Phillies fans cry alone

"The whole nation cries for the Red Sox and Cubs. Phillies fans cry alone."
- Mitch Nathanson, Author, The Fall of the 1977 Phillies: How a Baseball Team's Collapse Sank a City's Spirit

According to this, during the whole Bartman/Boone/Bambino/Billy Goat postseason of 2003, Mr. Nathanson, an associate professor of legal writing at Villanova's School of Law, got an idea for a book. As the title makes clear, he focuses on the 1977 team, their heartbreaking dismissal from the playoffs, and the impact on Philadelphia.

As I read this, I recalled painful memories of the 1976 team (featuring Mike Schmidt on the Sports Illustrated cover above), which was just as good and suffered an even worse humiliation in the playoffs. More than three decades later, I still cannot shake the memory of a lone Phillies player (Dick Allen I think, possibly Tony Taylor), head bowed, bat on his lap, sitting silently in the dugout after the Big Red Machine completed the three-game sweep sending them to the World Series where they swept the Yankees for their second consecutive championship.

I know, I know, with so much to choose from in terms of Phillies suffering, it's a case of to-may-to/to-mah-to. Nevertheless, Mr. Nathanson appears to have put together an in-depth look at a city and its baseball team. Here's hoping his book - and the Phillies - both enjoy great success this year.

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