Waiting 45 years for a Phillies-Yankees Series - Stephen Baker

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Waiting 45 years for a Phillies-Yankees Series posted on October 28, 2009

General

I remember buying that Sports Illustrated featuring the Phillies Johnny Callison. It was the summer of 1964. I was eight, and a big Phillies fan. Back then, it was a very big deal for the Phillies to be on the cover of a national magazine. There were far fewer choices, and no such thing as regional editions. That meant that everybody was finally learning about my team. And the team appeared to be headed for the pennant. In mid September, with the Phillies leading the league by seven games, my father bought World Series tickets and kept them in his top bureau drawer.

A year earlier, in fall of '63, my father had bought tickets for an Eagles football game in November. It was my birthday present. But between my birthday and the game, President Kennedy was assassinated. My father didn't think it was right to go to a game two days later. He promised to take me to one the next season. That was '64. We went see the Eagles play the Steelers on the last day of the baseball season. By that point, the Phillies had suffered an historic collapse, losing 10 of their last 12 games. Yet on that last Sunday, if the lowly Mets could just beat the Cardinals, the Phillies would end up in a tie. There might be a play-off. Every quarter, the football announcer delivered updates from St. Louis, and it was clear that the Cardinals were clobbering the Mets.

There would be no Phillies-Yankees Series in 1964. But we'd have one eventually. It starts tonight. I'll be watching.