Philly Front Office

The writing was on the wall. The 2015 Phillies stunk. 98 games into the regular season, the team was 35-63, obviously nowhere near playoff contention. The years of 4 Aces and a championship core of hitters were long gone at this point. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Carlos Ruiz were still here, but barely. None were having productive seasons. There was still Cole Hamels though. He was having an up and down year but would manage to fire 7 innings of dominant ball every couple of starts. He was the only veteran on the team with any value. With the trade deadline approaching, I think we all knew he was on the way out. I was very, very sad. Cole was my guy.

I feel like every sports fan goes through 3 distinct phases of growing up with players. As a kid, you think all these athletes are superheroes. They are all older than you and the assumption of youth is that it will always be like that. Even as players retire, new guys, still older than you, take their place and the cycle repeats. Then when you hit your early 20s you realize you are the same age as these players and that seems normal too. That is, until one day, when those guys who are your age start retiring. You remember them playing in college or getting drafted and now their whole career is behind them. Then, finally, you are forever older than these kids playing a game for a living. Cole Hamels took me through all of that.

At 21, I remember him getting drafted. All at once, I went from kid who looked up to the old 93 Phillies team and then legitimately thought a core of Scott Rolen, Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins, and Mike Lieberthal was going somewhere, to a young (albeit incredibly immature) man who was older than the team’s first round pick. Cole Hamels was a high schooler with cool hair out of San Diego. What the hell? He would never do well in Philly.

As a sucker for cool hair though, I was obviously hooked. It was like a friend doing nothing but complain and saying how much they hated the person they liked. I was looking up Cole Hamels starts wherever I could and following his minor league career like a hawk. I went from gushing about each start to getting so mad whenever he came up injured. Unfortunately, he was injured a lot. Most notably, he broke his pitching hand in a bar fight costing him a season. On one hand (pun intended), as someone who had dabbled in a bar fight or two at the time, that was cool as hell. On the other, you don’t punch with your pitching hand dummy!

Once 2006 rolled around, the new core of the Phillies had been established. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins were becoming STARS, we just didn’t have top tier pitching. Jon Lieber was our Opening Day starter! So how was my boy doing coming off his broken hand?

Cole started the year in Clearwater, making 4 starts and completely overwhelming High A. He struck out 29 in 20 innings against inferior competition. Ok, his hand works. Let’s see how he does in AAA. In his first start, he struck out 14. In the next, he struck out 12 more. After his 3rd start, he had struck out 36 hitters in 23 innings allowing just 1 run. Well, I guess it’s time.

On May 12, 2006 the Phillies played the Reds and I shot out of bed that morning. The whole day before I had been doing my best Paul Revere impression telling everyone near me that Cole Hamels was coming, Cole Hamels was coming! That day, I sat myself in front of the TV at my local bar and my life changed. It’s silly to say, but after he came out and only gave up 1 hit with no runs and 7 strikeouts, I knew he was going to be the one (so dramatic, but it’s true). I would not shut up about him. I barely missed any of his starts for years after that. “Cole” was even my go to fake name alias when hitting on women at bars.¹ At some point not long into his career, he did an interview where he said he expects to throw a no-hitter every time he pitches. I did too. Literally every start he made, I was a little bummed every time he gave up that first hit. I knew it was only a matter of time.

Almost everything went right those first 3 seasons, culminating in my guy being named World Series MVP in 2008. While all my friends bought Chase Utley jerseys, I spent the extra money to buy an authentic Cole Hamels in red pinstripes. I would only wear it on special occasions and still do (so silly). The last time I wore it was at Game 2 of the 2023 NLCS. It’s hanging up a few feet away from me in my closet as I type.

I didn’t get that no-hitter though. Yes, I know there was the September 1, 2014 combined no-hitter but it wasn’t the same. I was worried as it was going on that he walked too many and there would be no way he could finish it. Then the ball eventually went to Jonathan Papelbon and that really spoiled it for me. It was still very cool, but it wasn’t what I had expected after that first start 9 years earlier.

On July 25th, I knew I was probably watching Cole’s last start as a Phillie. I was sad. So much of my life had happened during his time in Philadelphia and now it was going to end. I was 32, married, my first kid on the way, and living in Miami but I was still watching him every 5th day. This one would obviously be no exception. Could it be the one? Imagine Cole throwing a no-hitter in his last start with the Phillies. Wouldn’t that be something?

It was about as perfect as could be. You couldn’t script a better ending for him, for the Phillies, for all the fans, and especially for me. When Odubel Herrera misplayed that last flyball against the Cubs in the 9th but still somehow fell down and caught it, my heart stopped, I screamed, then after going nuts for a few minutes, I broke down. In his 294th and last start for the Phillies, Cole finally threw his no-hitter. It was a gift from my favorite player ever. The one who helped me grow up but always made me feel like a little kid. What a way to say goodbye.

1. Truth be told, my first born’s middle name is Cole ↩︎