by Alex Lloyd Gross
Oct 22, 2022
The Phillies are well on their way to the World Series. Everyone in the region, it seems is a fan. The Playoff Games are sold out and people wanting into the stadium are paying top dollar for tickets. To keep the momentum up, the city and the team held a rally, on the plaza of the Municipal Services Building at noon on Friday.
This was a big more extravagant than the Phillies bus that is going around town. The Phanatic was there but this time there was a small stage set up with a full PA system. People gave pep talks with the emphasis on how important fans are at the stadium. Mickey Morandini, who played with the 1993 team is optimistic about the team. He is now one of the teams ambassadors. That job is to talk up the Phillies and sign autographs.
This rally was sanctioned by the city and Mayor James Kenney showed up but did not speak. “I talk too much as it is”, he said. Rather he left the microphone duties to Managing Director Tumar Alexander, who was only too happy to show his support for the team. There were two words that were not uttered during the rally, One of them starts with the letter “W”. “We don’t wanna jinx anyone,” said Milt Thompson, another Phillies Ambassador from the 1993 team.
Phillies play by play announcer Tom McCarthy also spoke about the crowd. “Getting loud is important”, he said after the rally. Crowd noise is very important to professional athletes. When games were played without a crowd, some stadiums used crowd noise over the PA system.
The Phillies have to keep winning, or else this pep rally is meaningless. About 200 people, mostly city workers on their lunch break showed up to participate . By 12:20 PM the rally was over and the bus containing the Phanatic, the ball girts and rally towels was pulling off. The Phillies are winning the series 2-1 over the San Diego Padres.
That means they advance and police are taking precautions along major gathering spots, like Frankford & Cottman Avenues. They already have a plan in place. Light poles will be greased to prevent people from climbing them.