Fat, Drunk and Endearing: A Look Back at the ’93 Phillies Season

Larry Andersen, relief pitcher: The best way to describe that team is “schizophrenic.”

John Kruk, first baseman: I’ve never seen guys that could be playing grab-ass two minutes before the game and then as soon as the National Anthem is done be ready to kick some ass.

Curt Schilling, starting pitcher: Fregosi had a bunch of hard-partying, hard-drinking children, really. But no one was better come 7:05.

Jim Fregosi, manager: If you took a look at Dave Hollins in his locker before a game, you’d know all about it.

Mickey Morandini, second baseman: In spring training we were picked to finish last, so that was motivation right there. That kind of irritated us right out of the gate.

Dave Hollins, third baseman: That stems back to the previous season. We’d had a rough year, finished in last place, and I led the league in getting hit by pitches. I had to have a sit-down with a few of our starters to let ’em know that going forward, they would have to take care of business if guys were gonna be knockin’ us down like that. They got right on it in spring training.

John Kruk: Our pitchers would think, If I don’t hit him, Dave Hollins will kick the crap out of me. So I should probably hit him.

Tommy Greene, starting pitcher: It started early, with a little brouhaha with the Cardinals down at spring training.

Dave Hollins: I think I got hit first. Then they hit somebody else, and then Ricky [Jordan] got hit and it was on from there. It kind of let teams know that that wasn’t gonna happen this year.

Tommy Greene: Hollins got dusted back. … It started there. The guy who did it led off the next inning, so it was easy to come back at him. Ricky Jordan ended up getting hit later, and both benches cleared. After that, you could feel the type of crew we had.

John Kruk: When Ricky Jordan charged the mound, you really got a sense of what we were. After that game, I looked around the clubhouse and realized: There are some pissed-off people in this room.

Mickey Morandini: The perception was that we were a bunch of unathletic fat people with long hair.

Jayson Stark, Inquirer sportswriter: I wasn’t shocked when they swept the Astros [to open the season], because they had that look.