Philadelphia Phillies (Major League Baseball) @ Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia, PA)

*This trip occurred on June 7, 2026.

With teams in the “Big Four” leagues, I feel like I don’t REALLY need to talk about their histories. They’re a lot more well known than the minor league and weird indie teams I tend to cover on this site, and their histories are better documented on places like their websites and Wikipedia.

However, there are two things I think you should know about the Phillies:

1. Despite being founded in 1883 - 20 years before the first World Series was held in 1903 - they did not win their first World Series title until 1980 (the last of Major League Baseball’s “original franchises” to win their first title)
2. They hold the dubious distinction of having lost the most games of all 30 MLB teams, and were the first team to LOSE 10,000 games (and then subsequently became the first team to lose 11,000 games)

That said, their current home - Citizens Bank Park - was opened in 2004 as a replacement for the literal carcinogen that was Veterans Stadium (look it up - it's FRIGHTENING). It's located only a few hundred yards from where its predecessor stood, and is part of a broader complex which includes Lincoln Financial Field (where the Eagles play) FIFA World Cup Stadium Philadelphia and the soon-to-be-demolished Wells Fargo Center Xfinity Mobile Arena. There are A LOT of things here to do and see outside of the baseball game on the field if you are so inclined, so I'll go over some of that.

First, a lot of the ballpark's "non-game action" lies in the outfield. Here, an area named "Ashburn Alley" (named after a former player and broadcaster) features a bunch of concession stands and picnic areas, but what's most interesting here is that the roof above these concession stands is accessible - there's only a small set of bleachers and drink rails here, but the view is honestly quite amazing.

Underneath the massive left field scoreboard (known as "Phanvision") is a deck the Phillies recently renamed for a sponsor, but was formerly known as "Harry the K's" (more on "Harry the K" later). In right field, there's a rock climbing wall which was something completely different back in 2005 along with a mini field for things such as Wiffle Ball (MLW hosted a series here once); kids were having a "home run derby" at one point during the game.

Outside of that, the "infield" features three decks and concourses (which, coincidentally, is the same number Citi Field and Yankee Stadium have). These concourses feature a lot of "standard" concessions, but also some local stuff including - most importantly - Chickie's and Pete's (this IS Philadelphia, after all). This game happened on a day that was rather windy, but the wind was seemingly amplified on the upper decks - I had trouble keeping even a relatively full water bottle still on the third deck.

CBP was actually mentioned on this blog once before, but I think you should also know that this is the second time I’ve ever been here for a game - the first time was WAY BACK in the summer of 2005 as the first MLB game I saw after REALLY starting to get into baseball¹. That same summer also saw our family make a trip to Chicago (as we have relatives in the area), during which I visited the stadium of this game's visiting team: the Chicago White Sox².

The big reason I selected the White Sox (despite them being a bit pricier than other teams)³: Munetaka Murakami. Murakami is a Japanese player the White Sox signed from Japan this past offseason, and buzz around him and his exploits in America have made the White Sox one of MLB's more interesting teams (though it also helps that they're not on pace to lose anywhere close to 121 games again).

Unfortunately...Murakami missed this series due to injury (similar to how Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were injured for that Yankees game I went to earlier in the week), but the White Sox recently called up another Japanese player I was interested in seeing: Rikuu Nishida - who I actually first heard about from the Cape League. Nishida (a former Hyannis Harbor Hawk) ended up being one of FIVE Cape League alumni I recognized - each for a different team (which means that HALF of the Cape League's teams were represented today). Those other four players (and the Cape League teams they represented) were Chicago's Chase Meidroth (Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox) and Sam Antonacci (Chatham Anglers), and Philly's Kyle Schwarber (Wareham Gatemen) and Orion Kerkering (Orleans Firebirds).

One other note: the Phillies had a VERY slow start, but turned things around after firing their manager, and are now pretty much back in the thick of things. Speaking of slow, this game started around 1:30 but ended right before 5:00 - almost three and a half ours later (wasn't the pitch clock supposed to prevent stuff like this?). I was VERY close to leaving the game early, but I ended up sticking the whole thing out - and I'm glad I did, because the Phillies' victory song is one of the most special in MLB:

High Hopes as performed by Harry Kalas (aka "Harry the K").

Kalas was a legendary Phillies broadcaster who sadly died while preparing for a game early in the 2009 season. Since his death, the Phillies have been playing his version of High Hopes (which he originally sang back in the early 90s) after wins, as well as his famous home run call when the Phillies hit a home run (though it was oddly hard to hear the two times it happened this game)⁴.

(P.S.: This was originally going to be the day I saw the Sussex County Miners, but due to this being my only opportunity to see the White Sox live in 2026, I decided to move that game up).

MERCH

Before we continue, I should mention that I'm almost certain to go off on a LONG tangent here (you'll understand when I get to it), so let's start with the park's merchandise "situation".

I mentioned it when I came here last year, but the Phillies main team store felt a bit small for an MLB team store. Maybe that's just because I'm so used to the bigger stores teams like the Mets and Red Sox have, but one thing to note, however, is that the main store here is two levels. The layout was fairly different between my last visit and this game: most notably, jerseys were all on the upper level, and for whatever reason, NO "retail authentic" jerseys (i.e. authentic style jerseys made for selling to fans) were available.

Outside of the main store, there were surprisingly few merch areas around the ballpark. A lot of them were tents which were not climate controlled, but protip: if you NEED a relatively quite spot to cool down, the third deck's got a store which was fully indoors (i.e. it has AC) and pretty empty. There is also a booth on the main concourse that sels authentic Phillies memorabilia (game balls, player equipment, and even bases), and I do need to mention that at least one of the TEAM ISSUED jerseys they had (i.e. a jersey the team had made and tailored specifically for a certain player) cost LESS than the blank REPLICA jerseys they had at the team store! This store also featured something I feel like I'd heard about, but finally decided to get: a "MLB Parks Passport" where you can collect stamps from various MLB stadiums! Yes, the MLB Ballpark app basically does this now, but it's still kinda cool to have that "physical" representation of your travels.

And now for something fairly different: jersey talk! This is relevant to the Phillies, however, so I figure this may be educational for some out there:

I mentioned during my trip to Yankee Stadium that the former/current MLB jersey template has a rather unfortunate feature wherein jerseys with pinstripes have large areas without the pinstripes, which makes the whole thing look strange to me. However, I realize that's hard to understand without some form of visual aid, so I took this picture (the easiest place to spot the issue is under the 42 on the right jersey):

In addition, the Phillies are one of two teams that feature a very unique and specific style to their jersey script (something known as "chain stitching") - except the 2024 template (i.e. the one that was SO BAD it was gone after just two seasons) doesn't have it[^8]. Therefore, if you're looking for an Authentic Phillies home jersey and don't want to traverse the world of vintage stores/eBay (where fakes abound - including some WITH the chain stitching), you're going to have to make one of two concessions: awkward design or a lack of the most iconic feature (though I also have a SUPER OLD home jersey replica I got back in 2005 - again, RIP Modell's).

Again, I realize it's hard to understand EXACTLY what this means/entails, so here's a photo of two Phillies jerseys next to one another to illustrate. The one on the left features the chain stitch, while the one on the right doesn't - it's probably most noticeable with how the letters have a much more "holey" look on the chain stitched jerseys (plus the stars):

Having said all of this⁵, the Phillies do have other jerseys. One of them is an off-white color with NO pinstripes, and I was contemplating looking for one at the team store until Memorial Day - when I found one at a thrift store for 50% off (even if it is a bit smaller than what I typically go for)⁶.

Also, there's an oddly SMALL amount of "love" for the early 2000s era team: I saw VERY FEW jerseys of players for that era (including only ONE Jimmy Rollins which was almost certainly fake), and somehow, I spotted ZERO other jerseys of the player I had: Cole Hamels.