A Phillies tale with fans: “That Bum Nixon,” Labor Day, 2003

Philadelphia

Anyway, the previous September, the Phillies came to a make-up game Labor Day with a marginally inferior record to the visiting Red Sox, but both teams were on the better side of .500.

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We had fairly good seats in our package at old Veterans Stadium then, just to the left of home in the second deck. I recalled that Nixon, the Sawks right fielder had a pretty good day from the distance of 17 years, but a review of the box score was needed to know exactly how good.

He was three for four. The details, though, and the fans’ reaction to that are the real story here.

Nixon entered the game hitting .307 and would add several points to that figure, despite the late-season date. However, the real entertainment that day wasn’t on the field, but two rows below us – other Phillies fans.

In fact, the field action may well have factored into the partisan behavior below us. As the game went back and forth, our fellow Philly fans fueled their enthusiasm with multiple trips to the nearby beer concession, each of them bringing back two large drinks at a time.

And Trot Nixon was definitely an annoyance to the hometown fans. However, early on he lofted a pop-up behind third, which was caught, and elicited a hearty “You’re a bum, Nixon!” from one of the Phillies fans two rows ahead.