The Main Event
- August 12, 2009 – During a game at Wrigley Field, a fan in the bleachers throws a beer in Shane Victorino‘s face as he tracks a fly ball; Victorino makes the catch anyway and the Phillies win 12-5.
- August 12, 2016 – On the night the Phillies induct Jim Thome to the Wall of Fame, pitcher Jake Thompson picks up his first career win and strikes out four batters in a single inning (via a strikeout–wild pitch) — the first Phillie to do it since Doc White in 1902.
A beer to the face, and Shane Victorino still makes the catch
On August 12, 2009, the Phillies were in the middle of a road game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field when Shane Victorino gave Philadelphia fans one of the most bizarre highlights of his career. Tracking a deep fly ball back toward the ivy-covered outfield wall, Victorino squared up to make the play — and just as he squeezed the ball into his glove, a fan in the bleachers doused him with a cup of beer, square in the face. Somehow, Victorino held on.
The Phillies went on to win the game 12-5, but the postgame story belonged to the beer-throwing fan, not the final score. Security initially ejected the wrong person, tossing out a man in a white shirt who had nothing to do with it. The actual culprit, 21-year-old Chicago-area resident Johnny Macchione, slipped away in the chaos of the ballpark before turning himself in to police two days later. He was charged with battery and disorderly conduct.
The moment became an instant piece of Phillies lore — less for what it meant competitively than for what it said about Victorino himself. Known as “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” for his all-out hustle and highlight-reel catches, Victorino had built a reputation as a player who wouldn’t let anything, not even a face full of beer, cost his team an out. The image of him gritting through the moment and holding the ball has stuck around as one of the more memorable, if unintentional, showcases of that reputation.
Jake Thompson’s rare four-strikeout inning
Seven years later, on August 12, 2016, a different kind of oddity unfolded at Citizens Bank Park, this one entirely of a young pitcher’s own making. Rookie right-hander Jake Thompson, making just his second career start, struck out four batters in a single inning against the Colorado Rockies — a feat so rare in Phillies history that only one pitcher, Doc White, had done it before, all the way back in 1902.
A four-strikeout inning is possible only when a third strike gets away from the catcher, allowing the batter to reach base safely; the pitcher then has to get a fourth man out to end the frame. That’s exactly what happened to Thompson in the second inning: leadoff hitter David Dahl swung through a curveball in the dirt and reached first, eventually coming around to score. But Thompson responded by striking out Gerardo Parra, Nick Hundley, Ben Paulsen, Daniel Descalso and Jon Gray in order — the last three consecutively to strand the inning’s damage and end the threat.
Thompson was so unaccustomed to missing bats that he didn’t even realize what he’d done until he was back in the clubhouse. It was a strange coincidence of timing, too: the feat came the same night the Phillies inducted Jim Thome onto their Wall of Fame, giving Citizens Bank Park a rare doubleheader of franchise nostalgia and modern history in the making. The Phillies won the game 10-6, and Thompson picked up the first victory of his major league career.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for August 12
- August 12, 1984 – The Phillies and their wives hold a charity dinner and fashion show for ALS (Lou Gehrig‘s disease), the first in a series of events that will raise over $17 million.
- August 12, 1991 – The Phillies beat Montreal 2-1 for their 13th straight win, tying the team’s post-1900 record.
- August 12, 2011 – John Kruk is inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame; on the field, Chase Utley sets the team record for games played at second base, passing Tony Taylor, though the Phillies lose to Washington.
- August 12, 2013 – A 5-1 win over Atlanta gives manager Charlie Manuel career victory number 1,000.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for August 12
- Tom Dowse (born 1866) – An Irish-born catcher/outfielder who played a single season with the Phillies in 1892, part of a journeyman career in which he suited up for four different teams that year.
- Spence Harris (born 1900) – An outfielder reclaimed by Connie Mack‘s Athletics in spring 1930 as a potential backup for Al Simmons; he saw limited action before his release that June.
- Don Hurst (born 1905) – A first baseman who anchored the Phillies from 1928-1934, peaking in 1932 with a .339 average, 24 home runs, and a league-leading 143 RBIs.
- Charlie Gassaway (born 1918) – A left-handed pitcher whose only full big-league season came with the last-place 1945 Philadelphia Athletics before he was sent to the minors and later resurfaced with Cleveland.
- Bob Buhl (born 1928) – A pitcher acquired by the Phillies in 1966 (with Larry Jackson, in the trade that sent away Fergie Jenkins) who closed out his 166-win, 15-year career in Philadelphia.
- Joe Millette (born 1965) – A light-hitting shortstop who played two seasons (1992-93) for the Phillies as a utility infielder before Kevin Stocker took over the job.
- Tony Longmire (born 1968) – An outfielder who spent three seasons (1993-95) with the Phillies, highlighted by a .356 average and three pinch-hit home runs in 1995 before a wrist injury ended that year.
- Reggie Harris (born 1968) – A relief pitcher who made 50 appearances for the Phillies in 1997 during his nine-year major league career.
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