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PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) – It was August 2003. Mike Butz, a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan with a nickname to match, had just buried his beloved mom.
What did he do later that day?
“I went to a [Phillies] game the day, the night I buried my mother, God rest her soul,” Butz said.
“Because I knew she’d want me to go to the game … I knew that’s where I was supposed to be.”
Butz, 52, is also known as “Broad Street Mikey.”
He roots for all the Philly teams, pro or college. You’ll often find him at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex or another sports venue in town, because this is simply what he loves to do.
A lot of times, he’ll be there as a fan. Sometimes, he’ll be working as a gameday employee at Lincoln Financial Field.
You probably have crossed paths with “Broad Street Mikey” in some way at a game. He said his nickname comes from the fact when he gets off the bus in South Philadelphia, he usually is dropped off on Broad Street.
Butz says his fandom started listening to late, great Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas in the mid-1970s. Growing up in Chester and now living in Westville, New Jersey, Butz said he loves Philadelphia sports so much because he was “born and raised. Plain and simple.”
While Butz admitted he doesn’t have the outgoing personality like fellow Philadelphia Sports Fans of the Week EagleShirley or Monty G., he still cheers and gets happy when his teams win, as well as angry when they lose.
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“But I understand it’s not all about sports,” said Butz. “There are other things in life than just sports. But when I’m at a game, oh I’m in! I want my teams to win.”
Butz said he’ll cheer when a player gives effort, and boo when they don’t.
“We put out our money to go see these guys play and we want to see an effort,” he explained. “If you’re going out there and you just don’t care, we’re not going to care, and we’re going to show it.”
You can hear the undebatable passion in his voice, and see the passion in his clothes, when he talks about Philadelphia fandom. During our interview, Butz was wearing a Phillies hat and Sixers sweatshirt.
“I wear my heart on my sleeve,” he said. “I wear the colors with pride.”
Butz said one of his favorite moments was watching former Phillies closer Mitch Williams strike out Atlanta’s Bill Pecota from the 600 level at Veterans Stadium to win the 1993 National League Championship Series.
But his fandom goes beyond just the games. He lists interacting with legendary WIP hosts Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger as other fond moments that the world of Philly sports has given him.
One of his Philadelphia sports bucket list items is to see the Penn Relays.
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Broad Street Mikey simply likes and supports everything Philadelphia. It’s something Butz said his late mother more than accepted.
“At times, she thought [my fandom] was crazy,” Butz said.
“But she knew that was what I liked. It kept me out of trouble. I would go to an Eagles game on a Sunday afternoon and I would call her on an old school cell phone that looked like a VCR remote and let her know what’s going on and what time I might be home. This way, she didn’t worry.”
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On that night in August 2003, when Butz was coming home from the Vet after burying his mother earlier in the day, he turned on the radio. A short time later, his mother gave him a call of sorts.
When the Phillies coverage concluded, the first song that played on the radio was “I’ll Always Love My Momma.”
“That was the closest thing I got to breaking down that day,” Butz admitted. “It was an eerie sequence of events and yes, definitely emotional.”
Butz agrees that it showed her mother’s spirit, and it revealed how the man called “Broad Street Mikey” was supposed to be at the Vet that night.
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