Jim Gardner will throw the first pitch at the Phillies game Sunday against the Mets

Move closer to your world, my friend. Take a little bit of time — and go see Action News anchor Jim Gardner down at Citizens Bank Park this weekend.

Gardner is slated to throw out the first pitch in the Phillies’ game against division rivals the New York Mets on Sunday, which starts at 1:35 p.m. That’s about as Philadelphia as an event could be, considering we love Jim Gardner about as much as we dislike the Mets.

Which, you know, is kind of a lot. Just ask Mets announcer Keith Hernandez. Oh wait, you can’t — he won’t be around because he dislikes calling Phils games so much, he got the series off. Shame.

More Gardner for us then.

Philly sports fans, though, will know that Gardner is no stranger to opening ceremonies in sports. In 2019, for example, he rang the bell to open a 76ers game against the Dallas Mavericks, and he rang it good.

Sadly, though, the city’s remaining time with Gardner at the helm of the Action News broadcast is limited. He announced last year that he’d be retiring from the program altogether at the end of 2022, and stepped down from the 11 p.m. run of the show in January. He can still be seen anchoring the 6 p.m. edition of Action News.

Once retirement comes, it will cap Gardner’s 40-plus-year career in Philadelphia news, which has made him the longest-tenured on-air personality in the city. And like any Philly guy, he’s looking forward to some familiar things once the time comes.

“I look forward, for instance, to being able to watch a Sixers game on television with my wife, or, my goodness — to even go to a game on a weeknight. Or maybe even linger over dinner, or doze off reading a book before 2 in the morning,” Gardner said when he announced his retirement in November. “It is a lifestyle I haven’t experienced in 45 years, and it’s time.”