PHILADELPHIA – The man wears a home team cap, but he is unwelcome in this section of right field at Veterans Stadium. Finally, he realizes it’s OK to come clean. Nothing is going to happen here in Shea South.
“No, you don’t understand,” he says to the cat callers, “I’m really a Met fan. I bought this cheap Phillies hat. I heard they throw you down the steps here.”
Maybe in the past. Certainly at Eagles games. But with this city going ga-ga over the Sixers, coupled with sagging interest in the Phillies, South Philly’s Vet became a haven for Met fans this weekend. So much so that it was often hard to tell the tale of the game by crowd noise. That roar heard on television after John Olerud doubled home Edgardo Alfonzo yesterday in the first inning wasn’t canned.
Inside the press elevator, George the attendant kept getting fooled.
“I’d hear them going crazy and think the Phillies are doing something,” he said before the Phils would beat the Mets 5-2. “But it was the Mets.”
Historically, Phillies-Mets games draw many south on the Jersey Turnpike. But stadium personnel agreed enemy jerseys and caps were more prevalent than usual.
Part of it was due to the Phillies advertising locally on radio and television. Judging by the numbers, it was money well spent. The Phillies entered the weekend with the third worst attendance figures in the National League, averaging 18,281 tickets sold per game. The three-game series drew a total of 76,535, topping out at 28,422 yesterday.
“The Mets fans have been pretty rowdy the last three days, but there hasn’t been any major incidents,” said security man Ron Palumbo. “Not like in the past when they tried to tear down the stadium.”
Meanwhile, in the right field seats, Eddie Kauffman, Bobby Kline and Mike Sosnoski, transplanted firemen from Long Island now living in Maryland, were enjoying irking the home fans.
“Filthy-delphia,” they chanted.
“Philadelphia is a dirty city,” Kline said. “Even the pigeons are dirty.”
Responded a nearby beer man: “This ain’t New York, brotha. And in New York, you’d pay $7.50 for one of these.”
An inning later, another beer man tried unsuccessfully to start a chant of “Down with the Mets” – to which Sosnoski quipped, “can you spell Mets?”
The group then broke out in a chorus of “Meet the Mets, greet the Mets … “
Neighboring Phillies fans glared at them. This was an invasion of sorts and they were outnumbered.
“We’re not looking for trouble,” Kline said. “It’s all in fun. But these people take it personal. It’s the fifth inning and we’re already in our third section.”
‘They hate us,” Kauffman said. “They hate New York.”
Indeed, the cities’ rivalry pulsates with bad blood. In the nosebleeds of the 700 level, a group of local college students had their bare chests marked each with a letter to spell out N-Y S-U-X.
“I’m sick of them coming down here to our house,” said Mike Gigliotti. “They’re so obnoxious.”
“Yeah,” added Ryan Lazzeri, “why don’t they stay in New York? Probably ’cause it’s too crummy.”
The game’s end brought many drooping faces to the Vet’s exits. The Phillies had won.