March 07, 2022
In the midst of another bitter work stoppage, it isn't easy finding reasons to be excited about baseball this year.
MLB players and owners are still "far apart" on a deal to get the 2022 season on track. Both sides are dug-in negotiating through big-picture issues that badly need modernization to make baseball a compelling sport well into the future.
The only place to find solace these days is in the past.
The Phillies haven't been to the playoffs since 2011, which has become one of the most depressing droughts in Philadelphia sports history. The organization is almost as far removed from the 2008 World Series as that championship team was from the 1993 club that lost to Toronto.
Nostalgia for 2008 feels like rustling up a previous life, but former Phillies pitcher Brett Myers gave fans a moment to bask in it this morning during an appearance on "The Farzy Show" with Marc Farzetta.
Myers was asked about the Phillies' late night partying after the win that clinched the 2008 World Series and recalled an after-hours beer run that was facilitated by Philadelphia police officers. The team was celebrating at Pat Burrell's penthouse and ran out of beer.
Philly cops kept the Phillies' party going in '08 after Pat Burrell ran out of beer (via @FarzyShow) pic.twitter.com/VV6LH533CL
— The Wooderboys (@wooderboys) March 7, 2022
"About five of us — I think (Brad) Lidge might have been with me — we went to this place and it was closed," Myers said. "But the cops were with us. We rode and they opened the place up for us, and we took all of their beer and loaded it in the back of a cop car — or a cop Explorer ... I'm like, 'This is has got to be illegal as hell right now.'"
Myers clarified that the players paid for the beer, but they were opening them in the back of the cop car.
A lot of this tracks with recollections shared last summer by outfielder Geoff Jenkins, who remembered leaving Citizens Bank Park in a cop's Ford Explorer to get to Burrell's penthouse. With a sea of Phillies fans still crowding the area, the car could only move at crawl.
"As we're driving, I actually said, 'God, I wish I had a beer right now,'" Jenkins said, via Audacy Sports. "(The cop) goes, 'Well grab one from the back! Get one from the cooler in the back!' So there was a cooler with, like, 40 beers in the back of this cop car. So we each grab two of them, and he goes, 'Hey, what about me?' We give the cop (a beer), he's literally having a beer with us as he's driving a cop car down Broad Street, and then we finally get down there."
Jenkins recalled quite a few police officers hanging out with the team at Burrell's place. He said many of them were guys the players knew who had worked around the stadium.
"I guarantee they still talk about it being the greatest story because for us, it was awesome to share that moment with these guys that have been around the team, and they consider themselves part of the team because they let us in and out of the building," Jenkins said. "They protect us every day, they're on the field protecting us."
A Philadelphia police spokesperson could not confirm or deny what happened that night when contacted on Monday afternoon.
Brett Myers has been a polarizing figure over the years, from his altercation with Phillies beat writer Sam Cardichi to a 2006 domestic violence case against him that was later dismissed at his wife's request. He's a country music singer these days and has released two albums. He learned to play guitar with the help of Phillies video coordinator Kevin Camiscioli, who taught him the instrument at hotels during the team's road trips.
The full Myers interview touches on the current Phillies, the state of the league, his memories of broadcaster Harry Kalas and how his music career gives him the adrenaline he misses from pitching.
