I've seen a lot of losing, as have all Philadelphia sports fans who are about 30 years old. I was one month old when the Sixers won the 1983 World Championship, and wouldn't see another championship until 2008, at the age of 25. I haven't seen once since, either. I saw lots of heartbreaks along the way. The Flyers have lost four finals in my lifetime, the Eagles a Super Bowl and four NFC title games, the Sixers the 2001 Finals, and of course the Phillies in 2009. None of those were as painful though as the 1993 Phillies World Series loss to Toronto.
That's because they were my favorite team, period. Not just my favorite team in baseball, or my favorite franchise in the city, but my favorite individual team ever. Though I think 2008 surpassed them for me (if only for winning, I'm not sure though, because 1993 was way more interesting), the 1993 Phillies stand out in my mind. The larger than life personalities, the outlandish behavior, and the surprise of winning made it a sweet Summer. Game one of the 1993 NLCS was one of the great games of my childhood to be at, and game six of that same series was overjoyful (that is not a word, other than when talking about 1993) for me. When I went to game four of the 1993 World Series, part of me assumed I'd never be at a game like that again. When they lost, it was deflating. I don't talk much about Joe Carter today, because to me how it ended was irrelevant. As a young fan, I had never been on a ride like that in my life, and I probably thought then I wouldn't ever be again. In some ways, I haven't.
When I think of the 1990s, I think of Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan, Cobain, Nirvana, and Grunge Rock, gangsta' rap, and the 1993 Phillies. You simply can't comprehend the existence of the 1993 Phillies unless Jim Fregosi exists. He was as rough as his players, the perfect personality to manage a bunch of misfits, drunks, and wild men that meshed together for one year to win the NL East and the National League title. You got the image of a Fregosi who would mix it up with his "Macho Row" team, and could keep it together enough that they would play, and win, games. Fregosi was the kind of "Alpha Dog" type that could keep that group in line. And he did.
Fregosi is fairly young to die, but I guess it's a reminder for a 30 year old Phillies fan that we're not kids anymore. People that epitomized an entire era of our lives are now passing on, and those memories are growing older too. Until the day I die though, I will not forget that Summer, that October, and anything that went on in that 1993 season. Jim Fregosi is the symbol of that, the leader of it. I guess it's all just now a memory.
