Harry Kalas has passed away 4-13-2009

The great hall of fame voice of the Phillies has passed away today.

that's all I can say right now.

Re: Harry Kalas has passed away 4-13-2009

WIP 610 am in philly has been playing sound bites of his calls.
someone found one of Harry that may be from his astros days.
He is describing Mantle as he comes to the plate and has 544 hr's
and that he's 1 in front of Mays who has 543.

This is such a horrible loss for those who enjoy the Phils.
I know he has a national audience
from the NFL too but that was mostly unknown in the Philly area.

I have only known the Phils through the
voice of Harry Kalas.

the good years have been few except
for the last 4 years or so and a spurt in the late 70's.

During these bad years the only reason I continued
to pay attention was so I could hear Harry tell me
everything about each game.

When I was a young teen I made it a mission to watch or listen
to every game they played.

there were times that the only
part of a game that I heard was while walking down the street
and hearing the game coming through the window
of someone in the neighborhood.

These small moments counted to keep my streak going
because I heard Harry's voice.


Each year the Phils closed out without making the playoffs
or just simply being terrible I always felt bad for Harry.
I always thought of HIM and I felt like HE deserved
a good team to call games for.

In 2002 at the Vet right during a ceremony celebrating his
induction into the HoF, he had the entire filled stadium and all the players
stand up and sing God Bless America with him, to remember those who were lost the year before at the World Trade Center.

His voice was the sound of spring and summer.
His voice was the Phillies.

Since I was 10 years old I've only known the Phillies
through the voice of Harry Kalas,
Now it's 35 years later and from this point on I have no idea
what the Phillies will sound like.

Re: Harry Kalas has passed away 4-13-2009

Todays memorial at the Ballpark was beautiful and loving.
words from Pa's governor and mayor friends of Harry. Mike Schmidt.
So wonderful, the tribute to his life from these people.
Jamie Moyer grew up as a Phillies fan.
He went to the parade in 1980 as a teen and in 2008 as a member of his favorite childhood team.

As many players have said, Moyer told us that when he made his major league debut against the Phils, he couldn't wait until
he could hear Harry's call of his debut after the game.

To close the ceremony His casket was passed from each of his friends, colleagues and current players to the hearse.
Harry once said he could come to the game every day and could see
just about anything happen on the field.

Well today I saw something that may have been as amazing as anything I ever saw during a game when I saw his casket passed from person to person then player to player up to that hearse.

I hope the video of the ceremony is made available somewhere, everyone should be able to see it.