Last Time at The Vet

Montreal Expos v Philadelphia Phillies, July 20, 2003

Veterans Stadium, Sec 509 Row 5

Had I known I would never make it back to The Vet in this final season for the Phils, I would have appreciated the moment more.

The Vet was the first place I saw my first 100 MLB games or so. And a laundry list of Eagles, Army v Navy and USFL Stars games. I just figured I'd make it back again. Never did.

This was a Sunday afternoon game. I had a personal rule I liked to follow. The perfect ballgame was to be played in the day, on grass in front of a packed house. I'd settle for any of the above.
The Vet had the cheesiest turf and was usually not full for baseball. To the defense of Philadelphia fans, the place at 65,ooo. It's tough to fill a yard that size.

Jim Thome doubled in the 2nd followed by a Bobby Abreu single to put the Phils up 1-0.
The score remained 1-0 until the bottom half of the 6th when the Phils struck again when Pat Burrell scored Placido Polanco, who was on 2nd at the time.

Phils starter Brett Myers went deep into the 9th with a shut out. With a man on, the Expos Brad Wilkerson hit a homer, pulling Montreal within one run. Jose Mesa came in for the save.

Phils won 3-2 in front of 37,522.

We hung out down stairs at a bar for a good portion of the game. The old MLB umpire Eric Gregg worked the bar. I was never a huge Gregg fan. He was one of those affirmative action hires at the age of 24. And walked around town (Philly was his home town) like his shit didn't stink. At one point I was listening to someone else to add to my drink order when Gregg got indignant and snapped at me for not being ready for him to take my order.

I stopped, looked him straight in the eyes and said "Do you want a fucking tip or not?"

I guess I came out ahead in that exchange. On June 4, 2006 I was cutting my grass sipping on a cool one . About the same time Eric Gregg dropped dead of a massive stroke. I should have held on to that tip.