Broad Street Billy: Phillies fan from Bucks wants revenge for 1950 World Series

"I HAVE A TICKET that my dad left me from the 1950 World Series - Phillies vs. the Stinkin' Yankees," said Mike Weick, 50, who framed the stub and hung it in his Holland, Bucks County, home.

Weick wants revenge.

His dad, Ed Weick, was raised in South Philly, 2nd and McKean streets, during the Depression.

"His family didn't have a lot of money, but grandpop [George] would scrape up enough to get them bleacher seats at Shibe Park," Weick said.

After serving as a drill sergeant in World War II, Weick's dad married, moved to Harrowgate, and began taking his father to Phillies games, where they rooted for Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and the Whiz Kids.

In 1950, Weick's Aunt Jean, a lifelong Phillies fan, was suffering from leukemia. "My dad vowed that if the Phillies made it to the World Series, he would somehow get tickets for her, grandpop and himself," Weick said.

The Phils made it. When Weick's dad and grandpop reached Shibe Park to buy World Series tickets, a huge throng was lined up for blocks. "But my dad wasn't going to be denied," Weick said.

"Up ahead of him, he noticed that men were leaving the line to relieve themselves in a nearby alley," he said. "So dad and grandpop walked to the alley and followed the returning men back into line, way ahead of where they had been."

It worked. "Aunt Jean passed away later that year but got to see her Phillies in a World Series," Weick said.

"If the Phils beat the Yankees in this World Series, it will be revenge for what the Yankees did to the Whiz Kids [a four-game sweep] in 1950."

Weick still remembers so many hot summer nights that he and his dad spent sitting out on their Harrowgate rowhouse porch, watching Phillies games on a black-and-white TV.

He remembers his dad pulling him out of St. Joan of Arc Catholic School to go to the last Opening Day at Connie Mack Stadium in 1970.

"My dad had to get the approval of the principal, Mother St. Thaddeus," Weick said, "which was like asking Gen. George Patton for permission to go to a ballgame - but he did it."

His dad died 2 weeks after the Phils lost the '93 World Series. But, Weick said, his dad's love of the Phillies created a bond between them that remains unbroken. "I still miss him," he said.

"In the early '90s, I purchased three Connie Mack Stadium grandstand seats, which are in my den," he said. "So I have a little shrine in tribute to my dad and grandpop for making me the Phillies fan I am today."

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