Tip of the Hat

My daughter took her father to the Phillies game for Father's Day (it was a bonding moment I decided that they should share without me). Born & raised in Philly, she's a true fan, so she didn't want to hear my teasing her about the statistics in a recent Times piece on the Phillies. It's no wonder, when BASEBALL; CLIMBING TOWARD 10,000 DEFEATS, observes:

During the 1920s and '30s, when the Phillies inhabited a park called the Baker Bowl, the fence in right field was adorned by a giant advertisement for soap that read: ''The Phillies Use Lifebuoy.''

This only encouraged fans to add a sour retort: ''And they still stink.''

In fact, no team has ever stunk so often as the Phillies, who, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, have lost more games than any professional franchise in any sport. The Phillies are 14 losses from a particular threshold of ignominy -- the 10,000th defeat for a club that has won one lonely World Series title (in 1980) during its 125 years of often dreadful existence.

Of course, as I noted in a post last summer, Silent, Weird, Beautiful, about another NYTimes article on City Hall in Philly, which references to Billy Penn's "curse" on the City -- my daughter often refers to the "Curse" as the reason for the foul smell (and bad record):

After taking thirty years to construct, City Hall remained the tallest building in Philadelphia for over 80 years thanks to a gentleman's agreement not to build taller than the brim of William Penn's hat. This was broken in 1983 when Liberty Property Trust announced they would build One Liberty Place (completed in 1987). Many--including lots of sports fans--say that Penn unleashed a curse upon the city. Since then, no major Philly sports team has won a championship.

Maybe those days are over.

Via Attytood, I was amused to read this article, Comcast Center topped off, where the Inquirer reports on the new skyscraper going up in Philly, the Comcast Center. Heading off more bad luck stories, the paper says:

Keeping alive a centuries-old tradition - with a Philadelphia twist - a beam was hoisted to the highest point of Comcast Center today, topping off Philadelphia's new tallest skyscraper.

There was a small tree at one end of the beam, which had been signed by workers and those gathered for the ceremony, and an American flag at the other.

Between them was a statue of William Penn, the city's founder. There is a myth that Philadelphia's sports teams will not win a championship as long as a building 'rises above Billy Penn' on City Hall, said Bill Hankowsky, chief executive officer of Liberty Property Trust, the Malvern company that is building Comcast Center.

He was referring to the controversy two decades ago when One Liberty Place, also built by Liberty, became the first to break that barrier.

'We don't believe in the myth, but to be safe we've added the statue of Billy Penn,' Hankowsky said.

It's the corporate version of being an agnostic -- your not sure, but to be safe, you keep your options open to the possibility of belief. After all, what do you have to lose?

It sure made my daughter happy when she heard the news. Too bad it didn't help them win the game on Father's Day.

Photo via phillyskyline. See also story and pictures at phillyskyline, especially R. Bradley Maule's June 19 piece on the Comcast Center and slideshow, Topping off Comcast Center.

Tags: Philadelphia, Philly, Comcast