Philadelphia Phillies: A look back at a decade of honeymoons, nostalgia and reconstruction

Everyone played a part in the Phillies early success

I can’t think of a better time to be a Phillies’ fan than in the earlier part of the 2010s. Philadelphia had always been a great sports, but their success usually fell out right at the end of the season, either in the playoffs or in the championship. Something always felt different about this group of Phillies though.

Not just the fact that we had so many players that came up through the organization and had great success at the big-league level. But they had guys like Carlos Ruiz, who might be the greatest game-caller in Phillies’ history, and Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Greg Dobbs, Ben Francisco. Guys who just came in, put their heads down, and went to work. The types of players that Philly fans love.

As a 17-year-old I know I tried to model my game after Victorino, try to catch everything in sight and do whatever it took to get on base when my number was called.

After ten years of watching their fall from grace, and their disappointing transition to the new regime, I find myself starting to have that excitement that I had then.

With still a handful of homegrown players, and some stupid money spent on big names, I dream and hope that they’ll find the same magic that the team at the beginning of the decade found.

A now 27-year-old me gets to watch J.T. Realmuto put on a show every night (if you don’t know my obsession with J.T., read my other articles).