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
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