Phillies fans and their hard past

Philadelphia natives today have experienced their fair share of pride and pain - with regard to their city and their baseball team.

Yesterday, author Mitchell Nathanson shared his ideas about the baseball team in front of a small crowd at the Penn Bookstore. His book, The Fall of the 1977 Phillies examines the relationship between the Phillies, its fans and the city of Philadelphia.

Nathanson talked about a team that rarely won and offered little relief to fans and residents during some of the city's most trying times, leading up to the disappointing 1977 season. He sees the history of the Phillies baseball team as a microcosm of the city's socioeconomic infrastructure,

"The city was bad and the Phillies came to personify all that was wrong with it," said Nathanson, a lifelong Phillies fan. "Reading about the game the next day, you'd get an update on how many cars had been vandalized, how many people had gotten mugged and how many fights were in the stands," he said.

Nathanson spoke of a Philadelphia that was rife with social, economic and racial problems in the 1950s and 60s. He also described the neighborhood around historic Connie Mack Stadium as decaying and described the ballpark itself as falling apart.

He also talked about how the Philadelphia Athletics, the rival baseball team in the city before they moved to eventually become the Oakland A's, were more respected than the Phillies because they fared better against the rival New York Giants and Dodgers.

"Beating New York was important to Philadelphia fans," he said, "Philadelphians still have an inferiority complex towards New York today over its sports franchises," he added.

Penn alumnus Patrick O'Bannon, a 1990 graduate, was in attendance for the book-signing and agreed with Nathanson's assessment of the Phillies and their relationship with the city of Philadelphia.

"I can identify," said O'Bannon. "A common experience for many Philadelphians was going to the park to catch a Phillies game," he said, adding there are few community experiences like it.

Caroline Trask, marketing manager of the Penn Bookstore, called Nathanson's talk informative and accurate in its depiction of the history of Philadelphia Phillies baseball.

"I think it was extremely interesting," she said. "I've watched the Phillies all my life and tonight I found out a few things I didn't know about [the team]."

Nathanson ended his talk with what was perhaps a sobering truth for both the Phillies and Philadelphians.

"The book is ultimately about why the city of Philadelphia will never take to the Phillies," he said.

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