Kiteman

During his tenure as managing partner of the Phillies when he ran the team (into the ground), Bill Giles earned a well-deserved reputation for penury, ineptitude, and incompetence.

 

But having given up control of his beloved Phillies some time ago, he is trying to rehabilitate his image as a baseball elder and wise sage. Who are we to criticize him for trying to color his Phillies career with rose-tinted glasses? There’s certainly no denying he is likely the most influential Phillies leader of the last quarter of the 20^th century..which may say more about the Phillies lack of leadership than anything about Giles.

 

Still, I’ll give him his due as a baseball lifer and keeper of the Phillies’ flame (though I still don’t forgive him for his overly leveraged buyout of the team from the Carpenter’s that had the Giles’ ownership group crying “small market” for twenty years while owning the franchise in the 4^th largest city in the country).

 

Still, this story of the promotional stunt for the 1972 home opener will probably have you laughing as hard as I was.

 

Phillies fans of a certain age – like myself – will remember the “zany” stunts that seemed to be all the rage in the 1970s – or maybe it was just with baseball, or even specifically to the Phillies. And Kiteman is right up there in the Phillies’ list of “Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” ideas, along with signing Lance Parrish, Larry Bowa as manager, and a multipurpose stadium that can host football AND baseball games.