A tribute to the life of Phillies icon Richie Ashburn

It always dismayed Richie Ashburn that what most Philadelphians recalled from his Phillies career was the final game of 1950, when he threw out Brooklyn's Cal Abrams at the plate, preserving the pennant for those Whiz Kids.

Ashburn, after all, was one of baseball's all-time best defensive centerfielders, a two-time batting champ, a base-stealer when that was rare, and the player with the most hits in the talent-rich 1950s.

Now, 11 years after his death and 60 years after he arrived here to take root as a Phillie and later as the team's folksy broadcaster, there are Philadelphians who not only never heard of Abrams or the Whiz Kids but who also know Ashburn only as the namesake for Citizens Bank Park's outfield food court.

But thanks to Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life, a new movie lovingly pieced together by the Phillies' Dan Stephenson, Ashburn's story, his journey from Nebraska to Philadelphia to Cooperstown, will endure.

The world premiere of Stevenson's schmaltz-free tribute to the towhead from Tilden, Neb., will take place at a sold-out screening Monday at 7 p.m. at the Prince Music Theater, as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival. A two-disc DVD will go on sale April 22.

The 90-minute biography is enhanced by the stunning archival footage Stevenson, the team's longtime videographer, unearthed, by the moving recollections of family, friends and teammates, and by the extraordinary emotional bond that existed between Ashburn and Philadelphia.

As it makes clear, Ashburn, who also wrote a newspaper column and was the people's choice to succeed Phillies manager Danny Ozark, might have been this cynical town's most beloved sports figure ever.

Former Inquirer baseball writer Jayson Stark points out that a city infamous for inflicting damage on its sports heroes never fell out of love with Ashburn.

It fixated on him in the 1950s when he was one of the few reasons to follow the Phillies. It wept with him when his daughter, Jan, was killed in a 1987 auto accident. And it exulted with him when, in 1995, he belatedly made baseball's Hall of Fame.

That Hall ceremony, in which Ashburn and Mike Schmidt were inducted, presents one of the movie's most mind-boggling visual images, a Cooperstown field awash with 50,000 red-clad Phillies fans.

Narrated by his close friend and announcing partner, Harry Kalas, the film spans Ashburn's life from his Tom Sawyer boyhood to his decision to spurn politics and enter the broadcast booth to his untimely death in a Manhattan hotel room on Sept. 9, 1997.

The fascinating footage is leavened by the interviews. Ashburn is described as a fiery competitor, a family man, a storyteller and, for 35 years, an unconventional broadcaster whose wit was as dry as a Nebraska summer.

When Ashburn died, then-Mayor Rendell opened Memorial Hall for a public viewing. Tens of thousands lined up to pay tribute.

A day later, in his eulogy at the formal funeral, Rendell mentioned that one fan had placed alongside the casket a transistor radio on which he had listened to Ashburn call Phils games in the summers of his youth.

"That transistor," said Rendell, his voice cracking, "was his life with Richie, just as it was for so many of us."

Written, directed and produced by Dan Stephenson. With Richard Ashburn, John Kruk, Stan Lopata, Dave Montgomery, Jayson Stark, Rich Westcott and Stan Hochman.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 min.

Parents' guide: No MPAA rating.

Showing at: Prince Music Theater 7 p.m. Monday (sold out) and 5 p.m. Tuesday. For tickets visit www.phillyfests.com. The 2-DVD set will be available April 22 at Citizens Bank Park, at phillies.com and at 1-877-467-4457. It costs $24.99, or $20 at the ballpark's clubhouse store.EndText