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

There used to be this convention involving people going to baseball games and sitting near each other. Here’s a Phillies tale from those strange times.

It was quite a while ago, and I’m not sure why I thought about the Boston Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon aside from the idleness of the COVID-19 Spring, but here’s a Phillies story about him:

Once upon a time, people went to Major League Baseball games and sat in seats pretty close to each other. This was something friends and I did together on Labor Day in 2003. (I had to cast about Baseball-Reference for the specific date, but ultimately, I found the game in Nixon’s Game Logs for the season.)

I was reminded that the four of us were at this game because we had bought a season package of six tickets that more than a handful of people shared, but only four wanted to go that day. We went to games that season not so much because we were passionate fans of this specific Philadelphia Phillies squad, but for another reason.

Our goal was, besides seeing MLB games in person, to be on the early-contact list to buy tickets for the new ballpark that would open in 2004, Citizens Bank Park. This plan worked. Two of us were at the ‘04 Opening Day Game, the first-ever at “The Bank,” where we were soaked in a cold rain until we left.

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.

More from Philadelphia Phillies

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Stock Up, Stock Down: Mariners, Padres, Giants, Phillies
• Disconnect between Philadelphia and national media is embarrassing
• Stock Up, Stock Down: Two teams rising, two falling post-trade deadline

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.