Baseball Trip - Day 7

In 1970 Jim Morrison of The Doors opened a concert in Philadelphia by yelling “Hey Philadelphia….Do you Feel Alright?” The band then broke into their rendition of “Who Do You Love”. I remember listening to this on an eight track player. Some of you may not know who the Doors were or even what an eight track player was, but for some reason that was what came into my mind as the bus drove into the Philly city limits. Just another example of the random tidbits which escape from the warehouse of insignificant facts known as Coot’s brain. Our travel film for the day was “Major League”, the hilarious movie which immortalized Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle. “Just a little bit outside.”

The best thing about the Philadelphia sports arenas is that they are all located at the same place. Xfinity Mobile Arena houses the 76ers and Flyers, Lincoln Financial Field is the home of the Eagles, and the Phillies play in Citizens Bank Park. Three venues which hold 133,000 seats and there are 22,000 parking spaces. It’s an impressive complex marred only by the constant reminders of the “World Champion Eagles”.

I really liked Citizens Bank Park. We saw statues of Mike Schmidt, Robin Roberts, and Steve Carlton and other tributes to Phillies history. The Phillie Phanatic whipped the crowd into a frenzy (an easy transition for Philadelphia fans) and of course we enjoyed a Philly Cheesesteak. The only letdown was the relative silence of the opposing fans. Usually Chicago Cub supporters are everywhere, but although we saw quite a few people wearing Cub jerseys, T-shirts, and caps, they didn’t make any noise at all. It may have had something to do with the fact that the game was pretty noncompetitive. Philadelphia won 7-2, and Chicago never really threatened. The game highlight was Kyle Schwarber’s home run blast to deep right field.

After the game we had time for a little sightseeing, so we were able to see The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. After another full day it was quiet time on the bus as we headed back to Hanover Maryland. One more day remained on our baseball tour.

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?