The more things change the more they stay the same. The Phillies have broken my heart so many times over the years and yet they remain my true sports love. I've lived here in the Philadelphia area all of my not quite 50 years. I was 5 years old when I first became aware of Johnny Callison and Dick Allen. I can vividly remember driving through Mt Airy and my dad pointing out Richie Allen's house every time we would pass by. (And I still think about that when I pass it today. It was a big deal back then for a black athlete to have a house in that section of town, and yet today it is almost laughable that the star of a major league baseball team lived there)
In the late 60's and early 70's I attempted to play catcher for my local little league team and Tim McCarver was my idol.I can remember a game at Connie Mack stadium on bat give away night and being ecstatic because I got a Tim McCarver bat.(Can you believe they gave away actual baseball bats to thousands of kids ?)
A good friend from High School was the team bat boy and throughout the late 70's and early 80's I would sometimes get a last minute call that tickets were available.The highlight of those days was getting Bake McBride's unused tickets way up in the nose bleed section of Veteran's Stadium for the final game of the 1980 World Series. To this day that is the single greatest sporting event I have ever attended.
With all of the changes in major league sports over the years, one thing remains constant in South Philadelphia, and that is the post game celebrations that occur after a major victory by the Phillies or the Eagles or Flyers. Zoe Strauss took these great shots last night at Broad & Tasker Streets. As soon as I saw them I was struck by their timelessness as they relate to Philadelphia sports. These could just as easily be mid-70's or 80's celebrations... they are even break dancing for gosh sakes!
More of Zoe's shots from last night are on her Flickr site.
