{"id":78439,"date":"2016-08-02T16:14:39","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T16:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=78439"},"modified":"2023-02-17T23:03:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T23:03:14","slug":"behind-mic-brotherly-love-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-brotherly-love-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: Brotherly Love?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia was certainly in the limelight this past week with the Democratic National Convention taking center stage.\u00a0 All of the media had a presence there.\u00a0 However, there was no national sports media.<\/p>\n

I bring this up because Ken Griffey, Jr.<\/a> and Mike Piazza<\/a> were inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame<\/a> on Sunday, July 24.<\/p>\n

I watched the great Griffey, Jr. play with the Mariners <\/a>and the Reds<\/a>.\u00a0 His numbers were awesome \u2013 630 home runs, 13 All-Star appearances, 10 Gold Glove Awards, and the statistical list goes on and on.\u00a0 He received 99.32% of the votes, the highest ever in Hall of Fame history.<\/p>\n

Mike Piazza\u2019s story was even more amazing.\u00a0 As a favor to Dodgers <\/a>manager, Tommy LaSorda<\/a>, he was drafted in the 62nd round.\u00a0 He went on to hit the most home runs by a catcher, bat .308 lifetime, and spent 16 years in the majors.\u00a0 He was an All-Star 10 consecutive seasons.\u00a0 He certainly repaid the favor \u2013 but mostly as a New York Met<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So what does this have to do with Philadelphia?\u00a0 The ceremony in Cooperstown made me wonder who the last Philadelphia Phillie was to be inducted into the Hall.\u00a0 I discovered it has been a while \u2013 21 years to be exact.\u00a0 On July 30, 1995, Mike Schmidt<\/a> and Richie Ashburn<\/a> entered that day.\u00a0 And Philadelphia celebrated with an estimated 25,000+ fans showing up for the induction ceremony.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one years is a long time.\u00a0 And it will only get longer, it appears.\u00a0 As you look at the list of \u201cpotential\u201d Phillies <\/a>to get a consideration, you come up empty.\u00a0 Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Bobby Abreu will all probably come up short.\u00a0 Jim Thome, Scott Rolen, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Curt Schilling could possibly get in. \u00a0Just not as Phillies.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the Phillies casting a pall over the Philadelphia sports scene.\u00a0 The Eagles<\/a>\u2019 last Hall-of-Famer was Reggie White \u2013 24 years ago.\u00a0 The 76ers<\/a>\u2019 last was Charles Barkley in 2006.\u00a0 And neither of these teams appears to be going to get someone in their respective Halls very soon.\u00a0 Flyers<\/a>\u2019 fans certainly remember their Hall of Famers Bill Barber (1990), Bobby Clarke (1987), and Bernie Parent (1984), but their inductions were a long time ago.\u00a0 Mark Howe was the last Philadelphia professional inducted in 2011 in The National Hockey League Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

So as much as we admire the Piazzas and the Griffey, Jr.s of the sporting world, Philadelphia fans would much prefer seeing one of their professional athletes in the limelight.\u00a0 National politicians?\u00a0 Not so much.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Phillies are batting .218 in their home games this year and are scoring 2.92 runs per game at Citizens Bank Park. That\u2019s the lowest run production in any home park in the major leagues.\u00a0 Buy your ticket and see no offense at all.<\/li>\n
  2. Because July 31 was a Sunday, the Major League Baseball trade deadline was extended to 4:00pm on Monday, August 1. As I write this, phone lines around the MLB offices must be buzzing with activity.\u00a0 Someone might want to trade for the LA Dodgers\u2019 ball girl.\u00a0 On Sunday, she caught a foul ball traveling at 108.7 miles per hour.<\/li>\n
  3. If you need a Lehigh Valley reason to watch the Olympics, then let Joe Kovacs<\/a> be that reason. Joe, a Bethlehem Catholic graduate, is a medal favorite in the shotput <\/a>in Rio.\u00a0 He won the world championships last year.\u00a0 The final for shot put is August 18 @ 8:00pm.<\/li>\n
  4. Sunday produced another great \u201cMajor\u201d finish in golf. The PGA Championship<\/a> came down to the final putt of the final match.\u00a0 Jimmy Walker<\/a> (no, not of \u201cDyn-o-mite\u201d fame) won his first major.\u00a0 Every major golf tournament this year was won by a first-timer.<\/li>\n
  5. The Patriot League Football Media Day was this week, so the pads will be thumping between now and opening day or night. RCNTV has Central Catholic at Freedom on opening night, August 26.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Philadelphia was certainly in the limelight this past week with the Democratic National Convention taking center stage.\u00a0 All of the media had a presence there.\u00a0 However, there was no national sports media. I bring this up because Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza were inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 24….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[704,176,190,421,494],"class_list":["post-78439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-baseball-hall-of-fame","tag-eagles","tag-flyers","tag-phillies","tag-sixers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: Brotherly Love? - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind the Mic: Brotherly Love? - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Philadelphia was certainly in the limelight this past week with the Democratic National Convention taking center stage.\u00a0 All of the media had a presence there.\u00a0 However, there was no national sports media. 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