Phillies smoke cigarette in dugout as pre-game tribute to Harry Kalas
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Phillies smoke cigarette in dugout as pre-game tribute to Harry Kalas
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
This just in. . .
One of the coolest tributes I have heard of thus far took place in the Phillies dugout prior to their 9-8 win over the Washington Nationals today. Several Phillies, including center fielder Shane Victorino, first baseman Ryan Howard and reliever Scott Eyre, lit up a cigarette and passed it around in honor of Kalas, whose smoking habit was almost as legendary as his play-by-play calls.
Victorino said the tribute, which was captured by television cameras, was a fitting one.
"I asked for it and a couple of other guys thought it would be cool to do," he said. "It was like, why not? So we called who we could -- I forget who had 'em, but we got 'em.
"I just thought, what did you always see him doing, other than broadcasting or being with his family? It's an HK thing, you know? It's so sad. Just sad."
The irony is that smoking is probably what killed him. Wow. What a loss. The best call of last season: http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=2629942— nosmoke
Comment removed.- i have to agree with the other comments here - while Victorino surely meant well and it was nice that they wanted to do something to honor Harry, these guys shouldn't be smoking cigarettes period. Just a really bad habit that most definitely contributed to his tragic passing.— johnfire
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Smoke em if you got em. We love you Harry! Rest in peace...— adman
- Comment removed.
- Smoking probably killed him? We're just rampantly speculating now? I wasnt aware nosmoke performed an autopsy and was in a position to report the results already...— Steve27
- 73 years is a pretty good run for anyone. Harry lived his life exactly as he wanted. How many of us can say we've been able to do that. Here's to all of us being a little bit more like Harry!!— The Lager Lad
- Comment removed.
- Scolds from the nanny-state to come. 20% of Americans still smoke (that's about 60 million people). They're honoring the guy, not forcing kids to inhale. (I quit over 30 years ago, because I thought it was right FOR ME).— since1961
- Remember Folks something has to kill you....., smoking, drinking, getting hit by a bus.............just remember that, live and let live... oh and what about the philies players that do dip?.........— thekruker
- mikemike... I totally agree. I have never smoked a day in my life, but if that's what Harry loved, then WHY NOT? And iamnotTHATking, atheletes shouldn't be role models, PARENTS should be. Atheletes provide entertainment, but they're far from role models. Remember "WFC"? Chaz...— chazjr
- It's just funny that these guys look more like they're smoking a joint than a cigarette. Definitely something you don't see in the dugout anymore. For me it's hard to get sad about a public life deserving of celebration coming to an end. Harry gave us yeoman's work for decades and received adoration (and some criticism in recent years) in return. We should all be so lucky.— the_other_craig
- Great tribute..."The Wire" stop complaining about every little freaking thing. Get a life.— arb
