Photos: 2008 Phillies
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The anniversary of Black Friday is as good a time as any to contemplate the odd relationship between a group of athletes and the history of the city and the franchise they represent.
This relationship is especially complex when the city is Philadelphia and the franchise is the Phillies. For fans here, the past is as alive and as real as the present. The tapestry of the city's shared consciousness has woven into it the few triumphs and the many disappointments. It is all part of what defines us.
The 1960 Eagles.
The 1974-75, back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning Flyers.
The 1983 Sixers.
These years are as significant to a Philadelphia sports fan as 1492 and 1776 are to a student of American history.
For the Phillies, the years we can all recite signify heartbreak (1964, 1977, 1983, 1993) more often than glory (1980 and, well, 1980). That's why, with the Phillies about to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, you're about to hear more than you care to about Black Friday.
The shorthand: The Phillies blew a 5-3 lead by allowing three runs to the Dodgers in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS. Fans still fume because manager Danny Ozark neglected to put Jerry Martin in left field as a defensive replacement for Greg Luzinski. Philadelphia's Bill Buckner moment ensued when Manny Mota hit an RBI double that Martin may well have caught.
Mota went on to score the tying run. Davey Lopes, who is now the Phillies' first-base coach, scored the winning run. The win gave the Dodgers a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-five series. They won the next game and advanced to the World Series.
Of the 25 men on the Phillies' postseason roster in the first round, 14 weren't even born in October 1977. Only one, Jamie Moyer, was alive when the Phils collapsed in 1964. Even relatively recent events, such as Joe Carter's dagger of a home run in 1993, are ancient history to most of the current Phillies.
"I was still in high school," shortstop and oracle Jimmy Rollins said.
The point is that there is a necessary disconnect between the players and the fans on these matters. Fans want the franchise to embrace its old heroes. We want to see the Flyers honor their best players at the Spectrum tonight. We want to see members of the '60 and '80 Eagles on big anniversaries of their glory years. We want to see Dr. J.
The Phillies have done a good job of keeping those connections alive for fans. And that's fine. But it was fascinating on Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee to hear the current players' perspective. They weren't disrespectful of their predecessors - quite the opposite, in fact - but they really don't want or need to be reminded anymore about the past.
All this history can be a bit of a load on the shoulders. That isn't unique to Philadelphia, either. You have to wonder what effect all that history had on the Chicago Cubs over the last few days. The team with the best record in the National League got crushed by the Dodgers. The sweep means the Cubs will begin a second century without a World Series title. That's a lot of pressure.
The current Phillies didn't blow the pennant in '64. They didn't lose two consecutive championship series to the Dodgers or give up a Series-losing home run to Carter. They have won more games than they have lost over the last few years, so they aren't on the hook for most of that 10,000-loss thing.
Rollins remembered his September call-up in 2000. That team was on its way to a record of 65-97 - its seventh consecutive losing season.
"It was like, 'OK, let's see if you can play at this level,' " Rollins said. "Now [when a player is called up], it's like, 'What can you contribute to help us win?' That's a different mentality."
The Phillies have had winning records in seven of the eight seasons since 2000. They have two league MVPs. They have, at long last, a competitive payroll. This is a group that should contend for a championship, that seems to expect that of itself.
"I've always said I want to change the tradition," Rollins said, "change the way people think about this organization, change the way the young kids in this organization feel about being in this organization. The only way you can do that is by winning."
It's true. The best way for these Phillies to stop the talk about Black Friday and 1993 and 1964 is to give the city another year to go along with 1980.
You have to admit, 2008 has a nice ring to it.
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