Phils 'Photo Day' picture perfect

The Phillies organization has always tried its best to be fan friendly and last Saturday was no different at the annual “Photo Day” promotion.

The heat, which approached 100 degrees that day, didn’t seem to bother the fans or the players. Thousands of fans lined the designated areas on the field to get pictures of the players, many of whom stopped and posed with the faithful.
Son of Blonde Accountant and I had a pretty decent spot in rightfield where we waited for the players to appear. The youngster is celebrating his birthday this week and the ballgame was one of his birthday gifts.
The limited time of the event prevented us from getting pictures of all the players, but we were fortunate enough to have a few stop and pose. Primary among them was leftfielder Raul Ibanez — by all accounts a standup guy and class act — who put his arm around Son of Blonde Accountant and smiled for the camera.
Other players who stopped for us included J.A. Happ, Jose Contreras, Danys Baez, Joe Blanton, David Herndon and Vance Worley, who later made his major league debut in the game pitching a scoreless ninth inning, then was shipped out immediately after the game to Triple A Lehigh Valley to make room for Happ, who was coming off the disabled list to pitch on Sunday.
But I was particularly impressed with manager Charlie Manuel and the entire coaching staff — pitching coach Rich Dubee, bench coach Pete Mackanin, third base coach Sam Perlozzo, bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer and new hitting coach Greg Gross.
Each took plenty of time, especially with the kids, to chat and pose for pictures. Charlie took so much time that his handlers had to remind everybody within ear shot that there was a game to be played and we ought not to delay the skipper any further. Charlie didn’t seem to be in any hurry, though.
We got a lot of pictures. And the Phillies won big that day. It was a good day to be at the ballpark.

A G-string problem on stage

A handful of songs into her set Friday night, country music star Kathy Mattea informed the Sellersville Theater crowd that she had broken her G-string.
My first thought was that I had missed some onstage gymnastics by Ms. Mattea that would have caused such a wardrobe malfunction.

Of course, Mattea had broken the G-string on her guitar. I knew that. Really.
During an interview to preview the show, Mattea had told me that it was her responsibility to make “people feel like they’ve been sitting in somebody’s living room and that they’ve been lost in these songs all evening.”
And that’s exactly what the audience got from Kathy Mattea in her return to Sellersville. The Grammy Award-winning singer was warm and engaging during the show, and friendly and kind to those who waited in line to meet her after the show.
I’ve been to dozens of shows over the years at ST94, but Mattea is very well suited for this venue, and it for her. It’s not that the other performers and entertainers I’ve seen there haven’t been suited for the ST94, it’s just I can’t remember a more comfortable and natural feel to a show.
Maybe it’s because ST94 is my favorite local venue. Maybe it’s because Kathy Mattea’s music speaks to me on a different level. Maybe it was just the right artist in the right place on the right night.
Whatever the case, it strengthened by belief that the fine arts, music in particular, can be an important and vital part of life and that we should support it at the local level.
And I went home feeling like I was sitting in someone’s living room getting lost in those songs all evening.

A chat with 'Salty' Sands

Sarah Jane “Salty” Sands and some of the other original players of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League were a little concerned when Madonna was cast for the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.”

“She didn’t have such a good reputation,” said Sands during a break in signing autographs last Saturday at an event that featured five of the original women players at the Days Inn in Horsham.
The event, sponsored by the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society, which has a museum and gift shop in Horsham (www.philadelphiaathletics.org), was the second such autograph show the society has had in as many years featuring the professional women baseball players.
Sands, from Orangeville, PA, played two seasons for the Rockford Peaches as an outfielder and catcher. She got her nickname as a child from her father, who said she dressed like another “Salty,” one of the town’s more eccentric residents.
“A League of Their Own,” which stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell and was directed by Penny Marshall, reintroduced the nation to a part of baseball history that had been forgotten during World War II and brought renewed attention back on the women who played.
Sands did appear in the movie as herself, at the end during the movie’s credits where some of the original players are scrimmaging on Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y.
As for those concerns about Madonna and her reputation: “She did a wonderful job in the movie,” said Sands.
I just love listening to ballplayers tell their stories.

Raising bleach awareness

While watching the news report of the Phillies last win before the All-Star break, The Blonde Accountant raised a question: “Who thought it was a good idea to put baseball players in white pants?”
I gave the standard, simplistic answer, mostly because I couldn’t come up with a snappy comment. “The home team wears white uniforms and the visiting team wears gray uniforms.”
But her perspective was different. Ballplayers play in the dirt and their white uniforms get dirty. But the Phillies have red pinstripes in their white uniforms, which The Blonde Accountant said would prevent the uniforms from being bleached.
I don’t believe I’ve ever thought of using the word “bleach” in the same sentence as “baseball.” Of course my mom and many other moms — who have spent years washing dirty baseball uniforms — probably think otherwise.
“I can understand a doctor wearing a white coat, because when it gets dirty, it can be bleached,” said The Blonde Accountant. “But the red stripes in the Phillies pants would prevent them from being bleached.”
I will defer to her bleach expertise. After all, I wash the colors with the whites, so bleach doesn’t even figure into my laundry equation.
And really, we do have more substantive conversations during the 11 o’clock news. It just so happens this wasn’t one of those times.