The Phillies?

Connie Mack Stadium Home of the Phillies

I"m a baseball fan in 1964. A Yankees fan to be exact, but something was happening that couldn't be ignored: the Phillies were winning! No really, I'm not kidding, the Phillies are winning and they're in first place and it looks like they might go all the way to the world series.
I didn't pay much attention to the Phillies. They always seemed to play really bad and never go anywhere but down in the standings. The last time they were in first place was 1950, and I hadn't even been born yet.
Even when you thought about really great players, not too many Phillies would come to mind, 'cause most of them played a long time ago.
Listening to the Phillies games on the radio was a summer ritual. My Dad and Mr. Avis and Mr. Olsen and Mr. Collins would play pinochle outside under the Avis' cherry tree, and the sounds of the game would drift throughout our two yards. The familiar voices of By Saam, Bill Campbell and now Richie Ashburn could be heard calling the games all weekend.
The card game was all important; the ball game just background noise unless something exciting was going on, and most years that didn't happen too much.
This year was different. The card games were interrupted by the Phillies and their phenomenal rise to the top of the National League.
These Phillies were for real. They're led by rookie third baseman Richie Allen and young outfielder Johnny Callison.











Home runs are flying off of their bats, and veteran Wes Covington is adding his power as well. The two Tonys, Taylor and Gonzalez, are steady players, and a young utility player named Cookie Rojas is on the bench when needed.
The pitching staff is anchored by Jim Bunning and Chris Short, and relief pitcher Jack Baldshun was saving games left and right.
What is this? A good Phillies team? Baseball fans didn't know how to act. The Phillies in first place, looking like they're going to walk away with it?
This can't be, I mean the world has been turned upside down.
A miracle happens on Father's Day, June 21.
Jim Bunning, who used to pitch for the Detroit Tigers, is on the mound that day.
Bunning is not what you would call a great pitcher, just reliable, you know, the kind of player who goes out every time and gives it his best shot. Well, on this day he is at his best.
When the game is over the Phillies have won 6 to 0 against the New York Mets.
It's a shutout, but something more than that. The Mets don't get a hit, they don't get a walk, they don't get an error.
It's a perfect game in a so-far perfect season.
Who woulda thought?
A Phillie pitching a perfect game, the first one in the National League in 84 years, and it's Jim Bunning who does it!
Is there something in the water this year?
A perfect game and the Phils in first place in the National League?

I'm gonna have to pay attention to this.