Do you know someone who should be highlighted as KYW Newsradio's Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week? Nominate someone you know.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Marilyn Harris, a lifelong Phillies fan, remembers a line Frank Fitzpatrick wrote in a 2020 Inquirer article about the last two living players of the 1950 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies, famously known as "The Whiz Kids" for their youthful roster.
It was about the enduring friendship of pitchers Curt Simmons and Bob Miller. Miller died a few months after the article was published, making Simmons, now 93, the last living Whiz Kid.
"The article said, 'Few remain who watched them play,’” Harris said. “And I say: Well, I'm one of those!”
She keeps that article in her 72-year-old scrapbook of newspaper clippings, photos and "all the memories" of her Phillies fandom.
This past week, part of that scrapbook came to life for Harris, now 86.
A friendship born of fandom
The 1950 Phillies was the first professional sports team she fell in love with. The Phillies won the National League that year with legends Richie Ashburn, Robin Roberts, Miller and Simmons. Simmons, a 21-year-old lefty out of Whitehall, Pa., in the Lehigh Valley, won 17 games that season.
Harris was in high school at the time. Growing up in Emmaus — also in the Lehigh Valley — she was too far from Philadelphia to go to a game that year, but she kept up with the team by getting on her bike and picking up a copy of the Inquirer before school.
At the Abington School of Nursing, Harris met fellow Phillies fan Janet Hesse. After graduating, Harris said she and Hesse started going to games at Shibe Park, later renamed Connie Mack Stadium.
“It was always fun, because when you have season tickets, the same people are around you all the time," said Harris.
Later, they would bring along Hesse's son, Steve. He describes the pair as “rabid fans and good friends.”
"One time, the Phillies were losing," Steve recalled. “I looked around the field and I saw a Cleveland logo. And I thought that'd be a good team to cheer for. And I told Marilyn and my mom, 'Maybe I'll root for them. The Phillies aren't so good.' And they said, 'Well, you may but then you'll have to walk home.'"
They followed the Phils to Veterans Stadium after the 1970 season, and then to Citizens Bank Park, until some time in the last decade. They even went to spring training games in Florida. Now, Harris said, she keeps up with her team on television.
'An unexpected live scrapbook'
Harris retired from nursing in 1999, but she hasn’t quite stopped.
“My husband always told me that the only thing I retired from was a paycheck,” she said.
She still volunteers, and she mentors students and young nurses. And she tells them: "Every time you have something of a memory or thought, write it down, because later on, it's so great to go back."
Her scrapbook documenting 72 years of Phillies memories is a testament to that notion.
The book is so important to her that one of the reasons she wanted to talk to KYW Newsradio was to show it to him. It would be a thrill to have that opportunity, she said, but she wouldn’t want to intrude.
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"I think it would mean a lot to Curt Simmons,” Steve Hesse said, considering the possibility of the Wall of Famer meeting his late mother's good friend. “Marilyn is Marilyn. She's a wonderful, gifted, super-intelligent and diehard Phillies fan … I can imagine Curt would just be thrilled to know that somebody cared enough to be that detail-oriented and that interested in what he was doing, to take the care to put something like that [scrapbook] together. … And it would bring full circle, sort of, this thing that started in her as a little girl and bring it back around to trying to complete the loop because of her interest in The Whiz Kids."
Unbeknownst to Harris, when she logged on for a follow-up interview via Zoom, someone else was waiting to join, as well. Moments in, a third person appeared — a gentleman decked out in pristine red-and-white Phillies pinstripes and a red Phillies cap.
Harris recognized him. "Oh my gosh," she said with joy. "Good morning, Mr. Simmons. It's wonderful to meet you."
With the help of sportswriter Frank Fitzpatrick, KYW Newsradio was able to get in touch with the Simmons household to arrange the meeting. And there on a video call with lifelong fan Marilyn Harris was fellow Lehigh Valley native, 5'11'' left-hander, Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Famer and 17-game winner of the 1950 National League Champion Phillies Curt Simmons.
"Good morning," Simmons responded.
Simmons, now 93, alongside son Tim and caregiver Cheryl Raffle, spent about 10 minutes with Harris on video. She shared memories from her scrapbook with him. "I've watched you since the 1950's," she said.
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He smiled when she showed him her copy of the 1950 Phillies team photo.
"It was fun to watch," Harris told him. "I was a teenager in high school, and the Phillies were winning the pennant in 1950."
She told Simmons that meeting him was "an unexpected live scrapbook."
As a former nurse, she acknowledged Raffle as a “very important person in Curt's life.”
"That's very nice," Raffle responded. It was a beautiful, mutual appreciation. "We have a team of people here."
After the Simmons and Raffle signed off, Harris reflected on this new memory to put in her treasure trove of clippings.
"Just amazing,” she said. “Just to be able to come on camera was really a pleasure for me. Just to know that he knows that people still remember him, that's just great. We haven't forgotten the old days."
Do you know someone who should be highlighted as KYW Newsradio's Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week? Nominate someone you know.