I have something of a spot for the Phillies as, in the old days of the Expos and the NL East and national media that was not so Toronto-centric as to singlehandedly kill off a team, it was once possible to watch them. But they are one of those teams, like the Cubs, known more for their failings than anything:
Defeat has been as spectacular and excruciating as it has been regular. On May 1, 1883, the team lost its inaugural game; by the end of that miserable season, a pitcher named John Coleman had lost 48 times. From 1938 through 1942, the Phillies lost at least 103 games each year. The franchise has set awful records for futility — with a collective earned run average of 6.71 in 1930 and 23 consecutive defeats in 1961. And, of course, 1964 brought one of baseball’s most infamous collapses, when the Phillies held a 6 ½-game lead in the National League with 12 games to play and blew the pennant after losing 10 in a row.Good story in the NYT about the losing-est team in sports history who, in large part because of Mike, won the World Series when I was in grade 12 leaving me forever with a skewed understanding of their legacy.
Comments
portland - June 12, 2007 8:39 PM
heretic!
you nay can have a soft spot for the phils and expos both. thay played us so hard in all the best years including the one in which they won it all. amd mike schmidt? there has never been anybody in the history of the game to kill one team so bad as that guy killed expos pitching. he's only in the hall because of us. i'd spit on him (and run away) if i met him in the street. oh, the heartbreak that man is responsible for amongst us expo fans. the horror. the horror.
and don't kid yourself, pete rose won them that series. no rose and they were just the same old phillies that year.
Alan - June 12, 2007 11:01 PM
I never said soft. Just a spot. I have this recollection of the run he made in one 70s summer for the consecutive game hitting streak. It was before I moved to Truro. I was at some guy's place, a family with far less than us but with a colour TV. There was something on the news about Rose. I think what I recollect is that they meant something back then.
portland - June 13, 2007 12:27 AM
schmidt was a killer, a killer. he killed us. killed. killed. oh my heart sinks thinking of it. remember the catch rose made in the play offs (stillthe best play off series ever) from out of boone's glove. wow. i'll never forget that.
tommy boswell writes beautifully about that team. he was the guy at that time, like bill simmons now.
but schmidt? oh how he killed. oh the humanity. why did you have to bring that up to me? why? why?
portland - June 13, 2007 12:35 AM
and i remember that if you drove around in the back woods, towards millbrook, up by the dump, in henessey's car (he had an amazing radio in that car), you could get the phillie broadcast and the talk show that came on afterward. they'd slag the expos and we'd drink our robeers and hang out the windows howling and cursing mike schmidt to the trees and the stars.
nope. i dont feel sorry for phillie fans.
glenn"s bro in little T.O. - June 13, 2007 9:39 AM
I have a ball signed by Mike Schmidt. got it in spring training 84
Barbra Bateman - June 13, 2007 7:08 PM
OK, I'm a born and raised Philly girl, but I shed real tears when I saw his resignation on live tv in a Halifax newsroom. And it may be a chick thing to like more than one team, but hey, I loved the Expos and the Big O. Miss 'em both!