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Phillies' Mackanin has soft spot for hometown Chicago

CHICAGO - Pete Mackanin will listen to the stadium organist on Friday afternoon when the Phillies begin batting practice at Wrigley Field. He'll be waiting to hear his high school fight song.

CHICAGO - Pete Mackanin will listen to the stadium organist on Friday afternoon when the Phillies begin batting practice at Wrigley Field. He'll be waiting to hear his high school fight song.

Mackanin will then peer up to Gary Pressy, the longtime man behind the music at the iconic ballpark, and pump his fist when the tune begins. The Phillies manager, who took a winding journey to get here this weekend, will be home again.

The road to Mackanin's first full-time major-league manager job started in an empty lot on this city's South Side. It continued at Brother Rice High School, an all-boys Catholic school for which his parents sacrificed to get him to instead of the school in their working-class neighborhood.

And the road continues on trips like this weekend, when the Phillies will play three games against the Cubs, and Mackanin is reminded of his love for his hometown.

He'll spend time with friends while he's here. He'll order a pizza from Vito and Nick's and eat a beef sandwich at Portillo's.

Mackanin first left this town when he was 17. He left for his first day of professional baseball, and that ended in a small-town Virginia diner. It was there that the kid from the big city realized how wide the world was.

"When I was 21 and came back into Chicago to play, I couldn't believe what a great city it was," Mackanin said. "I think it's the nicest city in the U.S. Every time I go back, I'm in awe at how nice it was and think about how I just never thought about it."

The boys in Mackanin's South Side neighborhood would gather each morning at the Dumps, an abandoned inner-city lot. Mackanin used the Wilson 2000 glove that his father bought him. Peter Mackanin worked as a hide inspector at the stockyard. Pete's mother, Valerie, worked at a bank.

"We would play from sunup to sundown and then go home and get washed up," Mackanin said. "It was just a big open prairie, and we made a baseball field out of it. In left field was the train tracks, and there was a hill going up to the train tracks. That was a home run. It was fun."

Mackanin graduated from the Dumps and moved to Brother Rice, a high school on the city's southwest border. The school was under the strict discipline of the Christian Brothers of Ireland. They were just like the nuns that Mackanin had in elementary school. You had to be careful, Mackanin said, or you could find yourself getting whacked across the face.

"It was like a culture shock," Mackanin said. "The kids in the suburbs were totally different than what I was used to growing up with. I was what we called a 'greaser.' You know the movie Grease with the hair slicked back and the pointy, Italian shoes with horseshoe cleats on the back. Brother Rice was madras shirts, khakis, and penny loafers."

It was at Brother Rice that Mackanin met George Skizas, when the two were teammates on the baseball team. Skizas and the rest of the team - knowing that pro ball was not in their future - enjoyed the excitement of the scouts who watched Mackanin play the infield.

They took pride when the Washington Senators - who Skizas said followed Brother Rice everywhere - drafted Mackanin in the fourth round in 1969. And Skizas took pride as his friend's baseball journey rolled on. Mackanin reached the majors almost exactly four years after he first left home.

Mackanin secured tickets for himself and Skizas to a 1980 World Series game at Veterans Stadium, a season after the Phillies traded him to Minnesota. Afterward, Mackanin wormed himself and Skizas into the clubhouse after being told the team was not taking visitors.

Dallas Green greeted Mackanin. Tug McGraw lifted him into the air. Keith Moreland asked Skizas if he could grab him a drink. It was then that Skizas could see how his friend from Chicago was beloved in baseball.

"This doesn't happen to guys just because they're former teammates. Guys in baseball are very careful. They don't make many close friends because tomorrow you could go," Skizas said. "My mouth was almost wide open. It was wonderful. We walked outside. I jumped on his back and said, 'I can't believe you just did that.' He said, 'It was fun, wasn't it?' I'll never forget that.' "

Mackanin managed his first game five years later with the Cubs' single-A affiliate in Peoria, Ill. Skizas caught a flight from Chicago and surprised Mackanin before the game. Mackanin asked Skizas what he was doing there. Skizas said he had to see Mackanin's first game.

Skizas' friend from Chicago, who started his baseball life as a kid in the Dumps, was now a manager. And on Friday, when the organ plays, that kid from the South Side will be back home.

mbreen@phillynews.com

@matt_breen www.philly.com/philliesblog