Tony Campo

Author: Tony Campo

A huge fan of the Phillies since 1993. While my parents lived in Rice Lake, Wisconsin (where I still reside) my mother’s side of the family lived in Brookhaven, PA. I spent many summers out there with my grandma, and every night we’d sit together on the couch and listen to Harry Kalas call games played by Lenny Dykstra, John Kruk, and Darren Daulton. We HAD to turn on the red lava lamp for luck. That was always my job. As I grew up I didn’t follow the team as closely as I wanted to, until Chase Utley came back around. He is my all-time favorite player, and has been since he took the field for the first time and crushed a grand slam for his first hit. In 2008, I was visiting my family when the Phillies were playing the Rays in the World Series. We couldn’t get tickets, but when Game 5 was resumed after the rain, we piled into my mom’s car and drove down to the ballpark to walk the lot and visit the tailgaters. When the fireworks went off, we were posted up at a pickup truck running a generator with the game on a TV. To be able to hear the crowd roar, see the aerial display, and hear Harry say, “And the Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 world champions of baseball!” all at the same time, made it better than being in the stadium in the first place. Being out of market is challenging at times, but in today’s age with technology, it’s easier to stay connected.