Kalas To Get Rare Honor

Our first official PFT trip to Philadelphia coincides with one of the darker periods in the city’s rich sports culture. Earlier this week, long-time Phillies play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas died after collapsing in the press box prior to a game in Washington, against the Nationals. We’ll be attending Friday night’s meeting between the Padres and the Phillies, which will be the first game in Philadelphia since Kalas’ passing. Earlier today, I made the trip across the Ben Franklin Bridge (and then back again several hours later over the Walt Whitman Bridge) to the offices of NFL Films, where a portrait of Kalas hangs next to a portrait of the late John Facenda. On Saturday, Kalas’ casket will be placed at home plate of Citizens Bank Park, and fans will have a full four hours to pay their respects. A memorial service will follow. According to Sal Paolantonio of ESPN.com, it’s only the second time that anyone will have been remembered in this way since Babe Ruth’s funeral in 1948. The other baseball figure to receive such treatment was legendary Cardinals announcer Jack Buck, who died in 2002 at age 77. “To be honored in the same way as Babe Ruth tells you just how much Harry Kalas was part of the consciousness of the fans of Philadelphia,” Tom Shieber, senior curator at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., told Paolantonio. After being in town for little more than 24 hours, it’s obvious that the connection between Kalas and Philadelphia was significant and profound.