September 30, 2007

The Other Side of Collapse

In 1964, the year I was born, the Philadelphia Phillies had a 6.5 game lead in with 12 games to play - and lost the National League pennant to Saint Louis by one game, the worse collapse in major league baseball history. No matter their future accomplishments, including three World Series appearances (1980, 1983, 1993) and one championship (1980), the 1964 collapse remained a defining part of the Phil's legacy. So much so that even a boy fan born in Philadelphia months before the collapse, who grew up sneaking listens to late-night games on an AM radio hidden under the covers, grew up knowing the story of 1964 and the World Series tickets that were printed, but never used.

There were no divisional playoffs or league championship series 43 years ago, just regular-season National League and American League winners who met in the World Series.

The last time the Philadelphia Phillies played in the post-season, 14 years ago, they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays when Joe Carter hit a come-from-behind, game-winning, series-winning home run. When he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth in game six, with the Phillies leading the game 6-5 but trailing in the series 3 games to 2, I stepped out of the room to avert my eyes from the television, knowing without a doubt what was about to happen. Little boys playing baseball dream of hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the World Series, but before 1993 the World Series had never been won on a come-from-behind walk-off homer. And yet I knew that's what Joe Carter was about to do. I still haven't watched the video - can't bear to watch it. That's what 1964 does to a Phillies fan - it makes them expect their team will find some way to blow it.

Carter's storybook home run launched 14 years of losing and frustration for the Phillies. It was 1964 in a single swing.

But now there's a new story: Reversing the story of 1964, and perhaps giving themselves a chance to erase a bit of the sting of 1993, the 2007 Phillies have become the first time in major league baseball history to overcome a 7.5-game deficit with 17 games to play to make the playoffs.

Even sweeter: the losers in the story are the New York Mets, who now own the record for the worst September collapse in major league baseball history. And the Phils weren't passive beneficiaries of the Mets' collapse - they caused it, by winning seven of seven from the Mets down the stretch. As any Phillies fan will tell you, that's not typical Phillies behavior. And yet, it happened.

Update: Mark Rose recaps the Phillies' roller-coaster season. ... Also, Philadelphia Inquirer writer Jim Salisbury on the Phil's victory. ... And inky writer Phil Sheridan says that Phillies fans now have something to taunt Mets fans with "for a generation or two." Whatever happens in the playoffs, that's worth something.