Still image of video posted to X by @FoulTerritoryTV
17 years after claiming a World Series title, the 2008 Phillies remain omnipresent.
Cole Hamels is a guest instructor in Clearwater and will serve as a color commentator during some Phillies games this season. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and Shane Victorino are also spending time with the Phils in spring training. Chase Utley played a huge role in the festivities surrounding the 2024 London Series.
Howard, Victorino, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton visited Citizens Bank Park in September with the Savannah Bananas. Charlie Manuel can usually be found with the club. Brad Lidge was in Philly last fall to launch a new collectible. Lidge made a surprise appearance at the team's ceremony to honor Carlos Ruiz last August.
You get the idea.
It's probably enough to drive the current iteration of the Phillies, talented but ringless, completely insane. If so, Rollins understands. On a recent appearance on Foul Territory, he says he felt the same way about the 1980 Phillies in the early aughts:
"I tell that to Bryce [Harper], I've told him plenty of times: 'If you don't want to hear about '08, go win it.' Because I felt the same way. I got tired of hearing about 1980. I was born in '78. I don't want to hear about the guys who played in '80. I love 'em. I knew Mike Schmidt, I learned about Larry Bowa . . . That's who I was chasing. But, in order for you to create your own legacy, go create it. If you don't want to hear about the '08 team, go win. They'll talk about you guys. Then you tell the next generation, if y'all don't want to hear about the 2025 Phillies, go win. And you start all over."
"If you don't want to hear about the '08 team, go win it."
Jimmy Rollins reveals what he told Bryce Harper about creating a legacy in Philadelphia. 👇 pic.twitter.com/9Bxiu2WuZ0
Rollins hits the nail on the head. Harper's Phillies have found a great deal of success in recent years. Citizens Bank Park is as packed as it was during its 2007-2011 golden era. The energy, the enthusiasm, the October baseball, the pride, the rally towels... That's all back. But they haven't produced a red flag above Ashburn Alley to accompany the 1980 and 2008 banners.
As talented as it is, the current group of Phils may be remembered most for its soul-crushing postseason losses. Blowing a 2-1 lead over the Astros in the 2022 World Series. Blowing a 3-2 NLCS lead at home against the Diamondbacks in 2023. Getting dismantled by the hated Mets in the 2024 NLDS.
And there's only one way to change that.
Is it fair? Maybe not. But it's reality. Before finally breaking through in 1980, Schmidt and Bowa's talented Phillies teams posted a pair of 101-win seasons. Rollins' Phillies arguably got better in 2009, 2010, and 2011, but couldn't recapture their '08 magic.
Those eras were almost remembered for their disappointments. Without the rings, the same players with the same talent would have wildly different legacies. Beloved, but not nearly in the same way. More like Donovan McNabb's Eagles than the recent Super Bowl teams. More like Allen Iverson's Sixers than Moses Malone's group.
Harper certainly understands the assignment. "At the end of the day, [the fans] want to see us win," he told ESPN last October. "And if we're winning, they're winning. They can sit there and go, screw you to Boston, screw you to New York, screw you to L.A. They have that demeanor. That's just how they are. They can hold it over their buddy's head in New York or Boston because we beat 'em that week . . . That's the coolest thing about being here and being part of it, and you don't fully understand it until you're here. It takes a different mindset to play in this place. And I wanted to do it."
Well said.
Now go win it.
