PHILADELPHIA — Phillies Hall of Famer Robin Roberts said he had four things he disliked.
The first was something any red-blooded American who came of age in the 1940s and ’50s can relate to — Russia. Two others were college rivals for a man who went to Michigan State — Michigan and Notre Dame.
The fourth was the Yankees.
“Because they won,” Roberts said.
Fifty-nine years after Roberts and the “Whiz Kids” lost in four games to the Yankees in the World Series, Philadelphia gets a shot at revenge.
The Phillies open up the World Series tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium in search of their second straight world championship. Last year, the Phillies rolled over the Rays, who seemed just happy to be there. This year, the Yankees, winners of 26 previous World Series, stand in their way.
“People are going to talk about the money the Yankees give out,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “But if you look, they’ve got 26 or 27 banners flying over the stadium. And they’ve got those for a reason, because they wanted to win. For so many years, they always thought they were going to stay the champions of baseball. And when you beat them, there’s a lot of satisfaction there, of course.”
The Phillies have waited a week to get back on the field after closing out the Dodgers in the NLCS last Wednesday. They watched the Yankees and Angels duke it out. The players were careful not to say they would rather face one opponent over the other, but you get the sense the Yankees are the ones they wanted to play.
“By playing the Yankees and who their names are and what they stand for, that’s enough right there to motivate you,” Manuel said. “I know when I walk into the new Yankee Stadium, it’s like the old stadium except the locker rooms are bigger and better. It’s still got that same feel to it, and it’s just got an atmosphere and an aura about it.
“You think about all those great teams and great players they’ve had come through there. I’m sure our players feel the same way. You know what? That alone could motivate them.”
In May, the Phillies took two of three from the Yankees in The Bronx. Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth talked about the feeling of taking the field at Yankee Stadium.
“I think there’s definitely a special mystique when you walk into Yankee Stadium, new or old,” Werth said. “It’s the cathedral of baseball. It’s where everyone wanted to play as a kid. It’s Yankee Stadium. As far as that goes, there might be something to that, a little bit of motivation.
“All in all, it doesn’t matter who we play or where we play. I think everybody knows we’ve got a job to do and we know how to do it.”
Growing up in Virginia, Manuel was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. He remembers vividly the Yankees’ domination of the World Series in the 1950s. Last year, he talked about the 1952 World Series when Gil Hodges went 0-for-21 with six strikeouts as the Yankees won in seven games.
“I thought I was going to die,” Manuel said. “I couldn’t believe Gil Hodges went [0-for-21].”
