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VON BLOG: MY FIRST YEAR WITH THE PHILLIES
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Barnstormers manager Von Hayes played in the big leagues from 1981-1992. In this first-person account, he describes his first season as a member of the Phillies.
When I was traded to the Phillies in the offseason between 1982 and 1983, there was a lot of controversy around it. I was traded for five guys, including some quality young players. Walking into the Phillies’ clubhouse for the first time in spring training, I was surrounded by Hall of Famers. You had Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Mike Schmidt, Tony Perez and Steve Carlton. I was 24 years old. I should have been in my first year in the workforce out of college and I was in a clubhouse with these guys. It was very intimidating right from the get-go.
Back then I was coming off a very good year as a rookie. I was very confident, very cocky. It didn’t take long for a guy like Pete Rose to put me right in my place. The first thing he did was label me 5-for-1. He said the American League was the junior circuit and I had stepped up to the senior circuit in the National League. He looked at my numbers. He said 82 RBIs in the American League? That computes to about 32 in the National League. He went over each of my numbers and divided by about one-fourth. The amazing thing was he was right. I had a terrible year that first year. Pete was tough on all the young players, but he was also very helpful.
Getting put in my place certainly didn’t help me adjust to being with a new team. You want to be accepted and you want to fall into your niche and just go about your business. That wasn’t a clubhouse where things went undetected. If you made a mistake on the bases, believe me they let you know about it. I learned very quickly when to tag up on a fly ball and when to go halfway. All it took was one mistake. That was it. That was the type of team they were. They were very diligent.
I got off on the wrong foot that first season. I got hurt and basically missed all of spring training, which was compounded with the trade and everything else. The worst thing is getting with a new team and spending all of the spring in the whirlpool. That was a very difficult start for me. When I finally got to play, I met the team at home for the home opener against the Mets and Tom Seaver. It was a tremendous amount of pressure. I remember my first at-bat like it was yesterday. I had the go-ahead run at second base. I worked a 2-2 count. He threw me a changeup away. I stroked it to left-center field. I’m thinking: base hit, RBI, what a great way to start the season! George Foster came in and made a shoestring catch. The Philly fans, being the way they were, booed the hell out of me.
We made the World Series that year. The experience was kind of a blur. Because I never did get off on the right foot and I never did get my swing going, I finally lost my job. I didn’t get to start any of those games. That was probably the biggest regret I had in my playing career, not being able to help us in the World Series. Joe Lefebvre got my at-bats and he deserved them. Without his contributions, I don’t think we would have ended up where we ended up.
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