Author: Ed Kracz

The World Series title wasn’t in his back pocket more than an hour when Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels was already being asked if he knows exactly what it means to deliver a championship to Philadelphia. 

Hamels said he supposed that he and his teammates would be remembered “until we’re old and gray.”

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

The 2008 Phillies will be remembered well past old and gray. Try dead and buried.   

How else to explain the induction of the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame during the fifth annual induction ceremony Thursday night at the Hyatt Regency along Penn’s Landing?  

Twelve new members were enshrined in the Hall — located at 919 North 5th St. — along with the 1929 World Series winning Athletics, a team that no longer has a single member still alive today.  

Included in Class V were track standout Leroy Burrell, former Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael, Sixers coach and former point guard Maurice Cheeks, sportswriter Stan Hochman, boxer Tommy Loughran, Philadelphia University basketball coach Herb Magee, golfer Dorothy Porter, Flyers Stanley Cup-winning coach Fred Shero, La Salle legend Lionel Simmons, baseball greats Mickey Vernon and Ed Delahanty, and former Eagles lineman Al Wistert.

Like the 1929 A’s, Shero, Loughran, Vernon and Ed Delahanty were inducted posthumously.  

Carmichael has an explanation for the ’29 Athletics, as well as the other deceased members, that were enshrined on Thursday.

“It’s what’s great about Philly,” said Carmichael. “They never forget.”

So there you go 2008, Phillies. You are immortalized. 

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t take 80 years to get that team in here,” said Magee, who has 855 career coaching wins on his resume.  

“I don’t remember too many of the names from that ’29 team, but I know this (2008) team will be remembered forever,” said Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas, who was inducted into the Hall with very first class.   

Two names from that team were in a front page headline from a glass-encased sports page that hung above a table filled with A’s memorabilia, all provided the Philadelphia Athletic Historical Society, which is located on York Road in Hatboro. 

“Miller and Haas heroes of 9th inning rally beating Cubs,” the headline screamed.  

That would be outfielders Bing Miller and Mule Haas, who engineered a three-run ninth inning as the A’s finished off the Cubs, 3-2, in Game 5 of the World Series. 

Sound similar? The 2008 Phillies, as if any reminders are needed, dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays in five games, doing so with a one-run win on a lateinning rally in Game 5.

Someday, there very well could be a newspaper encased in glass with headline that has Hamels’ name on it.  

Or outfielders Geoff Jenkins and Pat Burrell, each of whom had clutch hits in Game 5.  

There is one notable difference, as a ticket to Game 5 of the World Series, also encased in glass with the newspaper, pointed out: the price to watch the game in person. That Game 5 ticket in 1929 cost $5.50.   

“It really is amazing that all these years later, this team is being remembered and honored tonight,” said Harry Adams, a Bensalem resident and a board member of the Philadelphia Athletic Historical Society.  

Although none of the 1929 A’s could mingle with the crowd, those who were present, from members of Class V to previous inductees, including former Temple basketball coach John Chaney and former Eagle Chuck Bednarik, certainly did.  

There was another popular member present, and it drew a lot of attention from people with cameras. That was the 2008 World Series trophy.  

It was stationed next to the podium used by master of ceremonies Dan Baker, the golden voice of Citizens Bank Park.  

Baker opened by saying: “Isn’t great to look outside tonight and see the rain. Doesn’t it just remind you of Game 5 of the World Series?”  

Applause and laughter followed by the 500 or so people who attended, many of them athletes and dignitaries who helped shape the sports landscape in the city.  

So, just so Cole Hamels knows, that is part of what it means to deliver a championship to Philadelphia.