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Special Thanks to M. Kennedy. Photo Courtesy of VisitPhilly.org. Special Thanks to M. Kennedy. Photo Courtesy of VisitPhilly.org.
One hundred and forty-three years ago — a new MLB Franchise — the Philadelphia Phillies played their first ever regular-season game in 1883. The contest was a home opener against the Providence Grays. The game was played at the historic Recreation Field — where twenty years earlier Union Cavalry used the early Philadelphia ballpark as a training site during the American Civil War. Bounded by 24th Street and Columbia Avenue — some 1,200 fans witnessed a 4–3 Phillies loss. No one that day could have possibly have known what a historic tradition had started in Philadelphia.
They Phillies aren’t just the oldest baseball team still playing in America in the same city with the same name. They are the oldest, continuously operating sports team with a single name in all of these United States. The Phillies are older than the Flyers, Eagles, and Sixers. They are older than the Philadelphia Athletics who ruled the National League from Connie Mack Stadium on Lehigh Avenue in the early 20th century.
Photo Courtesy of Wikapedia.com
They are even older than first, organized Mummers Parade in Philadelphia in 1902.
One hundred and forty-three years later — the Phillies are opening against the Texas Rangers in South Philadelphia on Thursday. The matchup is more historically significant than even the Phillies. Philadelphia has already begun the Semiquincentennial Celebration of the signing of our Declaration of our Independence right here two hundred and fifty years ago. In San Antonio — 250 miles south of Arlington still sits the remnants of the Alamo — the mission fortress defended by Davey Crockett, William B. Travis, and Jim Bowie — whose defeat 190 years ago this month became a rallying cry for Texas freedom.
Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons
And before you worry about the possibility of another Phillies postseason without a Red October — remember this. It took those Fightin’ Phils thirty-two years of existence to win a Pennant, and almost a 100 years until they won a World Series. It would take them nearly thirty more years after Tug McGraw raised his arms into the air into the South Philadelphia’s night sky in celebration to win another.
When the Athletics left Philadelphia in 1954 — it was the Phillies who bought Connie Mack Stadium. And the Providence Grays?
They would eventually become the Atlanta Braves.
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