Chick-Phil-A

Throwback Thursday - Who's this young Phoenixville Lad?

So while I was in college (and well, actually she still does this), my mom used to send me random things cut out from the Inquirer or the local paper that she thought I would find interesting.

This came to me in, like, 1997.  She had been cleaning some stuff out of the attic at home, and came across some old papers (I have no idea why she was saving them), ripped this out, and shipped it to me in Ithaca.

At first glance, I thought, "Why in the world did she send me this random tear from the Spring Ford Reporter circa 1987?"   I didn't recognize any of the players right away, it wasn't Phillies related...

I noticed that the photo credit showed that my friend's dad took the photo...

Then I finally read the caption and realized that she sent it to me because of the lad on the right - a high school aged Mike Piazza.  ha ha ha.  The local boy who made it to the big leagues.  On some crappy team from New York....

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Speaking of Los Mets - glad they are going to get this game in tonight.  I am praying the Phillies score tonight!!!

Throwback Thursday - Neon Phanatic Hat Day 1991

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday.  Yes, technically it is now Friday - but, well, I started to write this on Thursday, so there.

 This week we travel back to the 1991 season.

Cover of the 1991 pocket schedule, featuring Lenny, of course - pre drunk driving accident.

When I came across the pocket schedule, I was amazed at the prices of the tickets.  I mean, I remember they were cheap - how you could go day of game and buy a 700 level GA ticket for like 4 bucks.  But seriously, check these out.

Ticketing information - hey! The phone #s are the same.

The most expensive ticket was $10!!!!!  Seriously.  Oh and I do enjoy the "tickets by mail" option too, where you can actually send an envelope with a stamp and a check and get tickets back.  

Let's get down to the meat and potatoes of the pocket schedule, though - the promotional line up.

My family had the Sunday season ticket plan for a few years when my brother and I were in middle and high school for a few reasons.  It was the only day that my dad had off work, so he could come with us.  They were mainly all day games, so no late school nights.  And, they were the days that had all of the kids give-aways!!

Some of my favorite giveaways from that year - the Tri-State Honda Wallet Watch,  the Mellon/PSFS Sports Jacket Day (they were like rubber coats that weren't waterproof, but you sure did sweat a lot when wearing them), and of course, the Phanatic's Birthday where the giveaway was a Neon Phanatic Cap.  The Phanatic's floating birthday was on April 24th that year (his 13th birthday) and nothing said early 90's awesome like some kind of neon clothing.

One of our favorite things to do every Sunday after the game was to wait out the traffic on 76 by hanging out at the player's parking lot.  On this day the Phanatic's "best friend" at the time, David Raymond, came out to the lot and was happy to sign everyone's neon hats.

That's me on the left rocking that sweet black and neon windbreaker and David Raymond on the right signing my awesome neon Phanatic hat.  The person in the middle's "Don't Worry Be Happy neon bought on the Wildwood boardwalk" sweatshirt  - also a winner.  Man the 90's were awesome....

What were some of your favorite promotions from the Vet?

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After watching the Phills score only 1 run for Roy on bobblehead night, I headed back to Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday with Mr. ChickPhilA to see them do the same thing against the Cubs.  I know you can't win em all, that's why they play 162 games, but it's never super fun to see two losses in a row. In person.

What was fun was finally getting to meet some of the Phillies Twitter folks before the game at an impromptu tailgate with @mistertug, @M_OMalley, @petzrawr, @KDonovan13, @meghanXrino, @KChristine, and @DMonie.  It was great to put faces and voices to those 140 characters!!

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Interleague play against Boston this weekend.  Can't wait to go boo JD Drew on Saturday.

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Pearl Jam @ MSG tomorrrow!! (well no, I guess tonight!).  

Throwback Thursday - Wonder if he also manages with his hands down his pants?

When I stopped at home to see my mom last week, she greeted me with a stack of photos pulled out of our family photo albums from trips to Clearwater way back when.  In it, I found this 1990 photo she took of now Camden Riversharks manager Von Hayes.

Von Hayes stands on the bullpen mound @ Jack Russell Stadium, hands in pants.  Also pictured: Chuck McElroy, Terry Mulholland, Tommy Greene, Jose DeJesus, and Steve Ontiveros.

Looks like he was perfecting his "hands down pants" move there 20 years ago.  I wonder if he manages the Riversharks with his hands down his pants too?  I may have to venture down to Camden to check it out sometime this summer.

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Other random Phillies thoughts:

1)  At first I was upset that for the 2nd night in a row, my Phillies viewing was denied by crappy May snowstorms in Denver, but it's just as well - with the Chooch injury, the Lidge elbow, etc... they probably didn't need to play a 2nd game today. 

2)  I saw that the next Baseball 101 clinic thing for women is coming up in August.  Has anyone ever been to this or know how much it costs?  I think it would be fun, but I'm not about to drop, like, $1000 on it...

3)  Blue Jays/Phillies playing @ CBP - cool.  I hope the Phills wear the road grey uniforms here.  Can't wait to get the email re: tickets.  I'll totally go root for the away team in my home park for this one.

4)  Sign Stealing - really now? In the age of super HD broadcasts and super slo-mo replays, can't anyone "steal signs" if they really wanted to? 

Throwback Thursday - Happy Birthday from Lenny Dykstra

Welcome to my first Throwback Thursday post where I find some old Phillies things in my collection and throw them up for a trip down memory lane.

What better place to start than with this gem I got for my 15th birthday.

A birthday greeting from the Phillies center fielder Lenny Dykstra (with a free Topps baseball card - SCORE!!)

I never opened it when I received it - wanted to keep the blister pack intact - so I don't even know what advise Lenny has for the birthday girl or guy - I'm hoping it's not stock tips for multi millionaires.  However, when I pulled this out of a box that I moved out of my childhood home earlier this year I found that the glue that held the plastic to the cardboard had come loose.  Now I just need to find a working cassette player in the land of MP3's and iPods so I can get a full transcript of his words of wisdom.