As the leaves turn…and the days get shorter…and colder…the calendar clicks over to October 1st.
I think of two things when I see that date…and they both have to do with the Phillies.

October 1, 1950: The Whiz Kids Win It!

It was the last Sunday of the regular season in 1950…and for the first time in 35 years…the Phillies had a chance to win the National League pennant. They were known as the “Whiz Kids” because most of the players were home grown from the Phillies fledging minor league system…and their average age was about 26 years old.
They were the youngest team in baseball…led by future Hall of Famers Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn…and helped along by fan favorites like Del Ennis, Andy Seminick and Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones.
Maybe most important of all…was the flash of brilliance turned in by relief pitcher Jim Konstanty. He was 33…he wasn’t young…and he wasn’t imposing to look at…but he was the grizzled veteran that held the young team together.
Konstanty made 74 appearances, which set a new National League record. He also won 16 games, all in relief…and racked up a National League best 22 saves. Konstanty was the first relief pitcher in baseball history to win the MVP award.
On October 1st…the Phillies were desperately clinging to a one game lead. The Brooklyn Dodgers were breathing down their necks. The defending National League champions had already taken the first two games of this season ending series at Ebbets Field…and they needed just one more win to force a one game playoff. Robin Roberts and Don Newcombe hooked up in a pitcher’s duel…both righthanders were looking for their 20th win of the season. The Dodgers almost won it in the bottom of the 9th…but Richie Ashburn fielded a single in center and threw a strike to home to nab Cal Abrams at the plate and send the game into extra innings.
Then in the top of the 10th…Dick Sisler hit a two out three run homer…the biggest home run in Phillies history …to give the Whiz kids a 4-1 lead! 35 years of frustrations wiped away by one swing !!! Despite Konstanty’s dominant season as the “closer”…it was Roberts who got the last three outs to end it. The Phillies …the Whiz Kids…had finally won the pennant!!!

October 1, 1970: Farewell Connie Mack

That was the night they finally closed down Connie Mack Stadium…home of the Phillies for 32 seasons…and original home of the Philadelphia Athletics…and I was there.
Built in 1909 as Shibe Park…it was America’s first concrete and steel ballpark. Located at 21st and Lehigh in Philadelphia… it was home to Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s…the premier franchise of the American League for the first three decades of the 20th Century. The Phillies began sharing the old ballpark in 1938…and became sole occupants when the A’s left for Kansas City in 1954. Known for it’s French Renaissance exterior…and the dome that graced the main entrance…Shibe Park was a green diamond in the slowly deteriorating North Philadelphia neighborhood.
Renamed Connie Mack Stadium…it was considered antiquated by the 1960’s…and Phillies waited to move into a modern ballpark. That would happen with the opening of Veteran’s Stadium in 1971.
But before they did…they held that last game…October 1st 1970.
My father loaded our  family into the station wagon and we headed into North Philly to see the Phillies play the Montreal Expos in the final game of the season…the final game at Connie Mack.
It was quite a show…the old stadium was packed to the rafters. And a lot of fans didn’t come to say good bye…they came to take something home. They started to literally pull the old ballpark apart…seat by seat and brick by brick. I remember sitting in the upper deck along the first base line…and the familiar sounds of a ballgame were replaced by the din of hammers…and wrenches and bare hands ripping seats from their foundations…and the signs off the walls. I still remember the feeling…when the upper deck started to sway as the demolition continued. My father quickly led us back downstairs…because he thought the whole place was going to come down !!
But it was a really good game (!) …so we stayed to watch the end…from the lower stands along the third baseline. The Phillies won it 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th…when Oscar Gamble singled in Tim McCarver with the game winning run. And that’s when the fans stormed the field…and started ripping the beautiful green grass up…and tearing down the outfield walls. It was total bedlam…and very sad. I was only 9 years old…but I could see the look in my father’s eye that this was a heartbreaking way to say farewell to an old friend.
About a year later my dad took my brother and I back into the now vacant ballpark. It was scary and fun all at the same time. The field was overgrown with weeds and debris. Part of the upper deck on the third base side had been heavily damaged by fire in August 1971…and it was now just a conglomeration of twisted metal and charred remains. Rows and rows of stadium seats were actually lined up where the infield used to be. The big Ballantine Beer scoreboard in right was still there…but it was full of holes and missing tiles.
But standing there with my dad and brother …in what was now desolate and quiet…you could imagine that you were Jim Bunning standing on the mound…or Tony Taylor digging in at home plate.
You could almost hear the crack of the bat…and the roar of the crowd from long ago.
My brother and I ran the bases…at least what we figured where the bases once were…and we laughed…and shouted…and tried to make it home….with my dad cheering us on.
For one brief moment…it was a ballpark again.
Before we left…my dad noticed three complete seats…still joined together…along the rows laying in the infield. The three of us carried them out…and took them home…for a final souvenir.
39 years later…I still have those seats…and the memories of Connie Mack Stadium…safe at home.