Jamie Moyer has the sweetest 2008 Phillies World Series story

Jamie Moyer has the best 2008 Phillies World Series story

Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher and Pennsylvania native Jamie Moyer grew up watching the Phillies and their minor-league affiliate in Reading and dreaming of becoming one of them.

Ironically, his MLB debut would come against the Phillies, when he beat them 7-5 as a Chicago Cubs rookie in 1986. His time with the Phillies would finally come two decades later, after stints with the Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Seattle Mariners.

Finally, in August 2006, Moyer got traded home. In his hometown debut, the 43-year-old southpaw set a franchise record, becoming the oldest Phillies pitcher to record a win. When the season ended, the Phillies signed him to a two-year extension.

By 2008, the 45-year-old was the oldest active player in MLB. He was a father of two teenage boys, and he wanted to share his successes with them.

As he told the Reading Eagle last month, he’d given his sons Phillies uniforms during deciding games the NLDS and NLCS, so that they could pass for teammates and come out to celebrate with him on the field.

When Game 5 of the World Series rolled around, he wanted to do it again. He sent Dillon (17) and Hutton (15) into the clubhouse to put on uniforms and wait. In the ninth inning, he led them through the tunnel from the clubhouse to the dugout. And then, they waited.

"“I sat ’em at the end of the dugout, so when we clinched they were on the field with me, which is really special. I mean that in itself is something that is priceless. I was able to share that with my boys.“As Brad Lidge is facing Eric Hinske for the third out, which we didn’t know, it was strike one, strike two, strike three. I’m like standing at the end of the dugout and my boys were there, grinning from ear to ear. I had tears rolling down my face. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘What do I do? Do I hug my boys? Do I run on the field?’ I ran on the field. But it was like, ‘Is this really happening?’ I mean, it was just like an out-of-body experience.”"

It was a joyous, full-circle moment for Moyer. Days later at the World Series celebration in Philadelphia, he told his teammates that a teenager, he had skipped school to go to the Phillies’ first World Series parade in 1980. Now, he was the champion in the parade.