coveted:

Album from 2012 That I Am Most Likely To Confuse for Something by T. Rex (and that’s a good thing) Award: Be the Void – Dr. Dog

Was it me or was this a weak year for pop and rock music or what? If not for Bruno Mars, this might have been the weakest year for music since 2006. That year, Rihanna hit the scene with “S.O.S.” and the Raconteurs put out their album but the well was pretty dry then like it is now. The big singles were easy to digest but nothing memorable musically like the subtle key change in 2007′s “Umbrella”

Movies:

Movie with the Most Bootleg Looking Commercial: Life of Pi

Movie with Commercials That Set Impossibly High Expectations: The Dark Knight Rises

Worst Sequel: With apologies to The Expendables 2, Madagascar 3, Twilight Breaking Dawn 2, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Journey 2, The Bourne Legacy, Taken 2, Resident Evil: Retribution, and Paranormal Activity 4, all of which I have not, and likely will not, see, this award goes to the mailed-in Men in Black 3. It wasn’t particularly bad, it wasn’t particularly good – it was there. Sadly, it had very few funny moments and the nostalgia just wasn’t there to keep me interested the whole time.

Was this the year for sequels, though, or what?

Best Movie Where the Parents Suddenly Realize They Have a Half-Boy, Half-Plant hybrid for a Child: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Worst Execution of Digging Something Wayyyyyy Out of the Archives and Trying to Sell It To 18-49 Year Olds: The Three Stooges

Sports

The “We Can Finally Stop Talking About This” Award 2012: LeBron Wins a Championship

The “I’d Like Everyone To Talk About This More” Award 2012: The NHL Stoppage

The “Everyone Here Would Have Gotten Kicked Out of High School, College, or Both if We Did This”, Non-Steroids Award 2012: ESPN repeatedly plagiarizes

The “Everyone Here Would Have Gotten Kicked Out of High School, College, or Both if We Did This”, Steroids Award 2012: Tie: Took steroids and broke our back or Took steroids and were still super out of shape

Continue reading PN Mailbag #6: End of the Year Edition

Not only have I, a young-at-heart 56-year old Pennsylvania native who has lived in California for the last 33 years of my life, grown up listening to, watching, reading about and talking about the Phillies, but so did my mother and her mother before her – all Philadelphia natives (go Richie Ashburn!). I truly look forward to watching the Phillies game every day (I must do that with MLB.com now, since for some reason California TV stations don’t show the daily Phillies games!), but at least I have that — there was a long period of time when I first moved out here in 1979 where I could only read the scores in the daily paper, as that thing called the “internet” had not yet taken hold.

My bad timing, of course, is that I moved out here the year BEFORE the Phillies had that wonderful World Series victory (go Tug McGraw!!). Larry Bowa was my favorite – I still love him! I am surrounded by Angels and Dodgers fans, but once a Phillies fan, always a Phillies fan – there’s no way I could (or would ever want) to change my allegiance. My fellow employees know it – I have my “Go Phillies” rock man on my desk and the Phllies page featuring Mike Schmidt from last year’s MLB wall calendar on my wall (so graciously given to me by a Dodger’s fan!). There are no fans like Philllies fans – we enjoy the great times and have faith through the rougher times, but we always know the joy is more in the journey than the end result (mostly!). Go Phillies!!! P.S. And thank you for Phillies Nation – it keeps us “out-of-staters” so close to the action!

- Janet

Read more “Why I Love the Phillies” stories from Phillies Nation readers here.

On behalf of the entire Phillies Nation team – Brian, Corey, Rob, Amanda, Kieran, Jay, Jon, Ian, Ryan, Eric and Don – I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season. We certainly hope Santa stops at your house this Christmas and brings you an abundance of Phillies related gifts. A belated Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends, as well!

We’d like to thank you for sticking with us here on PhilliesNation.com and making us part of your extended family. We strive to put together the best possible website for entertainment and information, and we hope we’ve succeeded over the last year.

And really, we couldn’t do it without all of you. The best fans in the world make this the best source for Phillies news in the world. It’s that simple.

So, thank you all for continuing to grace the pages of PhilliesNation.com and Merry Christmas to all to all a good night!

Oh, and if you get any awesome Phillies gifts, upload a photo of them here:

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It’s that time of year that gets you in the mood to be jolly. The biggest of all holidays is loved by all, for many reasons. Baseball players don’t feel any differently.  In recent weeks, I have checked in with several Phillies players, from the bottom to the top of the system, to find out what stands out for them as reasons to get excited for Christmas.

Players that took part include Phillies rookie OF/1B Darin Ruf (pictured), lefty pitching prospect Austin Wright, former supplemental 1st round draft pick, outfielder Zach Collier, right-handed minor league pitcher David Buchanan, third base prospect Cody Asche, former top draft pick, outfielder Kelly Dugan, whose father Dennis Dugan is a film director, and, lastly, catcher Josh Ludy, who was drafted by the Phils in the 8th round this year.

Questions and answers detailing each player’s holiday favorites are ahead…

-What’s your favorite Christmas movie or TV special?

Darin Ruf- Elf with Will Ferrell is my favorite.

Austin Wright- The Grinch Who Stole Christmas- always liked that movie.

Zach Collier- A Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite one.

David Buchanan-  Favorite Christmas movie is Elf. My family watches it every year!

Cody Asche- I always spend holidays watching all of the college football bowl games. It’s my favorite thing to watch on TV. Continue reading Frosty Phillies Favorites: 2012 Christmas Survey

I love the Phillies for the simple reason that they are my home team and represent my home town and where I came from. I am proud to be from Philadelphia and I love the teams that represent that. Even if they lost every game, I would be angry, but NEVER root for any other team! Go Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, Sixers!! 4 for 4!

- Michael

Read more “Why I Love the Phillies” stories from Phillies Nation readers here.

Sometimes, I am amazingly impressed by the Phillies Nation community with their knowledge. The one-off-references and jabs provided on here and on Twitter are shining examples of how Philadelphia has among the most dedicated fans in baseball. An off-handed Don Money comment on Twitter resulted in several responses. Money was the starting third baseman for the Phillies in 1972 that Mike Schmidt ended up replacing despite the fact that Money was a pretty decent hitter and excellent defender. There will be more on that one in the future.

Anyhow, in wading through old Phillies data on FanGraphs, I stumbled upon something that nobody has seemed to point out, something so big, so important, that I am now disappointed as a Phillies fan. No Phillies fan, to my knowledge, has yet made the joke that Michael Young is not the same Mike Young that played with the Phillies. I could be wrong, after all, the internet is a pretty big place, but I am genuinely disappointed at the lack of recall of Mike Young #1.

Continue reading Know Thy Phillies History: Mike Young

Wanna get out and start the weekend a little early? Come do it with me at Drinker’s Pub Rittenhouse Square on Thursday, December 20th at 8 pm. Drinker’s is a Philly institution located at 19th and Chestnut Sts.

Each quizzo player will receive a PHILS sticker on top of the great specials on Thursday’s.

• $1 Tacos & $.50 Wings
• $2 PBR
• $2 Bud Light drafts & $7 pitchers
• $3 Flying Fish drafts & $10 pitchers
• $3 Soco ‘n Lime Shots
• $4 Jack Honey Shots
• $4 Jager Shots & $6 Jager Bombs

You wanna hear about the prizes!? We’ll have PHILS stickers for all who play, plus a great Phillies prize each week. On top of that, the 1st place team gets a $35 gift card to Drinkers Pub, with 2nd place getting $15. Even the 3rd place team gets a free round of PBR’s!

Plus, we’re giving away an awesome Phillies Nation prize pack that has a ton of a stuff in it; all Phillies related of course.

Hope you can make it out for Sports Quizzo at Drinker’s Pub on 19th and Chestnut sts. this Thursday!