It’s no mystery why Ruiz was popular with Phillies fans
PHILADELPHIA >> Carlos Ruiz hit .219 for the 2008 Phillies, with four home runs, 31 RBIs, 38 strikeouts and one distant skeptic. “I was scouting for the Yankees,” Pete Mackanin was saying Tuesday, before the Phillies-Mariners game. “I wrote Chooch upasa backup catcher. I didn’t even have him as a frontline catcher. And then he started hitting and developing and got better and better. So I had him as a major-league catcher but not as a front-line catcher. “He proved me wrong.” He proved Mackanin wrong. He proved others wrong too, those who kept him bottled in the minors until he was 27, those who’d signed him as a second baseman, those who never thought he would be what he became. And he became one of the most beloved figures of a treasured Phillies era that included two World Series, five firstplace finishes and a parade where 2.6 million people, every one of them, hooted “Chooooch” as his float rolled by.
It’s never an exact science, trying to guess who will make it big in pro sports. It’s even tougher to judge who will become an eternal favorite among a fan base that can be choosy. All last weekend, Phillies fans booed and heckled and insulted Jayson Werth, who belted 24 home runs in 2008, all while leading baseball in the use of laundry detergent, his uniform typically filthy from hustle before the seventh-inning stretch. Yet by Tuesday, when he would return to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since his trade last season to the Dodgers, Ruiz would be right to expect a roaring welcome home.
“It’s going to be special,” said Andres Blanco, Ruiz’s close friend. “I’m really sure that the crowd is going to give him a standing ovation for what he did. He has a lot of passion for the game. He doesn’t like to lose a game. He always loved to win even if he had a bad day.”
Ruiz deserved a standing ovation, like the one Jimmy Rollins once received, like the longer one granted to Chase Utley, like the one Ryan Howard will never enjoy, not after being bounced the other day out of the Braves’ farm system. He was good, worked, improved, worked harder. He did the finger-signaling for four Phillies’ no-hitters, including one by Roy Halladay in the playoffs and a Halladay perfect game. And that was him racing to the mound to celebrate with Brad Lidge when the Phillies won the two-day-rain-delayed Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. He even has the framed photos as proof.
“Yeah,” Ruiz said, before the game. “It’s in my house. Also, there’s another one in my mom’s house. That was big.”
He said he signed a thousand of those photos, and he’ll likely sign plenty more, with the Mariners in for two games this week, most likely the last two chances Ruiz will have to play in the ballpark that one day will be decorated with his Wall of Fame plaque. That’s why he smiled as he arrived for work Tuesday, and why he expected, perhaps, a different emotion whenever Dan Baker would make the formal induction.
“I remember,” he said, of the returns of Rollins and Utley. “I was here. I was almost crying. It never crossed my mind that I was going to be on that side. The fans supported Chase and they were able to give him the ovation. And even on our side, the teammates were standing up. That was big.
“When I was coming here, it felt a little weird, going to the other side. A lot of things were in my head. The one thing was that it was special.”
And there it was, the major difference why some players in Philadelphia are revered even after they leave, while others are made immediately to feel like annoying outsiders: The fans can sense when a player is emotionally invested in their city. When that bond is sealed with sweat and success, those fans would gladly donate enough for a statue, were a hat to be passed around the upper deck.
Ruiz played in two World Series and one All-Star Game with the Phillies, did a legendary job with great pitchers but was just OK behind the plate with those still developing. But he never settled for not being better than the skeptics guessed, his last Phillies manager included. And the customers appreciated that.
“These are great fans,” said Ruiz, who did not start Tuesday, but likely will catch Wednesday afternoon. “And I think when you play hard and when you do your best to win, they appreciate that. It was fun to be part of this organization and play for this city. I really enjoyed the time I was here.”
By next season, the 2008 flag in center field will have gathered 10 years of dust. There will be a reunion of sorts, but not likely any more chances for an on-field, game-night thank-you. Utley is about done with the Dodgers. Texas won’t visit next season, likely ruling out a return of Cole Hamels. Werth, about to be a free agent, will play somewhere, but he will never be embraced in Citizens Bank Park.
But then, there is Carlos Ruiz.
“Wow, man,” Andres Blanco said. “We really miss him.”
Even if some never saw that coming.