Phillies fans have always been crazy. Remember Burt Hooton?

The scene will be wild when Aaron Nola takes the mound for Game 3. It's a happening that is reserved for October. But it’s nothing new. It’s always been like this.

Phillies fans cheer for Aaron Nola during Game 3 of the NLDS against the Braves in 2022.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

by Matt Breen

Published Oct. 10, 2023, 5:11 p.m. ET

“That’s the intimadting influece of the Philadelphia fans. I mean, they can hurt an opposing team just with the noise level that you hear,” Harry Kalas, Oct. 7, 1977

Bob Boone can still remember how it felt to stand on second base nearly 50 years ago as Veterans Stadium began to rock. The fans did not have rally towels and Red October was still a reference to a Russian revolution, but the crowd was just as wild in South Philadelphia in 1977 as it has been this fall at Citizens Bank Park. And Burt Hooton — the Dodgers starting pitcher — was in the middle of it all.

Larry Christenson, the Phillies pitcher, walked with the loaded bases and Hooton, clearly agitated, glared at the umpire with each close-call that went against him. The crowd became unglued.

“I was hearing all kinds of stuff,” Boone said Tuesday. “Philly is special. Because they really get into the game and they’re great supporters.”

The third game of the ‘77 National League Championship Series is remembered now as two games with different meanings. The Burt Hooton Game was when the South Philly crazies hooted the pitcher off the mound in the second inning, impacting a playoff game the same way the current Phillies credited them the last two Octobers. And the game’s finish — a brutal ninth-inning collapse that still stings — is Black Friday.

“It was unbearably loud,” said Larry Bowa, who was the fourth straight batter Hooton walked with two outs before he was lifted by Tommy Lasorda. “You couldn’t hear anything, even someone talking to you close. You could feel it. The Vet was shaking. These people were up on their feet. The loudest I ever heard.

“I’ll be the first to tell you that I really don’t think there is a home-field advantage in baseball. But I will say that there is an edge when people come here to Philadelphia. It’s a different vibe and it starts almost when the gates open.”

The Phillies, after sweeping Miami in the wild-card round, have won eight of their 10 home games over the last two postseasons. They have a .686 postseason winning percentage at Citizens Bank Park, the highest among all teams which have hosted at least 15 playoff games in the last 20 seasons. The energy of the fans in South Philly has become a national storyline this month as the environment seems unmatched to other ballparks. For Philadelphia, it’s always been this way.

“It’s kind of addicting being out there in front of our fanbase over here and to feel the electricity,” said Aaron Nola, who starts Game 3 on Wednesday against Atlanta. “It just kind of heightens every pitch, and it’s fun to be in the moment here.”

“It’s as nuts of a place as I’ve ever been, that’s for sure,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Hooton threw a no-hitter against the Phillies in 1972 as a rookie with the Cubs and finished 1977 with the National League’s third-best ERA. He was solid and his signature knuckle curveball kept hitters off-balance. But then everything unraveled at The Vet. He walked Ted Sizemore and then walked Christenson to bring home a run. Harry Wendelstedt — the home-plate umpire — did not give Hooton any borderline calls, which only infused the crowd even more.

“They’re like sharks in the water,” Bowa said. “When they see blood, the volume gets turned up. They know when to do it. You look at Hooton’s record, he’s a pretty good pitcher. But you could tell after a couple walks that he was getting riled up and the dugout over there was walking up and down the dugout saying ‘What’s going on here?’ and they start screaming at the umpire.”

Bake McBride’s bases-loaded walk tied the game and Bowa’s walk put the Phillies ahead. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said an opposing manager told him playing in Philly last October was “four hours of hell.” For Hooton, the nightmare lasted just five outs. The fans helped chase one of baseball’s better pitchers from a playoff game. Seven innings later, the crowd emptied out in stunned silence. But for a moment, everything was perfect. And the fans played a part.

“There are different fan bases,” Bowa said. “You can talk about this all you want and even to other athletes and they say ‘How tough can it be?’ It’s tough. I’m telling you. I think it messes up your concentration. You hear that noise, you try to black it out, and you can’t. To me, concentration level is what affects you. That much noise? It’s hard to concentrate.”

Nola started Game 3 of last year’s National League Division Series, when the Phillies hosted their first playoff game in 11 years. The Phillies didn’t know what the fans would sound like. It had been a while since they gave out rally towels. Nola had watched videos of 2008, which provided a glimpse into what he could expect.

Then he got to experience it and now he knows what to expect on Wednesday. The fans will be loud from the moment Nola leaves the dugout to warm up in the bullpen, and the rally towels will wave all night. The scene will be wild, a happening that is reserved for October. But it’s nothing new. It’s always been like this.

“I think we have the best home-field advantage in the league,” Nola said. “I think our crowd is the rowdiest, and we love playing in front of that. And I feel like it is tough sometimes for opposing teams to play in this stadium. But we like it a lot. We feed off of it, and the fans are in it from pitch No. 1 until the very end, which is pretty special.”