A record number of people flooded into the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday Jan. 18, for the sixth annual taping of “Meet the Phillies 2003.”
Fans began showing up at the mall as early as 5:30 a.m. to get the opportunity to get an autograph from Pat Burrell and new acquisition Jim Thome. Only the first 500 fans in line got tickets for autographs. However, by 10 a.m. there were an estimated 1000 people waiting in line.
Another 500 people were squeezed into the Lord and Taylor Court for Comcast SportsNet’s annual taping. While waiting for Pat Burrell, Jim Thome, Joe Kerrigan, Larry Bowa and Ed Wade to arrive, the Comcast personalities kept the crowd content with trivia and prizes.
There was only one instance where someone got too riled up over a trivia question. He stated his case, very loudly, and stormed out of the mall before he got a complimentary goodie bag from Comcast.
Leslie Gudel and Michael Barkann hosted this year’s annual event, which attracted more fans than in all of its past five years.
Burrell was the shows first guest. A majority of his interview was gloating on the off-season pick up of first baseman Jim Thome. “Just to have a guy like that is going to create a lot of opportunities. He has done everything that I am trying to do as a player,” Burrell said.
Kerrigan, the Phillies’ new pitching coach and former “Post Game Live” analyst, told the fans that Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla are the three locks in the rotation going into spring training. Joe Roa, Brandon Duckworth, Bret Myers, Eric Junge and Hector Mercado will have to battle it out for the two remaining spots.
Thome was the third guest of the afternoon and received the warmest welcome that included a standing ovation. The Phillie Phanatic gave Thome his own special welcome by presenting him with a soft pretzel, cheese steak, Tasty Cakes and a stuffed Phanatic doll.
Thome insisted that his reason for signing in Philadelphia was because he was convinced that they were committed to putting a winning team on the field this year. “I am very happy to be here it’s going to be great. Lets win a world championship,” Thome said.
Spring training officially begins in Clearwater, Fla. at Jack Russell Stadium on Feb. 19, when all players are to have reported.
