The American Dream

"Families are always rising and falling in America. But, I believe, we ought to examine more closely the how and why of it, which in the end revolves around life and how you live it."—Nathaniel Hawthorne

       We were poor. We spent our summers peeling our sweaty shirts off the backs of our blue seats.  We starved, picking at the scraps of our neighbors thoughtlessly discarded garbage. Danny Tartabul, Bruce Chen, Dennis Cook. Though burning under those hot summer suns, we shivered in the basement of this city, of this league; we were an afterthought.

       I don’t recall the time or the place but somewhere, sometime we realized that we were in America and in America even the most destitute, hopeless people can find their path to happiness. Slowly, we rose through the orange falls and white winters. Each season more promising than the last. We began to realize that we were not alone anymore. All around us, the blue seats began to fill up like bodies in the ocean. Our voices grew louder. We were prouder.

       We moved into a new house, with new shiny things, and people noticed. Our voices grew louder. We were prouder. Our interest peaked at the beginning of fall instead of the middle of summer.

       When we won the World Championship still some questioned us, but we took their critiques and threw them into the fire. With wild eyes, we watched their negativity burn to ashes, floating like a Hamels changeup in the sky. Our voices grew louder. We were prouder.

      

And then on a bitter cold winter day in mid-December it happened.

Cliff Lee chose the Philadelphia Phillies because he wanted to come here and not New York.

It’s not about hoisting a trophy in the air or boasting over numbers on a stat sheet. It’s knowing that we have made it America.

From our humble beginnings to our lavishness now, the Philadelphia Phillies have made it. We are what every father wants their children to be. We were the poor kid working at the shoe factory to make a better life for his family. We are what my great-grandfathers dreamt of when they arrived here on Ellis Island with empty pockets and great expectations.

We are the American Dream.

We are the Philadelphia Phillies.