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Parade of stories along Phillies' route
Three generations of Cirellis were staked out on Sansom east of Broad: Tony Cirelli, 65, the patriarch from the Far Northeast; his daughter and granddaughter, Carla Wynn, 39, and Madeline Wynn, 2, from Huntingdon Valley; and his son, Army Pfc. Dante Cirelli, stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y.
From doubleheaders at Connie Mack Stadium, to Sunday games at the Vet with his three kids, to Cooperstown to help usher Richie Ashburn and Mike Schmidt into the baseball Hall of Fame in '95, Tony's been faithful. And so the family gathered with him to share the occasion, with Madeline fresh from her preschool Halloween parade, wearing her kitty-cat costume under warmer clothes.
CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer
An enthralled police officer offers applause as the World Series champion Phillies pass her on their triumphant ride down Broad Street to Citizens Bank Park.
Fate had brought Dante there. His unit had been sent on two-week leave just in time for the World Series. In December, he's going to Afghanistan and will miss Christmas with his family.
"This is better than Christmas," he said. "I see Christmas every year."
- J.S.
Betul Erke, 77, may be Ankara, Turkey's, biggest Phillies fan. She fell in love with the team after seeing her first baseball game four years ago and now catches as many games as she can when she visits her daughter and son-in-law in Allentown.
Such is her devotion that she refused to go back to Turkey as scheduled last Wednesday.
"She said, 'I'm not going to miss this,' " said her daughter, Yesim Erke-Magent.
Yesterday, Erke, her daughter, her son-in-law, Mike Magent, and their Bichon frise Cuddles were on Market Street by 10 a.m.
Erke had told her daughter she was sure the Phils were going to win the World Series this year.
"She used an old superstition," her daughter explained. "She turned her slippers upside down so the other team will have bad luck."
- Kathy Boccella
John Mullen was jonesing for a pretzel.
Mullen, 40, a publisher's sales rep from the Northeast, and his son, Torin, 12, wandered throughout the massive Citizens Bank Park parking lot in search of a soft pretzel.
Not a vendor in sight.
"I can't believe there's no one here selling hot dogs and pretzels and soft drinks," said Mullen, standing near the left-field gate. "They could make a fortune today."
Mullen and his longtime buddy Chris Schick ("Like the razor but not as sharp," Schick said) had planned to take the subway, but after three trains sped by the Torresdale stop at 8:30 a.m., they drove in.
Mullen said he probably would have skipped the event but for his son. "In 1980, my mom let me cut school and come to the parade, so I had to return the favor," he said. "It's a family tradition now."
Mullen was 12 at the time, the same age as his son. He also attended the same elementary school, Stephen Decatur on Academy Road.
"The principal said, if we went to the parade," Torin said, "we can bring in a note that says we had Phillies fever."
