When Clinching A Playoff Spot, The Rays Had The Help Of A Philadelphia Lucky Charm

Pictured above is Tampa Bay Rays' broadcaster Todd Kalas conducting an interview after the Rays clinched a berth in the 2010 Playoffs. Look down at his right hand. See what he is wearing for the first time all season?

It's his father's 1980 World Series ring. Talk about a heck of a good luck charm.

(Hat tip to Rays Index)

On This Day In 2009: RIP Harry

April 13, 2009.

There's not a Phillies fan alive that forgets where they were and what they were doing when they heard the tragic news. Yes, it's been a full year. Yes, it seems like just yesterday he told us Chase Utley was the man.

He passed away as he was preparing for a Phillies game taking on the Nationals in Washington. Rightfully forgotten about that day, the Phillies won that game 9-8.

Today is about remembering an icon, a legend, a voice. CSN Philly ran a video package remembering Harry after his death last year. I am proud to say that I have found it and have posted it below for your remembrance and reflection. The Stanley Cup playoffs start tomorrow, I will have more on them then. But for now and for today, let us remember the only true voice of the Phillies. It may be a year to the day, but we still have not forgotten you Harry. Rest In Peace.

Deadspin's Will Leitch Thinks Harry Kalas's Death Was Awesome

You really can't beat nit-picking on the internet.

Earlier today, Will Leitch of Deadspin wrote a column detailing how a metaphorical turning point of the Phillies was their reaching eclipsing the 10,000 loss marker on July 15, 2007. Of course, that Phillies point is exactly that, metaphorical. Shortly after they did get on a bit of a winning streak that helped them, but if you are looking at an on-field standpoint, you probably have to go to the Phillies landing Jim Thome as the franchise turning point. Sure they never won anything with Thome, but that move signified that the Phillies were a team ready to contend again and no longer just a laughing stock as they had been at the start of the decade. Anyway, I digress, now where was I? Ah, yes, the metaphorical turning point of the Phillies being the 10,000 loss marker. Here is what Will Leitch had to say about that.

The Phillies were the logical team to break the 10,000 barrier. They'd been to the playoffs once in the last 25 years and seemed perpetually perched at that "just above .500 but not a real contender" ledge. They didn't even have the good manners to break their fans' hearts. They just plodded along, always just short. After the 10,000th loss, the team went on to lose three of its next four, dropping a game under .500 and six games out of first. Take another shot. They endure, they persevere, they do not discourage.

Every single thing that has happened since then has been awesome.

The Mets collapse and Phillies subsequent rally in September.
The Phillies finishing the job off to claim their first NL East title since 1993.
The Phillies first playoff game since 1993.
The Phillies winning the NL East for a 2nd straight year in 2008.
The Phillies winning their first playoff series since 1993.
The Phillies reaching and winning the NLCS, both for the first time since 1993.
The Phillies in the 2008 World Series.
The Phillies winning the 2008 World Series.
"WORLD CHAMPIONS......WORLD FUCKING CHAMPIONS!"
The death of Harry Kalas.
The Phillies winning a 3rd straight NL East title.
The Phillies winning their 2nd straight NLCS.
The Phillies making their 2nd straight World Series appearance.

Yep. All those things were simply awesome. Will Leitch slight oversights FTW!

The Seattle Mariners Will Be Honoring Harry Kalas This Season

And the patch looks like the exact same one that the Phillies wore last year! Thanks for the year late sentiments, Seattle. Your condolences have not gone unnoticed.

Sarcasm aside, someone at Topps had major Photoshop fuck up when making that baseball card. It's amazing how Topps can completely photoshop Lee to change it to a Phillies uniform to a Mariners uniform, yet they forgot not take out the most glaring image of the Phillies' 2009 uniform.

RIP Harry. You're still in our thoughts.

Today In Slightly Morbid Coincidences

Phillies Broadcasters Announce Creation Of The Kalas Award

It is fitting that on the night that the Philadelphia Phillies inducted Harry Kalas into the Phillies Hall of Fame (he has already been enshrined in Cooperstown) that the Phillies broadcasters announce the creation of the Kalas Award, an award and a scholarship that will be given away each year to a college junior in the Philadelphia area looking to enter the broadcasting field. Via a PR Newswire.

The Kalas Award will be given annually to a rising college junior at Philadelphia-area colleges and universities who has expressed a desire and shown initiative toward a career in sports broadcasting.

Phillies radio and TV broadcasters Larry Andersen, Scott Franzke, Gary Matthews, Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler and Jim Jackson together have funded the Philadelphia Broadcasters Foundation, a charitable trust whose primary purpose is the funding, selection and distribution of scholarship awards for local students.

"We were looking for a way to establish a lasting legacy in Harry's honor," said Andersen, "and the scholarship seemed like the right way to go. Harry touched so many lives with his work, with his soothing voice and his generosity of spirit; we believe this is a fitting way to continue that generosity for years to come."

Without a doubt, this is a great thing and an awesome way to help young broadcasters while honoring the late, great Harry Kalas. Who knows, maybe the next legendary voice will be discovered in part through this award?

I've probably told this story before, but it bears repeating. I was at the Phillies parade and was situated right at the start of the parade root at 20th & Market (I won't get into why, but keen readers of my past writings will pick up why I was there). Anyway, they had essentially brought up the floats and started the parade a bit but then for some reason, a reason of which to this day I do not know, stopped the parade for 20 minutes. Seeing as I was right at the start of the parade, we actually had a float stop right in front of us. And in that float was, you guessed it, Harry Kalas, Jim Jackson, and all the other Phillies broadcasters and such. As more or less of an announcing junkie if there ever was one, being 10 feet away from Harry Kalas and Jim Jackson, the Flyers PbP guy (who also hosts the radio pre and post-game show for the Phillies) was about as big a thrill for me as seeing any of the players. And then to have them right in front of me like that for what had to have been 20 minutes was simply a phenomenal experience that I will never forget. RIP Harry Kalas and to all the future recipients of the Kalas Award: treasure it for the rest of your life as Harry was a special person in so many ways.

Songs of the Day: "High Hopes" By Harry The K And "Swallowed In The Sea" By Coldplay

It's a twofer today. Both in memory of the late, great Harry Kalas...



This song may be by Coldplay, but it's beautiful and it fits.

Harry's Final Homerun Call, Final Out Call, And Final Sign Off

Comcast Sportsnet Philly re-aired last night's Phillies-Rockies game (a.k.a. Harry's last game). I was hoping that someone would use this opportunity to upload the final HR call onto YouTube. And they did. My eternal thanks to the YouTube user who uploaded this vid.

A Few Footnotes On The Death Of Harry The K

I just wanted to let a few hours to pass for the news to settle in before I posted this. A few footnotes for Harry the K.

Harry Kalas' last game was last night at Coors Field, but the irony is much more than that. The fianl score of that game was 7-5 Phillies. Matt Stairs had hit a game-winning 2-run homerun in the top of the 9th after Chase Utley hit a 2-run homerun to tie the game. There's a reason that that sounds familiar. Last year in the NLCS, the Phils were trailing 5-3 against the Dodgers in game 4 of the NLCS. In the top of the 7th inning, Victorino hit a game tying 2-run homerun. And then inexplicably, Matt Stairs delievered a game-winning 2-run homerun in the top of the 7th. It is that homerun that pretty much every Phillies fan will tell you that that was when they knew the Phillies were going to win the World Series. It was at that point that the Phillies truly started believing in themselves that they could win the World Series. That was the defining moment for the Phillies World Series run. And Harry the K's last game was eerily similar to that Game 4. Very similar.

Harry Kalas has without a doubt died a happy man. Not only is he now with his longtime partner and good friend Richie Ashburn in heaven, but in what is now known as the last months of his life, called a World Series championship. Something that he did not do in 1980 despite being the Phillies announcer then because at the time local announcers were banned from calling games. That ban was lifted 3 years later. And to appease Phillies fans, Harry and Richie recorded after the game commentary of that Series clinching game from the Vet, but obviously it was not the same. That is why the 08 Series is so special. Finally, after years and years and years of work with the Phils, he finally got to do a live World Series call for the Phillies.

Tom McCarthy has presumably taken over the role of Phillies PbP man. He is currently doing the game on CSN Philly with Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews. McCarthy worked for the Phillies as radio PbP man for a few years in the early 2000s before leaving to go to the Mets. He rejoined the Phillies last year and subsequently called the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings of the games on TV while Harry the K did those innings on radio. So the transition is one of a natural one, but alas, as having worked with the Mets for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, he is not the most popular man in Philadelphia. Personally, I think he is fine, he's not great like Harry the K was, but there are worse options out there, I guess.

For those that think that this game should not be played today, even if this was a home game for the Phils, are mistaken. Harry Kalas would want them to play on.

Not really a footnote, but just relating the story of what happened according to Tom McCarthy who just told it as I am typing this, Kalas had passed out in the booth as we all know. Rob Brooks, who works for CSN Philly (I forget the exact position he has) applied CPR. EMTs came as fast as they could and they took Harry the K to George Washington University hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Just like the game after the Phils learned of the passing of Richie Ashburn, the Phillies won by 1 today against the Nationals. Only the game after the death of Ashburn was 1-0, this one in Nationals Park was 9-8.

We will all miss you, Harry Kalas. You were a true legend of the Phillies, broadcasting, and baseball as a whole and you will never, ever be forgotten. Rest In Peace, Harry the K, you are forever in the hearts of every Phillies fan.

R.I.P. Harry Kalas

Let me tell you what, there are some stories that just break your heart, and this is one of them. There really is no other way to put this other than to bluntly state the tragic news. Harry Kalas has died today.

What a sad, sad, sad, day for Phillies fans and announcing in general. And to think, thank goodness, thank GOODNESS, he lived to see the World Series. When the Phils first won the World Series in 1980, local announcers were not permitted to do broadcasts so the audio that is sometimes played of Kalas calling the championship was a re-make if you will. He did not provide the commentary live. And now, thanks to the 2008 Phils, we have this. On video. Forever.



Rest In Peace, Harry, we all love you.