Opening Night 2008 - Philadelphia Phillies

Dollar Dog Night

Tonight my daughter and I watched the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies take on the Washington Nationals. In celebration of "Opening Night" the Phillies offered fans "Dollar Dog Night." The Phils had only one hit in the one to zip lost to the Nat's.

Eating dog #4 at "Dollar Dog Night"

Schmap Philadelphia Guide

Veterans Stadium

Two weeks ago I received the following email: I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the fourth edition of our Schmap Philadelphia Guide, to be published early November 2007. While Schmap offers no payment for publication, "many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers." What's interesting about all of this is that the photo in question is Veterans Stadium--a Philadelphia landmark that doesn't exist anymore! Too funny.

• See a YouTube video I created about the implosion of The Vet.
• See photos of the last game ever played at Veterans Stadium along with ticket stubs of concerts I saw there.

A Lot Can Happen in Fourteen Years

After Fourteen Years The Phillies Are In the Playoffs

For the last 14 years, starting with Joe Carter's crushing home run in the 1993 World Series, my devotion with the Phillies has been dominated by disappointment, frustration and even anger. But that all changed yesterday as I watched The Philles beat The Washington Nationals and take National League East division. The Phillies are champions of the National League East and are heading to the playoffs.

The last time the Phillies were in the playoffs was fourteen years ago. Today, while driving to work, I thought about where I was fourteen years ago and what I've done since. A lot can happen in fourteen years.

Fourteen years ago I was:

• Paul Altobell
  
• living in a brown house at 35 N. Coles Ave in Maple Shade, NJ
• married to an Italian-Polish girl from Pennsauken, NJ named Linda
• not a father
  
• a high school graduate
• professionally lost with no future or direction
  
• not using a computer in any way shape or form
  
• driving a Honda Accord hatchback
  
• smoking a pack a day
  
• listening to music on compact disc
• watching The Phillies on a 26 inch Sony
  
• spending time with my father and talking Phillies baseball
• laughing with my friend Steve Oakley
  

Fourteen years later I am:

• Paul Altobelli
  
• living in a brick house at 1219 Martin Ave in Cherry Hill, NJ
• married to an Italian-Polish girl from Pennsauken, NJ named Lisa
• a father of three beautiful children, Rachel, Michael, and Joey
  
• a college graduate
• professionally at my peak with new and exciting opportunities everywhere I turn
  
• using a computer to make a living and manage my life
  
• driving a Honda Accord sedan
  
• smoke free for over a year
  
• listening to music on an iPod
  
• watching The Phillies on a 52 inch Sony LCD flat screen
  
• thinking about my father and wishing we could talk about The Phillies one more time
• laughing with my friend Steve Oakley

Paul Altobell and Steve Oakley then.

Steve Oakley and Paul Altobelli now.

Dear Richie Ashburn

Yesterday, I found a letter my father wrote to Philadelphia Phillies great, Richie Ashburn. Below my father's letter is Ashburn's reply written this very day 42 years ago.

July 30, 1965

Hi Rich,

The Pirates pitcher who struck out 27 in the minors was Ron Necciai. I think it was a no hitter, and it may have been a perfect game. A pitcher with a future like that, who doesn't make, brings to mind a Phillies pitcher from the early '50s, Niles Jordan. Do you remember his first game? A two-hit shutout against the Reds.

When I think of those super-catches you used to make, the one I remember the best were against the Giants and Bucs. The first was one of those back-to-the-infield jobs on Ray Nobley. I think it was a Saturday afternoon. The other was a night game, and also with your back to the infield. Don't remember the batter though. Do you?

Hope I've stirred up a few memories for you, you always to for me.

Sincerely,
Don Altobell

Tear Down The Vet

The Implosion of Veterans Stadium

I created this from some footage I shot the day Veterans Stadium imploded.

Phillies Locker Room Tour

Here's an email I received the other day:

My name is Mike Milici, I write for the Phillies over at a baseball website, www.bugsandcranks.com

I noticed your pics from your locker room tour and I'm going to use them for a post on the site. The first post should be up tomorrow (5/21) where I'll go over the lockers of Howard, Burrell, Myers, Madson & Gordon. On the 23rd, I'll put up the rest. I just wanted to let you know that in tomorrow's post I'm not going to say where I got the pictures from, just because I don't want people to check the other ones out before I put the post up.

The second post, however, I'm going to thank you profusely for taking them and I will also go back into the first post and edit it to thank you.

I just didn't want you to catch wind of the post first and think I wasn't going to credit you, because I will. Sorry if this was hard to understand, it's late.

thanks,
Mike Milici

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Phillies Locker Room Tour: Part 1 of 2

Did you ever wonder what was inside the lockers of your favorite major leaguers?

No???

Cot dammit! If I knew that, I woulda never broke into the The Bank to snap these pictures. I thought you’d be interested in this sorta thing. Oh, well — too late now.

This will be installment #1 of a 2-part series showcasing some of the contents of various Phillies lockers. The blastmaster himself, Ryan Howard is up first. After the jump, check out the lockers of Pat Burrell, Cole Hamels, Brett Myers & Tom Gordon. You’ll also notice that I embedded new teckmology that allows you to zoom in on the photo without saving it to your computer. Enjoy!
Ryan Howard’s locker contains:

• Phillies cap, 26 bats, a bunch of pairs of Under Armour batting gloves
• Ryan Howard bobblehead, an unidentified box also found in Brett Myers’s locker
• These blue things that are also found in Cole Hamels’s locker
• Houston Astros jersey(?), a few pair of socks, Oakley sunglasses, Adidas spikes

Read the full post…

Phillies Locker Room Tour: Part 2 of 2
In this second and final installment of “Phillies Locker Room Tour,” we’re going to take a peek inside the locker of 5 more Phillies. Part two features the belongings of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Rowand, Ryan Madson and Shane Victorino. In case you missed part one, you can check it out HERE. If not, get ready for more of the same. Oh, and remember that there is a menu tab in the bottom left hand corner of each picture that allows you to zoom in on any part of the picture you want.

Ready? Utley’s up first, the rest after the jump.


A closer look inside Chase Utley’s locker…

Up top: a Chase Utley bobblehead in between 2 Phillies caps

Highest shelf: 12 bats, a pair of socks and a yellow visor that reads:

Good Luck Chase
Love Your #1 Fans
Chases Chicks!!

Middle compartment: Some mail, CD’s, a Pat Burrell #5 promotional giveaway hat, a flashlight — it’s kinda hard to tell what the rest of the stuff is

Bottom shelf: Balled up socks, a bat, a couple of baseballs, 2 gloves, an award of some sort, unopened mail and T-Shirts.

Read the full post…

Phillies / Astros - April 23, 2007

Phils' Bats Thaw in 11-4 Victory

Last night my daughter Rachel and I saw one of the best baseball games I've seen in a long time. With the first pitch of the game the Astro's Craig Biggio hits a home run. At the bottom of the inning Jimmy Rollins answers right back with a solo dinger of his own. I knew after witnessing those two homers that this was going to be an interesting evening.

Here's the recap from today's Philadelphia Inquirer. By Jim Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer

There were two thunderous cracks of the bat in the seventh inning last night at Citizens Bank Park.

First, Chase Utley hit a mammoth, you-wish-you-were-there-to-see-it home run over the batter's eye in dead-center field and onto Ashburn Alley.

Moments later, Ryan Howard struck out for a third consecutive time and turned his huge maple bat into kindling by ferociously smashing it into the hard clay around home plate.

Howard's histrionics were telling - he's hitting just .218 - but his frustration turned out to be just a theatrical footnote to a night Phillies fans had waited too long for.

Finally, everyone had a good time at the ballpark. Warm weather made it feel like baseball season. And the Phillies knocked the yarn out of the ball with a 20-hit outburst en route to an 11-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Jackie Robinson tribute night.


Players on both teams wore No. 42 in Robinson's honor.

"It was great being out there and having a chance to wear that number," said Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies' hitting star with two singles, a triple, a homer and four runs scored. "The atmosphere was great. It was very special."

The slow-starting Phils seem to be experiencing an April thaw as they've improved to 7-11. They have won three in a row for the first time this season. They'd be looking at a five-game winning streak had Tom Gordon been able to close out Friday night's game in Cincinnati.

Tonight, they look to keep it going as the Washington Nationals come to town for three games.

Every member of the Phils' starting lineup - including pitcher Adam Eaton - had at least a hit in the rout of Houston. Ironically, Utley carried an 0-fer to the plate and was the only starter without a hit when he came up with Shane Victorino on second base with two outs in the seventh.

Facing righthander Dave Borkowski, Utley unloaded on a 2-2 pitch. Everyone in the crowd of 32,517 knew it was gone. The only question was which concession stand it would be visiting on Ashburn Alley.

After the blast, Phillies officials pulled out their charts, graphs and protractors and calculated the distance of Utley's homer at 460 feet. That might have been conservative. This ball appeared to go at least 462 feet. Either way you slice it, that's a lot of real estate.

Utley's homer was one of two the Phillies hit in support of Eaton, who coughed up two early leads but ultimately locked it down after the Phils rallied for three runs in the fourth to break a 4-4 tie.

Rollins led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo homer, matching Craig Biggio's feat from the top of the inning.

Before the game, Harold Gould, a former member of the Philadelphia Stars Negro league team, asked Rollins to hit a home run for him.

Rollins, the NL leader with seven, delivered.

"They came out banging," Rollins said of the Astros. "We needed to score some runs and we stayed after it. We know we have a good offensive team. Hopefully as the weather gets warmer, we'll see it."

Victorino, Rollins' partner at the top of the lineup, had two singles and an important two-run double in the seventh.

Rollins and Victorino combined for seven hits, six runs and five RBIs. They are fun to watch when they get going like this.

"When Jimmy and I are on the bases, things seem to fall into place," Victorino said. "It seems like everyone swung the bats well.

"Jimmy really gave us a lift. After Biggio's [leadoff] homer, people might have been thinking, 'Here we go again.' Jimmy came right back and the offense took off from there."

Pat Burrell and Wes Helms both added three hits apiece to the Phillies' attack. Burrell was lifted for pinch-runner Michael Bourn in the bottom of the sixth. Manager Charlie Manuel said he will sacrifice Burrell's bat for defense when his team has a late lead.

Over the last two games, the Phils have 32 hits and 20 runs.

Eaton (2-1) worked into the seventh and allowed four runs in helping Manuel pick up his 400th win as a big-league manager. Geoff Geary, Ryan Madson and Francisco Rosario teamed on three scoreless innings to seal the win.

Season Ticket Appreciation Night

At Citizens Bank Park

My friend Marty asked me to join him at Citizen's Bank Park for Philadelphia Phillies Season Ticket Appreciation Night. We were treated to dinner in the exclusive Diamond Club. Then there was a Q/A with Phillies GM Pat Gillick. Then we got to roam the field, run the bases, hang out in the Phillies club house, spit inthe dug out, and throw in the bull pen. Needless to say I really enjoyed myself. Thanks Marty.

Click the photo above to view all the photos.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Michael

Blowing Out Candles with Authority!

Earlier today I took Michael to his very first Phillies game. Phillies beat the Marlins 11-5.

New club for baseball fans...

From the April 29, 2005 Philadelphia Business Journal print edition--better late than never
Peter Key, Staff Writer

When Paul Altobelli took his 11-year-old daughter Rachel to a Philadelphia Phillies game a few weeks ago, she was disappointed that she didn't get to meet any of the players. The following week, he got a chance to cure her disappointment.

Altobelli, a Cherry Hill resident, brought her to the first area event held by Players Choice Platinum Club, which gives baseball fans a chance to get up close and personal with members of their favorite team.

Rachel got to socialize and have her picture taken with Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, outfielder Jason Michaels and shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

"She just thought I was the greatest daddy ever," Altobelli said.

That's the type of reaction Ravi Kothare hopes the Platinum Club will evoke frequently in the years ahead.

Kothare, a New York financial planner who lives in Voorhees, N.J., launched the club earlier this year as the first venture of Affinity Club Network LLC, a Philadelphia business he heads.

The club, which is the only organization of its kind licensed by the Major League Baseball Players Association, charges members $19.95 a month, although Kothare said he's thinking of having annual memberships for less.

Members get to attend, for a fee, meet-and-greets, such as the one Altobelli went to with his daughter, and other events, including dinners, golf tournaments and baseball and softball clinics. They also can buy discounted merchandise at the club's online store. And they can earn points for discounts on events and special merchandise.

Players are paid to attend the events, but they get something out of them besides money.