Ricky Bo, The '96 All Star Game, And The Phillies Flight From The Dark Ages

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Thirty summers ago, the last time the Major League Baseball All Star game was hosted in Philadelphia, relief pitcher Ricky Bottalico was the lone representative for the home team.

It was soppy humid, hot. Steam off the Kelly green of the astroturf. Thunder and rain hit a few hours before first pitch. Smog bit by the stadium lights. But by 8:30 it had cleared, and the Brutalist block bowl of Veterans Stadium was filled to the 700 level with 62,670 fans, the highest attendance for a baseball game there since Game 5 of the 1993 World Series.

It was the bottom of the fifth when the National League manager, the legendary Bobby Cox, turned to his assistant, the Phillies old skipper Jim Fregosi, in the home dugout.

"Bring your boy in next inning, Jimmy," he said in an early broadcast mic'd up moment. Fregosi and his red pinstripes caught an instant center stage as the camera centered him.

"Bow-tal-eeco," Cox added. "Yessir."

Out in the pen and through the filthy plastic panel of the right field wall, Bottalico was throwing.

If the '93 Phils were a red giant, they were a dying star by the time the city hosted the All Star game three years later. It was the early stage of a terminal decline that would result in a fourteen year postseason drought. The resurgent nebula would not glimmer again for another decade, with the advent of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins.

For the last place '96 Phils and a few million phanatics inside and out of the stadium, all they had, amidst this national showcase of their sport on their home turf, was Bottalico. The recognition of a single Phillie on the field was still thrilling. It was the only taste, a spare shade, of the transcendence of seeing the NLCS hosted at Veterans Stadium in '93.

Bottalico pitched a clean 5th inning. He sat down two future Hall of Famers, striking out Ivan Rodriguez and getting Cal Ripken Jr. to pop out. The 14 pitch inning lasted only a few minutes. And the Phillies, who have lost more games than any franchise in North American sports history, receded once more into baseball's shadows.

The All Star Game is back at Citizens Bank Park next week. And though the crack of the WIP may drown it out, the years have smiled kindly on Philadelphia baseball.

This time there will be six Phillies on the field, more representation than any other squad. Two of them, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, will compete in the home run derby on Monday night. Brandon Marsh, Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, and Jhoan Duran also made the squad. The Phillies have stormed all the way back to within three games of the division lead, and are in position to make their fifth consecutive postseason, tying a franchise record. Ownership has committed financially and emotionally to winning long term. Superstars have chosen the city as home.

If there lingered any question that Philadelphia has once again become one of the world's major baseball capitols, joining places like New York, Los Angeles, Santo Domingo, and Caracas, it has been laid soundly to rest. This week, Philly is the envy of every city. And though fans here struggle to realize it, Philly has been the envy of most places around the country entering each October for the past five years. Losing to the Dodgers and Mets does not make the Bank any less terrifying of an arena, does not mollify the astroturf green and death hilarious smile of the Phillie Phanatic.

There may be years to come where 14 late midsummer's night pitches from Ricky Bo or Pat Neshek are all there is. That golden vaunted past you speak of is the present.