More Than Beards, Bellies and Biceps: The Story of the 1993 Phillies (And the Phillie Phanatic Too)

Stubble scruffed up their chins. Tobacco wads ballooned their cheeks. The '93 Phils had the look of a slow-pitch softball team itching to kick some serious butt. They did kick butt, too, on and off the field. "They lived the life of professional baseball players as fully as it can be done," manager Jim Fregosi says. Though they weren't a photogenic bunch, their mugs were everywhere, on Baseball Today, on the Letterman Show, on Saturday Night Live (Chris Farley made a helluva John Kruk). Even President Clinton quipped about them. A gang of baseball throwbacks, they quickly seduced the hometown fans. By season's end, they won over the rest of the country, too. America's Most Wanted Team became America's Team in a heart-thumping fall classic against Toronto. The '93 Phils drew more spectators than any other Philadelphia franchise in the city's century-and-a-quarter of professional sports. Here's the story of a team that burned the candle at both ends and lit up a city like a firecracker.