Baseball buggy 🚗 | Sports Daily Newsletter

The best part of Jim Marino’s summer job for the Department of Recreation was when they tossed him the keys to the baseball buggy, a golf cart topped with a giant Phillies hat that delivered relief pitchers to the mound each night.

Marino spent most days roaming around Veterans Stadium in the electric powered buggy. But as the game changed, so did the cart. The 1970s saw the rise of multipurpose stadiums, artificial turf, polyester uniforms, and powder blue. The baseball buggy looked sharp, but some say it wasn’t the safest way to travel.

On Thursday, a toy replica of the buggy will be given out at Citizens Bank Park. Matt Breen takes a look back at the rise and fall of the bullpen carts.

— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Rob Thomson said Wednesday that Bryce Harper showed up “bruised and sore” a day after he took a ball to his glove hand. It isn’t considered serious, according to team officials, but Harper is out again after he recently missed nine games with a strained left hamstring.

After exiting Tuesday’s start with lower back tightness, Zack Wheeler said he planned to make his next start on Sunday. But Thomson and the Phillies are considering sidelining Wheeler through the All-Star break to prevent a more serious injury.

Thanks to Matt Strahm’s seventh inning relief pitching, the Phillies were able to hold off Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers for a slim one-run victory last night.

Next: The Phillies face the Dodgers tonight at 6:05 at Citizens Bank Park (NBCSP). Aaron Nola (10-4, 3.48 ERA) will face Dodgers righty Landon Knack (1-2, 2.86).

Saquon Barkley left the Giants for the Eagles this offseason after signing a three-year deal worth up to $37.75 million. Fans are now getting insight into how the entire process went down. The latest episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” reveals the Giants’ conversation on Barkley’s final days with the organization.

Speaking of offseason additions, backup quarterback Kenny Pickett talks about the move from the Steelers and how he’ll be playing with a chip on his shoulder with the Birds.

While all of the attention was focused on superstars, like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, at USA Basketball training camp, they weren’t the only collection of players on hand in Las Vegas. The USA Men’s Select Team, which is helping the senior team tune up for the 2024 Paris Olympics, is chock full of young talent, including Sharon Hill’s Jalen Duren, a Roman Catholic alum who now plays for the Detroit Pistons. He wasn’t too quick to gush about his peers, but the opportunity to play against all-world talent wasn’t lost on Duren.

Back in Philly, the Sixers introduced three players on Tuesday that they expect to have a major impact in Andre Drummond, Kelly Oubre, and Caleb Martin. The Inquirer’s Mike Sielski took a closer look at what Martin, a disciple of “Heat Culture,” can bring to a team that has been lacking in that department in recent years.

U.S. men’s soccer team manager Gregg Berhalter was fired on Wednesday, the team announced, nine days after the national team crashed out of the Copa América on home turf in the group stage. Berhalter departs with a record of 44-13-17 over 74 matches in five and a half years. In order to prepare for the 2026 men’s World Cup, it was time for U.S. Soccer to make a move.

We asked for your Philly sports-centric photos and you delivered. In light of your clutch responses, a new weekly feature in our newsletter, Philly fan photos, will debut tomorrow in Sports Daily.

To keep this feature going, we’ll need you to keep submitting photos with a Philly sports theme. Send your photos here and we’ll see what makes the cut.

Here’s a place to access your favorite Philadelphia teams’ statistics, schedules, and standings in real time.

May 19, 1974. Sixth game of the Stanley Cup finals. Flyers vs the Bruins. Flyers are up three games to two. We know the outcome but did anyone in my family get to actually see the game? Noooo! They were all in attendance at my college graduation which really didn’t mean anything as it was only for my associate degree. I received my baccalaureate degree two years later. My family still hasn’t forgiven me yet. — Tricia C.

Brandon Graham’s strip sack of the GOAT to seal the SB victory. So many emotions flooded through me all at the same time. — RJ M.

In 1980 when the Phillies won the World Series for the first time. In those pre-internet days, we had to stand in line at the Vet in person to buy tickets to the game(using cash). I took the broad street line to the Vet, got in line and purchased the last two tickets sold to game 6 of the World Series vs. The Kansas City Royals. The seats were in the deepest part of center where they had added bleachers behind the regular seats. When the Phillies recorded the final out and we had won, I was so excited, I was jumping up and down on the seat. Later that year the seats were removed and that part of center field was replaced with an instant replay screen. I will never forget how excited I was (and were all the fans around me) when the Phillies won the World Series for the first time. — Elinda K.

There are so many for me: Anything that Bryce does to win a game, all the Phillies retirement ceremonies, The 2008 WS Phillies win, The 2018 Eagles SB win, Nick Foles magical SB run. But the coolest memory I have is skipping school with my brother to go to the Flyers 1974 SC championship parade. There were maybe 50 people there and we walked alongside the Flyers bus, shook all their hands and got autographs. We were in trouble with Mom for quite awhile but it was all worth it. — Kathy T.

I would have to say Tug McGraw striking out Willie Wilson for the final out of the 1980 World Series was my favorite moment in Philadelphia sports. — Bill R.

My All-time best sports memory was the Eagles 17-13 NFL Championship win against the Packers at Franklin Field on a cold icy snowy afternoon. This was the last championship game before the Super Bowls, and the only playoff or championship game that Lombardi ever lost. A freezing cold, but awesome day watching Chuck Bednarik and the Eagles defense holding the Pack to 13 points. Tommy McDonald scored a crucial TD and Radnor’s Ted Dean scored the winning TD. Very tense and exciting game. I think we walked about a half mile from parking down to the field on very icy sidewalks and streets. — Everett S.

No doubt, Flyers 1974 Stanley Cup. Growing up in Union County, NJ, would get the Flyers games, with the help of some tin foil and adroit shifting of the antennae, on Channel 29. Loved Gene Hart’s broadcasting, the “God Bless America,” pre-game, and the whole persona of the Broad Street Bullies. Most of our neighborhood were Ranger fans, but a close friend (a transplant from Allentown, Pa.) and I were hard core Flyer fans, and I can still recall even the most obscure names on their roster. My family and I vacation on Seven Mile Island, and we’ve attended a few of the Flyer rookie camp festivities there. I’ve since morphed into an NJ Devils fan (my son is a fanatic), but still consider those two Flyer Stanley Cups one of the highlights of my close to 60 years following sports. — Ed H.

Obviously The Eagles Super Bowl win. Jim Bunnings perfect game. Johnny Calison’s HR to win the 64 all star game. However I’ll never forget Listening to By Saam calling a Phillies-Reds game in 1954. I’m 8 years old and the great Robin Roberts is pitching. I used to keep score of all the games. Bobby Adams leads off with a Home run and I thought “here we go again” as the Phils weren’t that good & Robbie was giving up a few more home runs then he did earlier in his career. He then proceeded to pitch a perfect game retiring the next 27 in row. I’ve never forgotten that game. — Dave S

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Matt Breen, Scott Lauber, Aaron Carter, Jeff Neiburg, Gabriela Carroll, Mike Sielski, Gina Mizell, Isabella DiAmore, Ben Istvan, and Jonathan Tannenwald

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Thanks for reading, hope you have a wonderful Thursday. Jim will be back on the controls tomorrow! — Isabella