From World Series parades to collecting memorabilia, readers shared their memories of Phillies games and what the team as meant to them:

Longtime fans

My dad David Long is a longtime Phillies fan! He always said as I was growing up, before I go, I’d love to see the Phillies win a World Series and the Eagles win a Super Bowl! I was so excited when both of those happened for him!

Now he gets to see another World Series!

Unfortunately we didn’t make any games this year, but my husband and I took our 1- year-old daughter to the Iron pigs game while Harper was there.

Our daughter Harper is named after Bryce Harper. We are definitely a Philly family!

Emily Kunkle

Franklin Township

Through the lean years

My husband Charlie has been a Phillies fan forever – through the good years and through those lean years hope was never lost since “there was always next year!”

He almost gave up on them this summer but continued to watch every game. Those Phillies were well blessed at times but then a miracle happened … They started to win the games that counted ... Suddenly they were in contention for the World Series and the Philly Fanatic was given a place of honor on our mantle right next to “Grateful and Blessed!”

Jane and Charles Reaman

LAKE HAUTO

Philly fans for life

My husband, 10-year-old son Brody and I attended Game 4 on Saturday night in Philly. We have tickets to the World Series game 4 on Tuesday. My son wore a shirt that my mom still had from the 1980 World Series to the game on Saturday. He will wear it again on Tuesday when we attend the World Series game.

We have been Philadelphia fans our entire life. When my mom was pregnant with me, she attended a Phillies game at the vet and was hit in the stomach with a foul ball by Pete Rose. She was able to keep the ball, but Pete Rose didn’t sign it at the time. A few years ago, Pete was in the area and my mom cornered him and finally got him to sign the ball.

We attended Spring Training in 2019 and my son was able to meet Rhys Hoskins during that trip. We returned home from that trip on Feb. 26 and they finally signed Bryce Harper on Feb. 28 - Brody’s birthday. What a great gift! Brody attended his first baseball game at Citizens Bank Park on March 30 ... which happened to be Bryce’s first home run as a Phillie!

My son really loves Alec Bohm. He always selects number 28 for his baseball jersey and we had to convince him that picking Bohm #2 in his fantasy baseball draft was not the best idea. He eventually was able to get Bohm on his team and named his team “Hit a Bohmer!”

We just got a puppy in August and named her Harper Bryce Mertz.

Let’s go Phils!

Jennifer Mertz

Palmerton

World Series bound

My husband, Malcolm McKinsey, and I are going to World Series game 4 on Tuesday.

We are both big fans of the Iron Pigs and have season tickets right behind home plate. We love seeing the talented Pigs players move up to the majors and we especially enjoy when we get to see players when they’re sent down to AAA on rehab (like when Harper played for the Pigs this summer…very exciting!).

We both love baseball and started dating in 1986 after a bet on the World Series game that year (Mets v Red Sox…we claim Bill Buckner was the reason we got married). Several years ago, on our anniversary, we unknowingly gave each other partial season Pigs tickets. Now in retirement, we travel around the country to see different AAA and AA teams play.

We were given the opportunity to go to the World Series through the Iron Pigs and we jumped on it. Getting to see a World Series game can now be checked off my bucket list.

Joan McKinsey

Polk Township

Memorabilia from the Vet and more

My father worked on the Reading Railroad As one of his nine children, I was able to use a train pass to ride from Tamaqua to Philadelphia. I’d walk from the Broad Street Station up Lehigh Street to 21st street to Shibe Park. I now own two seats and a brick from the stadium. I also own seats from Veterans Stadium.

One memorable moment was attending the 1993 NLCS game 6 when the Phillies beat the Braves to advance to the World Series. The feeling at that game was electric with fans cheering and slapping five with anyone surrounding the stadium.

Another memorable time was sailing on a Caribbean Phillies cruise in January of 2009 with many of the 2008 World Championship team. The players were friendly and open to questions and conversations. I have a room filled with Phillies books, photos, jerseys, etc., including some from 1980, 1993, and 2008 games.

Paul R. Hafer, 85

Tamaqua

Wanted to be like Mike

Grew up watching and attending Phillies games as a child and teenager which was in the early 80s when the Phillies had incredible teams with Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton, Larry Bowa, Bob Boone. Been a fan for my lifetime. I am 54.

I am an avid Pete Rose collector but love items from when he played with the Phillies.

I try to watch as many games as I can. I attended some this summer with the most memorable being on Aug. 7 when they recognized the World Series champion team from 1980!

What got me started as a Phillies fan was playing baseball as a child and teenager and trying to be like Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt. Growing up then with no computer and only a couple television channels to watch loved seeing this team play especially “This Week in Baseball” was a highlight.

Tim Sharrow

Lehighton

The best days of my life

The Phillies parade and eagles parade are two of the best days of my life.

I know us die-hards are stubborn to love our teams especially since they rarely ever get this far.

On Oct. 31, 2008, Kristie, myself, Shannon George, and co-worker John Zane planned on driving down and get a train in to see parade. We left house to catch train in Colmar around 6.

All trains were packed so we drove down and parked at Penns Landing. We walked a long way to get to parade route. Seeing Pat Burrell lead the way on the Clydesdale horses with his dog was awesome. Being able to see the team and celebrate with all of those fans was memorable. Walking around the streets of Philadelphia with no traffic was cool. Then after site seeing we drove home and listened to ceremony from inside Citizens Bank Park and then hearing Chase Utley say (his famous bleep) was memorable.

I took my daughter Megan to the Eagles parade and would love for her to see a Phillies parade.

To top it all off I get home from work Wednesday and Megan got us standing room only tickets for Game 5.

Jason Green

Palmerton

Watching since age 12

I started attending games regularly just after Citizens Bank Park opened between 2004-2005 when I was about 12 years old. My favorite player at the time was Bobby Abreu. Oddly, one of the biggest attractions to me were the player bobblehead giveaways.

From that point on, my family and I would attend at least three games a season, usually when the bobbleheads were given away to fans. I was very excited when the Phillies went to the playoffs in 2007, and although their playoff appearance was short-lived that season, making the playoffs was something to look forward to as a fan. I was fortunate enough to attend Game 4 of the World Series in 2008 with my family. The Phillies faced the Tampa Bay Rays that Sunday night in a primetime game. All of us received white and red rally towels as we entered the gates. The atmosphere was amazing! I remember we stood in the upper level of Ashburn Alley to watch the game that night.

Recently, I had my rally towel from that game framed along with a World Series 2008 patch and commemorative coin as a keepsake. In 2009, when the Phillies made the postseason, I was excited to attend a playoff game again. My uncle and I made the drive to Philly for a daytime NLDS series game.

In the off years when the Phillies were struggling, I attended spring training in Clearwater, Florida for three consecutive years - 2015, 2016, & 2017 - with one of my best friends. Each year presented the opportunity to try something different or see a new player train for the upcoming season. In 2017, I bought two distinctive pieces of art during a game with the proceeds benefiting Phillies Charities. One is an autographed picture of Dallas Green and the other, a smaller also autographed photo of Darren Daulton (my namesake). Unfortunately, shortly after those pieces of art joined my Phillies collection, both players passed away.

Throughout the Phillies drought I continued to grow my bobblehead collection both with Phillies giveaways and others from the Iron Pigs and also a gold series from Reading. I am one of few to own a Tug McGraw bobblehead, where he is seen jumping in the air following the World Series win in 1980.

I thought this season was going to be another dud season, especially with all the hype about making a wild card spot, but the Phillies proved me wrong! This year, I attended the clinching game of the NLDS on Oct. 15 and the clinching game of the NLCS this past Sunday. Both were electrifying experiences that brought back memories of the 2007-2011 playoff run. Although, I am not going to the WS yet, I hope to be able to make one of the games next week and bring home another rally towel (this time, red) to frame as a keepsake when the Phillies become World Series champions!

Darrin Arndt

Mahoning Township

Missing her fan

Joan Ficarino of Tamaqua is missing her husband, Tony Ficarino. “He passed away in April and he was an avid Phillies fan, I wish he could have seen how far they are,” she said.