Why I Love the Phillies – James
I grew up in Central PA and have been a Phillies fan almost my whole life. My first real memories were the ’64 collapse and Richie (call me Dick) Allen winning rookie of the year.
When I was 8 years old I was watching the Yankees (hey i was only eight) on a Sunday afternoon. It was 1963 so I guess a pretty good year to be a Yankee fan, I believe they won 104 games that year and swept the Dodgers in the World Series. Well anyway my dad always spent his Sundays at the American Legion and would usually come home about half-snockered.
Well, this Sunday afternoon was no different. He walks in the living room says “ya got the ballgame on, good.” He sits down and hears the voice of the hated Phil Rizutto. calling the Yankee game. He says “why are you watching the @#$%$ New York Yankees on my television.” I thought “ah, oh here we go” cause he seemed serious as hell. Then in the same serious tone he says, “boy, you wanna be a Yankee fan, you gotta move outta my house.” Well I was scared and had no place to go, so immediately switched over to Channel 16 the Scranton-Wilkes Barre ABC affiliate that carried the Phillies on Sunday afternoons. Needless to say, I became a Phillies fan at that moment and had a lot of heartbreaking seasons until 1980 but it was worth it. Go Phightins.
– James
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