Shortly after the news broke on Monday about Harry Kalas’ sudden death, I have been thinking about a fitting tribute that I could give him here. I knew that there would be a lot of retrospectives on his life and what he meant to the Phillies fan base and most of what I would say would just echo those same sentiments. I think all of us in the greater Philadelphia area can recall the memories of hearing his voice and knowing that spring was finally here. Even my wife, who is not a big sports person, talks fondly about how she and her dad used to sit on her parents’ back deck in the summer and listen to Harry call the Phillies’ games. Since there will be several of these types of reflections, I’ve decided to talk about two of his most famous calls and what they meant to me.
The first came on Saturday, April 18, 1987. Since I grew up with the Phillies in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, one of my favorite players was Mike Schmidt. At the beginning of the 1987 season he started five home runs short of the historic 500 home run club. At the time, there were only thirteen major league players who had reached that mark. I had been listening to the Phillies games very intently throughout the beginning of the season and tracking Schmidt’s progress. I had heard a few of Harry’s calls leading up to #500. All of them were basically the same with just the number changing, “Swing and a long drive! That ball is outta here! Home run Michael Jack Schmidt number 497.”
The night before, April 17, he had hit #499. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was in my parents’ basement playing a game and listening to the game on the radio. The Phillies were losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 going into the 9th inning. The Phillies managed to get two runners on base, but they had two outs when Schmidt came to the plate. I stopped what I was doing and listened intently thinking this would be the perfect time for Michael Jack to hit #500. Think of it: down by 1 run with 2 runners on and 2 outs in the 9th inning. Then I heard Harry’s voice. I still remember it like it was yesterday. He said, “Swing and a long drive! There it is number 500!” It struck me that he didn’t say his usual, “That ball is outta here!” but I didn’t care as I was ecstatic and Harry made me, a 15 year old kid, feel like I was there.
The second call is probably now his most famous call and the one that has been played over and over for the last six months: October 29, 2008, the second half of Game 5 of the World Series. Jen and I were in Florida with our friends, Tim and Lisa Kenderdine. As Tim and Lisa were sports fans as well, we made sure we got back to our room in enough time to see the second half of Game 5 which was scheduled to start in the bottom of the 6th inning with the score tied 2-2. We celebrated as the Phillies took the lead in the bottom of the 6th 3-2, but were “concerned” as only Philly fans can be when the Phils surrendered the lead in the top of the 7th. With the score tied 3-3, the Phillies took back the lead in the bottom 7th and were up 4-3 as the 9th inning approached. As we all know, although Brad Lidge allowed one runner on in the 9th inning, he shut down the Tampa Bay Rays and struck out Eric Hinske for the final out, clinching the Phillies first world championship since 1980 and Philadelphia’s first title in any sport since 1983.
It was sort of a surreal moment for me. Since we were in Florida at the time, I felt a little disconnected from Philadelphia at the time and didn’t feel the emotion I thought I would feel when Philadelphia’s 25 year title drought ended. Then it happened. Fox Sports, who was broadcasting the World Series, played Harry’s call of the final out: “The 0-2 pitch, swing and a miss, struck him out! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball!” That was it. Tears came to my eyes and I felt like I was back in Philadelphia, and Harry made that happen.
The first came on Saturday, April 18, 1987. Since I grew up with the Phillies in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, one of my favorite players was Mike Schmidt. At the beginning of the 1987 season he started five home runs short of the historic 500 home run club. At the time, there were only thirteen major league players who had reached that mark. I had been listening to the Phillies games very intently throughout the beginning of the season and tracking Schmidt’s progress. I had heard a few of Harry’s calls leading up to #500. All of them were basically the same with just the number changing, “Swing and a long drive! That ball is outta here! Home run Michael Jack Schmidt number 497.”
The night before, April 17, he had hit #499. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was in my parents’ basement playing a game and listening to the game on the radio. The Phillies were losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 going into the 9th inning. The Phillies managed to get two runners on base, but they had two outs when Schmidt came to the plate. I stopped what I was doing and listened intently thinking this would be the perfect time for Michael Jack to hit #500. Think of it: down by 1 run with 2 runners on and 2 outs in the 9th inning. Then I heard Harry’s voice. I still remember it like it was yesterday. He said, “Swing and a long drive! There it is number 500!” It struck me that he didn’t say his usual, “That ball is outta here!” but I didn’t care as I was ecstatic and Harry made me, a 15 year old kid, feel like I was there.
The second call is probably now his most famous call and the one that has been played over and over for the last six months: October 29, 2008, the second half of Game 5 of the World Series. Jen and I were in Florida with our friends, Tim and Lisa Kenderdine. As Tim and Lisa were sports fans as well, we made sure we got back to our room in enough time to see the second half of Game 5 which was scheduled to start in the bottom of the 6th inning with the score tied 2-2. We celebrated as the Phillies took the lead in the bottom of the 6th 3-2, but were “concerned” as only Philly fans can be when the Phils surrendered the lead in the top of the 7th. With the score tied 3-3, the Phillies took back the lead in the bottom 7th and were up 4-3 as the 9th inning approached. As we all know, although Brad Lidge allowed one runner on in the 9th inning, he shut down the Tampa Bay Rays and struck out Eric Hinske for the final out, clinching the Phillies first world championship since 1980 and Philadelphia’s first title in any sport since 1983.
It was sort of a surreal moment for me. Since we were in Florida at the time, I felt a little disconnected from Philadelphia at the time and didn’t feel the emotion I thought I would feel when Philadelphia’s 25 year title drought ended. Then it happened. Fox Sports, who was broadcasting the World Series, played Harry’s call of the final out: “The 0-2 pitch, swing and a miss, struck him out! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball!” That was it. Tears came to my eyes and I felt like I was back in Philadelphia, and Harry made that happen.
Note: I would be remiss if I did not point out a great tool for baseball fans that I used in preparing this post as I remembered some but not all the details surrounding Mike Schmidt’s 500th homerun. The website is http://www.retrosheet.org/ and it has just about every box score of every game ever played in major league baseball. Check it out if you are interested in that sort of thing.
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