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The last time the Phillies won the World Series I was 10. Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose, Del Unser... I used to know them all.
So now it's nice to learn the franchise has won another one, finally. I didn't watch any of this series; 1980 was the last time I paid any attention to baseball.
I was 16 . . .
“Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose, Del Unser . . .”
Garry Maddox, Greg Gross, Bob Boone, Manny Trillo, Tug McGraw, Dickie Noles . . .
The Phillies of this era were my boyhood idols, starting in 1973. Willie Montanez was my favorite player. Dave “Yes, We Can” Cash was next. Then Jay Johnstone. Then Richie Hebner. Always went for the less-obvious types: until Pete Rose came along.
The Phils broke my heart countless times. Used my paper-boy money to buy partial season tickets from 1976-78. Went from a boy to a teen to a man following these guys, how cruel it was they waited to win it all for the first time when I was 400 miles away, a college freshman in Pittsburgh.
Covered the team from 1986-99 in my former life as a small-town sportswriter.
Learned how these guys were up close and personal (not always a good thing). Schmidt . . . engimatic, sometimes too introspective for his good, didn’t understand the media’s role. Bowa . . . fiery, hot-tempered, passionate, opinionated, loved to talk, understood the media’s role. Rose . . . proud, profane, egotistical, charming, crude, fun, defiant, understood the media’s role.
Lost interest in baseball for a couple years after I got out of sportswriting, gained it back, thanks to old-school Citizens Bank Park and Jimmy Rollins’ arrival at shortstop.
Immensely enjoyed our second world championship in 126 years.
Think this team could wind up being better than 2000 — but not now, not even close, not seasoned enough; give them time.
Cleek . . .
You were a Phillies fan?
yup. i was a Phillies fan for a few years 1980 +/-. my first major league game was at Veteran’s (Phils v Giants). Flyers, too. why? because my dad was from north-central PA.
sportswriting sounds fun :) much more glamorous than programming.
thinking about buying a Steve Carlton autographed ball, just for old-time’s sake. not sure if i trust autograph dealers, though.
Sportswriting was fun, especially when I was young and dumb.
Then you get cynical.
It became less fun as the years went by and each sport became more of a business than a game — you often thought you were a business writer not a sportswriter.
Now, as a fan again, I try to ignore the salaries — they are what they are — and focus on the games themselves. But as a reporter, these big contracts and contract negotiations and contract holdouts, and the drugs and the strikes, all of the off-field stuff, are news you are obligated to report.
Also, I’d say as many as half of the athletes — baseball was the worst — feel as if you, the reporter, should be thankful for their time since you are “putting them out,” not realizing the advent of wall-to-wall coverage is a reason why sports is a multi-billion-dollar business and why they get paid as much as they do.
I was always the proverbial big fish in the little pond, working the last 14 years of my writing days at the Gloucester County Times, a stone’s throw away from the Vet on the Jersey side of the Delaware River.
As small papers will do, they ended staff coverage of pro sports my last two years and went strictly with Associated Press. I was back to covering high schools and college, which was fun and I never lost touched of — but definitely not as glam as covering pro sports. My paper only had one college to cover: Rowan University (formerly Glassboro State). So it wasn’t like I was covering Michigan and Ohio State. Money on small newspapers stinks, too, so that’s why you never here somebody in journalism saying they got in it for the fame and forture, even after they hit the big time.
Meanwhile, I had lost my zest for the job. And when you lose your enthusiasm for a job like sportswriting, you’re done. I never understood the term “burnout” until I personally experienced it.
For years, people would ask me if I missed covering sports or writing. My answer was always no and no. I still don’t miss sportswriting but I must have missed writing the last few years because these blogs have been an outlet since I happened upon them last spring.
How I wound up in car sales is a mystery.
I never understood the term “burnout” until I personally experienced it.
yeah, same here. sadly.
i’m not quite to the point where i’m willing to start a new career. but that doesn’t mean i’m not trying to find one…