As I started to walk toward Citizens Bank Park, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d see on the way to Carson Wentz’s inaugural AO1 Foundation Charity Softball Game.
If I was having any doubts about the city embracing it, it took about 30 seconds before they washed away. First, there was a sea of tailgaters and somebody selling Eagles merchandise in the parking lots. Never change, Philly.
It really shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, the AO1 Foundation was said to have sold 25,000 tickets to the event. For reference, the Phillies have averaged just over 25,000 fans per game this season and 12 major-league teams average fewer than that.
Fans filled the first- and third-base lines and even made it way into the upper decks.
After a brief press conference with reporters, the players all took turns getting in some warmup swings before the home run derby. Wentz predicted Richard Rodgers and Jake Elliott would be names to watch.
Eventually, there were three finalists left in the home run derby and Elliott was one of them. But in the finals, Stefen Wisniewski (three homers) took down Elliott (two) and Zach Ertz (one).
Before he batted, Wisniewski said, "It would be real embarrassing if I lost to a kicker."
He didn’t win, but even 66-year-old owner Jeff Lurie took a few hacks during the derby.
After he batted, Lurie told fans, “We are hungry for more.” That elicited an “Eagles” chant from the crowd. Wait … this is probably the only time an “Eagles” chant in the Phillies’ ballpark won’t make some people angry.
Following the derby, team captains Wentz and Jordan Hicks took turns picking the teams, saving the Super Bowl MVP for last.
NFL
Wentz: Ertz (1), Corey Clement (3), Jason Kelce (5), Fletcher Cox (7), Bryce Treggs (9), Jalen Mills (11), Wisniewski (13), Rodgers (15), Mike Wallace (17), Nate Sudfeld (19), Dallas Goedert (21)
Hicks: Elliott (2), Rodney McLeod (4), Mack Hollins (6), Derek Barnett (8), Brandon Brooks (10), Rasul Douglas (12), Wendell Smallwood (14), Ronald Darby (16), Halapoulivaati Vaitai (18), Nelson Agholor (20), Nick Foles (22)
When Hicks finally picked Foles, chants of “M-V-P” broke out in the park.
It was a nice touch that the family of Lukas Kusters threw out the first pitch.
As for the game itself, there were a lot of home runs and a lot of celebrations.
Eventually, Team Wentz came back to win the game, 23-12, but that wasn’t really the point. Wentz made a fun event and it seemed like the impressive crowd had a pretty good time.
When asked how much he expected the night to raise, Wentz didn’t want to give a number, saying he didn’t want to limit it. In addition to Friday's festivities, Wentz also announced the arrival of a free food truck and gave a check of $520,000 to help fund a sports complex in Haiti. The AO1 Foundation hasn't been around long, but it's already making a difference.
Soon enough we’ll know how much good the game did.