Philadelphia Phillies Call Upon Stable of Champions for World Series Game 3 First Pitch

The Phillies are calling upon representatives of all four title-winning Philadelphia sports teams to throw out first pitches before Game 3 of the World Series.

Author:
Ben Silver
Oct 31, 2022 12:30 PM EDT

In this story:

Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia is not a city of champions. In its entire history — not counting the Philadelphia Athletics — there have been only seven major sports titles.

The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and '75, the 76ers won the NBA Championship in 1967 and '83, the Phillies won the World Series in 1980 and 2008 and the Eagles won Super Bowl LII, though they did lift NFL championships in 1948, '49 and '60.

Thus, the pool of players from which to choose legends from fellow Philadelphia teams is small, but that only makes their contributions even more important to the city's sports history.

To throw out the first pitches before World Series Game 3, the Phillies are bringing in representatives from the 1973-75 Flyers in Bernie Parent, the Hall of Fame netminder. For the 1983 76ers, Julius "Dr. J" Irving will throw out one of the first pitches. Brandon Graham, the 13-year Eagles veteran will represent the Super Bowl LII winners, while the greatest Phillie of all-time, Mike Schmidt, will throw out the first ball for the 1980 champions.