Nick Piccone
With the waning days of Ryan Howard as a Phillie upon us, we’ve heard from a few people from his past. One of them was 2008 World Series MVP and another Phillie forever, Cole Hamels. Hamels joined the WIP Morning Show today and spoke on Howard, if he changed after his big contract extension, and playoff baseball in Texas.
“He was a tremendous presence, one of the nicest guys you can ever meet. Definitely been able develop such a really good relationship with him on and off the field since then, we’ve had a great time. You really have to take it and look at, just a wonderful human being. One of the best ever earlier in his career and obviously I know injuries take a part in all of us and eventually you’re not going to be able to have the same results that you did. And I know the expectations kind of always go with that, but the way that he’s been able to deal with it. You have to really look at him — the adversity that he’s gone through and just the way that he’s still stays one of the genuine, true, stand up guys. It just something said about his true character.”
On if his big contract extension in 2010 changed his approach to the game:
“He never changed. He was the same guy that I meant when he was in his early twenties. We’re in the minor leagues, scrapping guy. Same guy, gets in the big leagues, he’s the same guy. Obviously you get a big contract, a lot of things are able to happen and he’s the same guy. And you have to credit Philly because they look for those type of players I think when they draft. And every single guy we played in that 2008 team, they all had that same type of personality.”
One thing that we miss dearly in Philly is playoff baseball. It’s been five years since the Phillies played in the postseason, and now that Hamels is with the Rangers, he’s had a taste of how different cities react to playoff baseball. Here’s what he said in regards to playoff baseball in Texas.
“It’s a little bit different. I think just for the fact that Philadelphia is a full baseball town when we were playing there. I know everybody mentioned Philadelphia was this football town, but I think when we came up and we started winning it became a baseball town and that was just absolutely one of the best things to experience. Seeing the sell outs over and over, the last week of the season seeing the towels come out. Seeing Phillie red around city, you could feel the vibes. You loved it. Everyday you woke up the adrenaline was pumping for the game.
…
“The Cowboys are always number one. You’re always going to compete with the Cowboys. You’re gonna compete with the football … but it’s just a different little vibe that the east coast has on sports in general versus the midwest and the west coast.”
Listen to the entire interview below.