For 46 years, the boys in Baseballtown (Reading, Pa) proudly wore the Phillies Red, White and Blue. For 46 years, they were a AA minor league affliate for the Philadelphia Phillies. And, for 46 years, they were called the Reading Phillies.
Today, that changed.
Baseballtown still proudly wears Phillies pinstripes.
Reading still houses the Phillies AA team. (Tied for the longest affiliation in baseball.)
They are no longer the Reading Phillies.
The name jump is huge. I have no idea where their new name came from. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)
The Reading Phillies are now…
(wait for it..)
The Reading Fightin’ Phils!
Wow! Shocking name!
Reading is taking the moniker of the longtime nickname of their parent team. Back in the 1960′s, the Phillies were often referred to as the Fightin’s (F, not Ph) and that name has stuck ever since.
The ties between the two cities and teams may have just gotten stronger, if that is at all possible.
Yup, they look like Phillies uniforms alright.
New logo.
I have no clue what is up with ostrich, but apparently that’s the new mascot. I would love a clue about what that is all about? Bueller? Bueller?
I however agree with most of Twitter when they decided that a prime opportunity of calling the team the Reading Rainbows was lost!
Karilee Jeantet is Lead Contributor for A View From Section 116. Follow her on Twitter @kjeantet and @viewfromsec116 and e-mail her AViewFromSection116@gmail.com.
The crazy hotdog vendor (who is their most known mascot anyway) rides an ostrich.
The uniforms are based on the 1950 Phillies Whiz Kid uniforms (minus being made of wool). From the distance I was at today, they didn’t look that bad. Apparently, they’ve been planning on a change for awhile and even talked to last year’s players for their input.
My biggest disappointment was that they pretty much took Reading out of everything. They went with Baseballtown, which is what Reading is sort of known as. Those jerseys wore worn at the All-Star Game.
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Thanks for the info Jen! I was hoping the Ostrich meant something other than just some random choice.
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Ok. That makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the information.
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No problem. It got mixed results from those that were there. People were buying up the merchandise though.
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The name is fine…the ostrich…ummm kind of weird.
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