Countdown to 10,000 Revisited

So a few distant months ago, we Philly fans were excited about the Phillies' "Countdown to 10,000." It was a landmark event that "honored" the Phils and their 125 years and 10,000 games of futility. It was an ironic, self-deprecating (from a fan's point of view), almost funny event that came and went. The players didn't want to talk about it, and the team seemed to bitterly prevent it from being publicized.

Fast forward to today. Finishing the year as one of the hottest teams in the National League, in conjunction with the Mets' generous contribution to crash and burn, we now have a Phillies' team that is officially playoff bound. And the coverage is all over their web site and commercials.

But here's the thing... if the Phillies are going to embrace their exciting playoff berth, why not recognize the 10,000th loss as well? It's part of the game, it's part of the team's history, it's an undeniable fact. Celebrate it, laugh about it, and move on.

Now I'm going to move on and say, let's go Phils! I want a championship! 10,000 championships!

Just Imagine...

So tonight the Phils pulled to within one game of the slumping Mets, and they can be tied up with the Padres by the end of the night if San Diego loses. If the Phils take the lead in the NL Wild Card race in the next couple of days, Philly fans will be able to hear a certain phrase that we haven't heard in ages, probably since 1993:

Magic Number!

Yes, just imagine the words "magic number" and "Phillies" in the same sentence.

But truthfully, MAGIC NUMBER could soon be part of our vocabulary if all goes well. Usually the Phils land on the wrong side of the Magic Number countdown and fall short of the playoffs, so we'll see if we magically pull into the lead over the next few days. Question is... who's the ace up the Phils' sleeves?

Seen at Today's Philadelphia Eagles Game

A guy wearing one of those hats with the fake pony tail hanging out of it.

That's blogworthy, right?

Sorry for the Heat, Mr. Bell

I ask you first to read this article about Charlie Bell. (Note for Philly fans, this is not Philly related. Sorry.)

Now I ask you, is this a sob story?

The guy just signed a contract for $18.5 million dollars. And yet we get comments like:

-Bell is "getting his thoughts together." And...

-The 6-foot-3 Bell had said he did not want to play for Milwaukee and instead wanted to go to Miami. And...

-"Restricted free agency is a very tough process," Bartelstein said. "As a player, you don't know where you're going to be, you have through getting an offer sheet. It's hard, very hard."

Times is tough, times is tough.

Hidden Cams, Steroids, and Sandpaper... OH MY!

So with all this talk about the Patriots allegedly cheating (and I use the word allegedly very loosely!) by videotaping the signal calls of other teams, not to mention all of the chatter about the widespread steroids use in baseball, football, and elsewhere, I couldn't help but think back to a rather humorous cheating incident in Philly history.

According BaseballLibrary.com, less than 2 weeks after Atlanta's Phil Niekro was busted for filing a baseball down to get more movement on his pitches, the Phils' Kevin Gross was nabbed for having sandpaper in his glove and scuffing the ball in a similar manner.

The sad part is that Gross was 9-16 for the 80-82 Phils that year, according to BaseballReference.com. Just makes you wonder what his numbers would have been like without cheating. And by the way, he was also in the top 10 for pitchers for the following categories:

Most hit batsmen (#1)
Most losses (#2)
Most walks (#6)
Most home runs allowed (#10)

So let that be a lesson to all you youngins out there... sandpaper's for master craftsmen, not struggling pitchers.

Phillies Stat of the Day

So in case you haven't been emotionally traumatized enough after the Phils tremendous sweep of the Mets, followed by a disastrous collapse against the Marlins and Braves, Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports this little nugget:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau... teams that held a six-run lead in the eighth inning had a winning streak of 517-0 before (the Phils crumbled against Atlanta with a six-run lead this past weekend)

If nothing else, this team will go down in history for something, alright. You can fill in your own blank as to what that history will be...

Bill Henry: Alive and Well

This week, Bill Henry died.

But it wasn't former major league pitcher Bill Henry from the 1950s and 60s, it was his imposter, non-major league pitcher, Bill Henry.

Apparently this guy from Florida had pretended to be the real Bill Henry, who is alive and well in Texas. When the imposter died, obituaries hit the presses stating that a former major leaguer passed away. Meanwhile, the real Bill Henry, the ex-pitcher, lives on. Here's how the story played out, according to the Houston Chronicle:

As the obituary was circulated on the wires, genealogist and baseball historian David A. Lambert of Massachusetts began to document Henry's death. As he looked closer at the birth date and city of birth given for the Florida man and the Henry listed on various baseball documents, he realized something was amiss.

Major league records listed a Deer Park address for Henry, who started with the Red Sox in 1952 and ended with the Astros in 1969. The obituary, which was picked up from The Ledger newspaper in Florida, listed Lakeland as his home address.

"So I called Henry in Deer Park and told his wife, 'I'm offering you condolences on the passing of your husband,' " said Lambert, a genealogist with the New England Historic Genealogical Society and member of the Society of American Baseball Research.

"She said, 'Bill didn't pass away in Florida. He's sitting here next to me,' " he said.

I'd say that's the quote of the day right there.

Live long and prosper, the REAL Mr. Henry.

Eagles Fun Fact of the Day

In light of the recent excitement over the selection of the Eagles' starting punter this season, here's a fun bit of Eagles trivia to show off at your next Birds party:

The Eagles' leading punter by yardage, Adrian Burk (1951-1956), punted the ball over 9 miles (16,122 yards) during his Eagles career. On top of that, Burk also QB'd the Eagles at the time and threw for 6,203 yards, which is equivalent to more than 3 miles.

You can thank me later for dropping some knowledge up in here.