After J.D. Drew scorned Phillies fans by choosing to sit out a year rather than sign with the Phillies back in 1997, Phillies fans have been eager to find a player that they can love and will love them back.
It started with Pat Burrell who was drafted the year after Drew left the Phillies in the lurch. Phillies fans gave Pat a much longer leash than you would expect given his production because he embraced Philadelphia and its fans. However, Phillies fans never truly fell in love with Pat the Bat. True love came later when Cliff Lee came to town. All Cliff Lee did was put the Phillies on his back while he won his first five starts after being traded from the Indians. He boosted the Phillies right over the top in 2009. But even before Cliff Lee came to town, the Philly faithful danced with Raul Ibanez after he came over from the Mariners and had a killer first half of 2009.
The formula for Philly love seems to be – choosing to come to Philly (or at least being happy about being traded to Philly) plus initial success plus humble and hardworking attitude equals Philly Love. Raul had those qualities as did Cliff Lee and now Hunter Pence. By choosing to come back to Philadelphia and having another solid year with spectacular stretches, Cliff Lee has cemented himself in Philly fans’ hearts.
You may be saying to yourself. “Hey, your forgetting some people. What about Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt?” They’re both hardworking, humble guys that have done quite well in their time with the Phillies. I agree that they have done well and Phillies fans love them, but I don’t believe you can put either of them in the same category of puppy love that Phillies fans have given to Raul, Cliff and Hunter. I believe there are a couple of reasons for it. For Halladay I think it’s a product of his success. Phillies fans expected excellence from Roy Halladay and they got it. Besides that, after courting Halladay in 2009, Halladay coming to Philadelphia in 2010 was almost an anticlimax. Roy Oswalt had most of the elements that would equal Philly love, but his seeming noncommittal attitude before the Phillies traded for him and the fact that the Phillies seem to only have him on loan from the Astros have allowed Philly fans to guard their hearts so as not to have them broken if Oswalt decides to spurn them.
For certain Phillies fans who love Cliff Lee, nothing besides a world championship could be better than seeing Cliff Lee win the Cy Young award in a Phillies uniform. I mean really, raise your hand if you are a Phillies fan and were equally bummed in 2010 when the Phillies got rid of Cliff Lee as you were happy that the Phillies picked up Roy Halladay. This is true of many Phillies fans even though it defies logic as Roy Halladay is the more accomplished of the two pitchers. All Roy Halladay did for Philly fans was win a Cy Young award in his first year and pitch a no hitter in the playoffs to go along with his regular season perfect game.
No, I think what endears Cliff Lee to Phillies fans is his quirky, nonchalant, aw shucks way of carrying himself while at the same time being as tough a competitor as they come. After Cliff won his first 5 starts with a Phillies team fighting for a chance to get back to the postseason in 2009, I think a lot of fans were smitten. And who can forget the nonchalant and hilarious way he caught that pop-up in the 2009 World Series? When the Phillies traded Cliff Lee away it felt like a love lost. Phillies fans consoled themselves with the thought that it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. It was especially hard to see Cliff do so well for the Rangers in the playoffs while the Phillies faltered against the Giants. In some ways though it was probably better that way. It would have been awkward for Cliff to come back to the Phillies in 2011 if he had pitched against them in the World Series in 2010.
At any rate, Phillies fans continue to be smitten with Cliff Lee as he amazes with this scoreless streaks and home run hitting. Hunter Pence is making a run at Phillies fans’ hearts by doing everything in the Philly love formula, but I have a hunch that Cliff Lee will always be number one in the hearts of Philadelphia fans.