Hey Mickey!

Up first to be honored in Scoring Position's Hall of Fame for Good Phillies Dudes is the dandiest little glove man to ever play the game. The scrappy midfielder with the heart of gold and the glove that never got the Midas touch. The little guy that led the 1993 Phillies World Series lineup with a regular season batting average of a whopping .247. THE GREAT MORANDINI!

Let's observe a moment of silence for Mickey Morandini. Feel free to meditate on the following:

That sweet unassisted triple play he turned against the Pittsburgh Pirates in '92. With Andy Van Slyke on second and a slimmer Barry Bonds on first, Mickey caught Jeff King's line drive, stepped on second, and then tagged out Bonds. Relive the glory of Mickey becoming the first second baseman in NL history to nail a defensive hat trick here. Of course the Phillies went on to lose in extra innings, but all's not fair in love and baseball. Cue Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love". But was it over then?

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Mickey Morandini earned the nickname "Dandy Little Glove Man" for a reason. Mickey Hands finished in the top two for his position in fielding percentage five times in his career and was even voted to the All-Star team in 1995. Despite this fact, Mickey never won a Gold Glove over other stand-up ballplayers like Jose Lind. Poor Mickey. Hey. Hey. Poor Mickey. Still, what a dude!

So the next time you slide on your mitt for your neighborhood's softball team, think about Mickey the Great Morandini. Think about unrequited love and your own shortcomings, and then think about Mickey turning a double play dressed as a member of All-4-One. Believe you me, Scoring Position's not the only one to want Mickey on their team. Check out this great audio interview on Jimmy Scott's High and Tight in which Mickey says, "At heart, I'm a Philly guy," while smooth saxophones play over crashing waves.

This might be the most love Morandini's gotten since '98. And he runs a stationary store with his wife, Peg!

Harry Kalas, Friend to All

Philadelphia said goodbye to good friend Harry Kalas, voice of the Phillies, two years ago today. Harry the K was in the Nationals press box when he collapsed several hours before the start of the home opener for the Nationals. Harry's Phillies went on to beat the Nationals 9-8 that day after taking drags of his brand in tribute - Parliaments, which he called "heaters."

Let's hope that the Phillies win another one for HK tonight as Doc goes 9-0 with the Nationals. Until then, light up a "heater," crack open a cold one, and listen again to one of the best voices in baseball here. Baseball Voices also put together a terrific CD featuring some of HK's most memorable calls, available for purchase here—highly recommended next time you're found with your head on the ground, gettin' low, or feelin' bad.

Kerplop!

Radio Days

Opening day cannot come soon enough. With more cold on the way and the most depressing day of the year still to come (January 24th or Blue Monday which is a "scientific fact" according to the internet and New Order), I've begun counting down the days, hours, and seconds until the Phils take on the Astros at 1:05 PM on April 1st.

Thanks to the folks over at The700Level and those awesome dudes on 610 WIP, the wait for April has become slightly more bearable due to this wonderful audio montage of Phillies highlights from 2010.

While the ending does not change no matter how many times you play it through (I'm on my fifth listen and Howard's still watching that meatball go by), it's bound to get you pumped about 2011 as memories of 2010 loop in your head.

Call me old fashioned, but there's something special to be said about radio. Seriously. Radio's great. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to experience the first half of the winning World Series game for the 2008 Phils during the most poorly timed power outage of all time, or have been able to ignore those annoying announcers on TBS and FOX during last year's postseason. Oh, and I will never forget driving into work last month sipping my coffee, watching the snow fall, and listening to an excited Philadelphia call into the 610 morning show with Angelo Cataldi after the Cliff Lee news hit. "Those fat Yankees fans will be eating flapjacks this morning, drowning their sorrows in carbohydrates," he said. Ah, the memories.

Baseball man Bill Veeck once said, "There are only two seasons- winter and Baseball". This is ringing especially true in the coldest and most depressing of months and in the wake of how the Birds played last night. So until opening day, it's going to be a lot of sitting around with my coffee and the radio, daydreaming about the Phillies of yesteryear.