These Are Our 6 Favorite Phillies Interviews We’ve Done Over the Years

Illustrations of former Phillies personalities Charlie Manuel, Jimmy Rollins and John Kruk by Andy Friedman

With the Phillies heading to the World Series on Friday, it got us thinking about the many Phillies personalities we’ve interviewed over the years. And these are some of favorite highlights. Click on the name to read the full interview.

John Kruk

• He puts mayonnaise on his cheesesteaks.
• He met his wife at the Benihana in Cherry Hill, a setup by Mitch Williams and his wife.
• He pulled an excellent prank on Chase Utley.

Charlie Manuel

• He’s a master at the card game gin.
• He loves the hot corned beef at Famous 4th Street.
• He thinks the best movie ever made is The Sound of Music.

Dan Baker

• After his son was born in 1980 (when the Phillies won their first World Series) and then his daughter in 1983 (when the Phillies next went to the World Series), then-Phillies owner Bill Giles told Baker the couple needed to keep having children.
• In a steel-cage death match between the Phanatic and Gritty, Baker would questionably put his money on Gritty.
• He prefers the National Anthem to be sung by someone with an operatic background as opposed to, say, Taylor Swift.

Ruben Amaro

• He was a bat boy for the 1980 World Series Phillies team.
• His girlfriend is a boudoir photographer.
• He can get into Zahav when most people can’t.

Jimmy Rollins

• He hates sabermetrics.
• He gave up playing the jazz trumpet so he could become a baseball player.
• Fans nicknamed him “J-Roll” but he had a different nickname in the locker room, bestowed upon him by Ryan Howard.

Mike Schmidt

• He liked his huge mustache because it made his nose look smaller and he has a “big-ass gap” between his upper lip and his nose.
• He once had really, really bad hemorrhoids. So bad they landed him in the hospital. Ouch!
• At least at the time of our interview with him, he had never seen the Rocky statue. Sacrilege!