RIP David Montgomery, Phillies minority owner and club chairman

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David Montgomery was a Phillies driving force for nearly five decades

The Philadelphia Phillies announced this morning that club chairman and minority owner David Montgomery has passed away at the age of 72 years. Montgomery had battled cancer for more than five years.

In an official release from the team (see below Twitter link), majority owner John Middleton stated the following:

“David was one of Philadelphia’s most influential business and civic leaders in his generation. For 25 years, he has been an invaluable business partner and, more importantly, an invaluable friend. He was beloved by everyone at the Phillies. Leigh and I are saddened beyond words at David’s passing and extend our love and sympathy to Lyn, his children and grandchildren.”

Born and raised on Pembrook Road in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, Montgomery graduated from both William Penn Charter High School and the University of Pennsylvania. He then continued his education at The Wharton School, where he graduated in 1970.

While at Penn, Montgomery was a classmate and friend of future Philadelphia Mayor and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. The two would attend Phillies games together at old Connie Mack Stadium, and per a 2008 piece by Tyler Kepner in the New York Times, they were typical Philly fans. Kepner wrote:

“They would try to eat all the food that $5 could buy — back when hot dogs cost 50 cents — as they shared their thoughts with the players. “I remember one time riding Turk Farrell,” Rendell said, referring to a Phillies reliever of the 1960s. “He got so mad he looked like he was going to throw a ball at us, and Turk could really hum the ball. We were scared to death.””

After they graduated, Rendell tried to get Montgomery to apply for a job with basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers franchise. Instead, in 1971 Montgomery got a job in the sales office of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies through a connection with the club’s former pitching great, Robin Roberts, as well as through his connections made while coaching with the Germantown Academy football team.

Philadelphia's First MLB All-Star Game

The first All-Star Game ever played in Philadelphia was also a first for Major League Baseball. 

The game, played at Shibe Park on July 13th, 1943 was the first midsummer classic to be scheduled at night.

Being a "first" involving the illumination of a ball game in the dark was nothing new for Shibe, which had also been the site of the first-ever night game in the history of the American League back in May of 1939.

Shibe Park was the first steel-and-concrete ball park in the game's history, and was home to the American League's Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics from 1909-1954. It was located in a neighborhood of mostly Irish immigrants then known affectionately as Swampoodle.

The then-34 year old facility could be found even more specifically along Lehigh Avenue and north, between 20th and 21st Streets. 

In the spring of that 1938 season, the park had taken in a new tenant. The National League's Phillies moved in that year from old Baker Bowl, which sat just 5 blocks away at Broad & Huntingdon.

The Phillies legendary Hall of Fame outfielder and broadcaster, Richie Ashburn, would say of Shibe: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball."

Though the two teams would share Shibe Park for 17 seasons, it was the A's playing hosts for the game, and so the AL would be the home team. 

And so it was that on a warm, overcast July evening in the middle of World War II, and with rain threatening, baseball's best available players migrated to North Philly.

On Mutual Radio, the game was broadcast by announcers Red Barber, Mel Allen, and Bill Corum all across the United States. 

The managers for the two teams were two of baseball's very best, representing what have become the game's preeminent franchise in each league.

A game program from the 1943 MLB All-Star Game played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

For the National League, it was Billy Southworth of the Saint Louis Cardinals. 

Southworth, in his 2nd stint as the team skipper, took over and led the team to a 49-20 record down the stretch in 1940, salvaging a 3rd place finish out of what had seemed a lost season, and in 1941 he guided them to 97 wins and a 2nd place finish.

That start of the second act of Southworth's Cardinals managerial career was only setting the stage. 

His teams from 1941-43 would win at least 105 games each season, taking all three NL Pennants and winning two World Series crowns. The 1942 Series win had earned him this nod as skipper of the NL All-Stars.

For the American League, it was legendary New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy at the helm. 

McCarthy was a hometown boy, born and raised in Philadelphia. He idolized the A's 62-year old owner/manager Connie Mack, whose name Shibe Park would eventually take for its own as Connie Mack Stadium.

McCarthy knew how to handle stars, serving as the Yankees skipper from 1931-1946 during the careers of such legends as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio and more. 

His 1942 Yanks' squad had lost to Southworth's Cards in five games after winning the opener of the Fall Classic.

The two teams, and the two managers, were on a collision course for a rematch in October of 1943. But before they would get to that business, there was this summer exhibition under the lights taking center stage in the baseball universe.

As told by Baseball Almanac, McCarthy was "publicly accused of being flagrantly partial" to his Yankees players in the selection of his starting lineup for the All-Star Game in previous years. 

As a reply to those accusations, McCarthy would not use any of five Yankees sitting on his bench in the entire game.

In just his 2nd full season, and with fewer than 1,000 plate appearances in the big leagues, it was Southworth's young 22-year old star outfielder Stan Musial who would get his NL team on the board first.

Appearing in the first of what would be 24 straight All-Star Games, Musial knocked in Chicago Cubs 3rd baseman Stan Hack to put the NL up 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the American Leaguers answered when Boston Red Sox 2nd baseman Bobby Doerr drove a 3-run homer out to left field off NL starting pitcher Mort Cooper of the Cardinals. 

Left fielder Dick Wakefield of the Detroit Tigers ripped an RBI double off Cooper in the 3rd, making it a 4-1 lead for the AL side.

"It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball." ~ Whitey Ashburn, on Shibe Park

Cincinnati Reds' pitcher Johnny Vander Meer, who five years earlier as a 23-year old in his first big league season had set a record still never equaled by pitching back-to-back no-hitters, was victimized by the AL in the 5th for an unearned run thanks to an error by catcher Ernie Lombardi of the New York Giants, pushing the Junior circuit's lead up to 5-1.

The elder DiMaggio, Vince would star in the 1943 All-Star Game after coming in as a pinch-hitter while brother Joe served during WWII.

At that point, the Vince DiMaggio show began. The older brother of Yankee star Joe DiMaggio, who was away in the war effort, Vince was in the middle of a successful 5-year run in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform.

DiMaggio had entered the game as a pinch-hitter for yet another Cardinal, centerfielder Harry Walker. 

Staying in the game, DiMaggio would go 3-3 and score a pair of runs, including on his own 9th inning solo homerun off Red Sox pitcher Tex Hughson.

The homer by Vince D cut the AL lead down to 5-3, but Hughson, who had a nice 8-year career with Boston during the 1940's, settled down and retired the NL stars, preserving the victory for his team and earning a Save for himself.

Washington Senators pitcher Dutch Leonard, who started for the AL and went three solid innings, would get credit for the Win, which was the American Leaguers 8th in the 11 All-Star Games played to that point in history.

The appreciative Philly crowd let out a cheer with the final out of a game that took just over two hours to play. 

While they had missed Joe D, Ted Williams, and others who were off in the war effort, they had gotten to see some great stars, including aging Giants' slugger Mel Ott as a pinch-hitter in one of his final All-Star appearances.

Much as with tonight's 2015 MLB All-Star Game, the Phillies had just one lone representative in 1943. 

That player was journeyman 1st baseman Babe Dahlgren, who was in his lone season with the Phils, and who was playing for his 8th of what would ultimately be 10 teams during a 12-year career in the majors.

The host Athletics also had just one lone rep on the AL squad, 1st baseman Dick Siebert, who would hit just one homer in 558 at-bats for the A's during that 1943 season. Siebert played eight seasons with the A's in an 11-year MLB career.

It was the first MLB All-Star Game ever played in Philadelphia. It would not be the last, for either the city, or for the ballpark. 

Nearly a decade later, in 1952, the Phillies would be the hosts at Shibe in a 3-2 NL win that was also affected by the weather. That one would, in fact, be shortened to just five innings by the rains. 

In both 1976 and 1996, the Phillies would host National League victories at Veteran's Stadium in South Philly.

Philography: Dick Allen

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Dick Allen starred with the Phillies in the 1960's and returned in the mid-70's

Dick Allen belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Let's get that out of the way with right off the bat. I'm one of them, the growing list of supporters for this man to be enshrined there as a player.

He is a finalist on the 'Golden Era' ballot, which selects an old-timer once every three years. The results for that slot will be announced in a little over a week from now.

Allen was born on March 8th, 1942 in the middle of World War II out in Wampum, Pennsylvania, a tiny borough less than an hour from Pittsburgh, not far from the west-central state line.

Raised in a rural part of the state, Allen developed a love of horses early in life from his father. It would be a love that he would carry into and through adulthood, right up to the present day.

One of five boys raised in a mostly white town, he doesn't remember much personal experience with prejudice, despite the 1950's still being a time of segregation in much of the country.

Phillies Prez Montgomery Steps Down

Montgomery is a native and lifelong Philly guy

The Philadelphia Phillies organization announced on Thursday afternoon that club president David Montgomery, serving in that post since 1997, is stepping down temporarily due to medical reasons. The 68-year old who also serves as the Phillies CEO is a part-owner and general partner, and recently underwent surgery in relation to cancer of the jaw.

It was further announced that Baseball Hall of Famer and former club GM Pat Gillick will serve in Montgomery’s post during his recuperation period. It is hoped that Montgomery will be able to return actively to the team presidency once he is fully recovered.

Last night, Montgomery was one of the first in line to congratulate the local Taney Dragons, the team that won the hearts of Philadelphians with their advancement to the 2014 Little League World Series earlier this month. CSN’s Phillies “insider” Jim Salisbury on Twitter (@jsalisburycsn): “Dave Montgomery was the first guy in line to congratulate the Taney kids last night. The guy is all-Philly first team and a warrior.“

Montgomery grew up in Philly, attending numerous games at Connie Mack Stadium during the 1950′s and 60′s. He graduated from Penn Charter high school and then from the University of Pennsylvania. He continued with his Penn education at the Wharton Business School, graduating in 1970, the Phils final season at Connie Mack.

In 1971, Montgomery was hired as a member of the Phillies sales department with some intervention from organizational legend Robin Roberts. He spent some time as the scoreboard operator at Veteran’s Stadium, and then quickly rose through the organization, becoming the head of sales and marketing, and by the end of the 70′s had become the head of the business department.

In 1981, Montgomery became part of the team put together by Bill Giles to purchase the Phillies from Ruly Carpenter. With Giles as the principle owner, Montgomery became the executive vice-president. He would serve in this post, helping run the team and make numerous important decisions, for the next 16 seasons.

In 1997, Montgomery ascended to the club presidency when Giles took on the position of Chairman and began the fight for a new ballpark. This made Montgomery the first Philadelphian to head the organization in six decades. He has been active in numerous Philadelphia civic ventures, for his University of Pennsylvania alma mater, and has served Major League Baseball in a number of roles.

The Whiz Kids

The team that we now lovingly know as the Phillies was born way back in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers. However, during that first season they also were called the 'Philadelphians', which was shortened to 'Phillies'. The club thus has the distinction of being the oldest, continuous, one nickname, one city franchise in all of pro sports. In 1887 they began to play regularly at 'The Philadelphia Baseball Grounds', which became 'National League Park' in 1895, and finally became known as the 'Baker Bowl' in 1914. After playing there for over a half century, the Phillies moved to 'Shibe Park' in 1937, which they shared with it's original tenants, the American League's Philadelphia Athletics. (The ballpark was renamed 'Connie Mack Stadium' in 1953 after the legendary A's owner/manager.) With the notable exception of the 1915 World Series season, the Phils were mostly losers on the field during that first half century, but new ownership during the 1940's began to put increased emphasis on the farm system, developing strong players who finally jelled in the 1950 season. Two of those players went on to become long term Phillies legends and baseball Hall of Famers. Centerfielder Richie 'Whitey' Ashburn was a Kansas farm boy who could run like the wind. One of the great Negro Leaguers of the time famously called Ashburn 'the fastest white man in the game.' Robin Roberts (pictured) was a bulldog of a starting pitcher who by the end of the century was recognized as one of the top 75 greatest players in the history of the game by The Sporting News. Together, Ashburn and Roberts helped fuel a young, exciting Phillies team that rose into contention, and that because of their youth were handed the nickname of 'The Whiz Kids'. By the final week of the season the club was battling the Brooklyn Dodgers for the pennant. Roberts started three times for the Phils that week, including the season finale showdown on the final day vs. those Dodgers. The two clubs battled into the bottom of the 9th, where a base hit saw the Dodgers winning run heading for home before a perfect throw to the plate by Ashburn nailed him to preserve the tie and send the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th with two men on Dick Sisler stepped up to the plate in Ebbetts Field. The son of baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler delivered the biggest hit in Phillies history to that point, driving a 3-run opposite-field homerun that put the Phils out in front and led to their first pennant in 35 years. In the World Series the club that everyone was now calling 'The Whiz Kids' would take on the powerful New York Yankees. For Game #1 at Shibe Park, manager Eddie Sawyer was unable to call on his ace Roberts because of that pennant-stretch work load, and so he tapped reliever Jim Konstanty for the assignment in what seemed like a mismatch in favor of Yanks' 21-game winner Vic Raschi. Konstanty surprised most everyone by nearly matching Raschi pitch-for-pitch, but the Yanks scored a 4th inning run that held up for a 1-0 victory in the opener. For Game #2, Roberts was back on the hill facing Yanks' ace Allie Reynolds, and it resulted in yet another pitcher's duel. The Yanks again took the lead with a 2nd inning run, but Ashburn's rbi tied it up in the bottom of the 5th, and the two teams battled into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the legendary Joe DiMaggio stepped to the plate and drove a solo homerun to left field that would stand up as the winning run in a 2-1 Yankees victory. Down 2-0 after a pair of dispiriting one-run losses on their home turf, the Phils moved on to Yankee Stadium where a 3rd consecutive pitchers duel took place. Phils' lefty Ken Heintzelman carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th inning, but he finally tired, got wild, and loaded the bases. Konstanty relieved him to preserve the lead, but usually sure-handed Granny Hamner bobbled a ground ball that allowed the tying run to score. The tie went into the bottom of the 9th where Russ Meyer came on for the Phils and retired the first two batters, and the Series appeared headed for its 2nd straight extra inning tilt. But Meyer then allowed three consecutive singles, the final one to Joe Coleman knocking in the game-winning run. The 3-2 victory had the Yanks up by three games to none, and they looked to clinch their franchise' 13th World Series title in front of the home fans in Game #5. Yogi Berra's 1st inning homer and a 3-run 5th inning rally put the Yanks up 5-0, and they coasted into the 9th inning with two outs, apparently ready to end it easily. The Phils put two men on the bases, but with two outs catcher Andy Seminick hit an easy fly ball for what looked like the final out. Yankees left fielder Gene Woodling settled under it, it came down into his glove...and popped out, falling to the ground as two runs scored. Suddenly the Phils were down 5-2, and when the next batter got a hit they were miraculously bringing the tying run to the plate. But alas, there would be no miracle. Reynolds came on in relief and struck out pinch-hitter Stan Lopata. The Yanks celebrated their title, while the Phils walked off the field having fought a great dynasty to a near draw, yet still having been swept. The Phillies were young and talented, and it seemed that they had a bright future together as contenders. Even that was not to be as the team slowly faded back into mediocrity over the next few years. But for one glorious summer in Philadelphia, a young, talented, likeable bunch of ballplayers excited the town and battled the Yankees in the World Series. It would be years before many of those 'Whiz Kids' would ever again have to pick up a dinner check in the the City of Philadelphia, and they are still remembered fondly over a half-century later.