Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
At the Ballpark: Tonight is 1960s Retro Night with both teams wearing uniforms from the '60s. Former Phillies Tony Taylor, Cookie Rojas and John Herrnstein will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.
1988 Topps Appreciation: Like I recently did for the Reds, I need to cram in a few more Phillies-related Cubs cards here since this is the last meeting between these two teams in 2014. (As an aside, I think it's been at least a year or so since I mentioned that I really despise interleague play and the fact that we only get to see National League Central or West teams only once a year.)
Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is having a difficult rookie season at the helm of the Phillies. It's not his fault of course, and it's very unlikely that Sandberg won't be back for at least another season in 2015. Jamie Moyer has the unenviable task of witnessing the 2014 Phillies from the announcer's booth, as the one-time Cub and Phillie joined the Phillies broadcasting team this season. He's done a nice job so far, although I still prefer to listen to the radio guys, Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen.
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| 1988 Topps #10, #36, #564 and #717 |
Finally, Jay Baller and his magnificent chest hair spent the bulk of his six-year career with the Cubs, but he started and finished his career with the Phillies. Baller appeared in four games for the 1982 Phillies before being one of the five players shipped to Cleveland in the Von Hayes deal. He returned to the Phillies for eight games during the 1992 season, and he quickly departed after running up an 8.18 ERA over 11 innings of work.
Programming Note: I'm returning from a brief out of town trip tonight and game summary posts will be updated shortly. In case you were worried.
3 comments:
Prior to Lucchesi's 1970 MLB managing debut, he managed in the Phillies' farm system from 1956-69.
FOURTEEN YEARS of paying his dues, and they axed him after 2 1/2 seasons in Philly.
Jay Baller probably had the ladies lining up for him after games in the 80s...
He's a member of the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame and lives in the area. And a jersey of his hung for many years at the Northeast Taproom in Reading, where he apparently was a regular. For all I know, it still does hang there.
Here's an interesting story--I didn't realize he nearly died during his career and spent three days in a coma:
http://www.greatest21days.com/2012/03/jay-baller-made-adjustments-176.html
Always looking to build upon my knowledge of the two-time Phillie Jay Baller. Thanks Steve!
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