N.Y. Times: Glanville: Street of Dreams (RR)

Latest from Doug Glanville. Sweet.

When my father passed away at the end of the 2002 season, there were 10 Phillies’ representatives at his service. David Montgomery led the way. When I got married, three years later, once again David and his wife made the trip to Asheville, N.C., alongside of their community relations director, Gene Dias, and a slew of former teammates. They have been supportive and dependable through every phase of my life.

So, one morning not long ago, I received a text message from Mike Lieberthal: “Are you going to the World Series? I am going to all the games!” I wrote back saying that I hadn’t planned on it, but if the team had a ticket for me, I would see if I could get out there last-minute.

Within hours, I had a long e-mail from the Phillies’ former P.R. director Larry Shenk. He invited me (and my family) to town and said the Phillies wanted to give me the honor of bringing out the first pitch for Game 5. Of course, it turned out that first pitch was the beginning of the game that brought the first World Series title since 1980 to Philadelphia.