Following Success of Juan Samuel Night, Phils Announce Plan to Honor Steve Jeltz, Others

Friday night the Phillies welcomed the 30th player into their Wall of Fame when Juan Samuel joined the likes of Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Tony Taylor in having his likelihood enshrined in Citizen Bank Park's centerfield. The success of the night has caused the team to rethink their previous initiative of honoring great Phillies players and instead intend on canonizing mediocre to poor players starting with Steve Jeltz in 2009.

John Brazer, publicity director for the Phillies, said the team was shocked by the public support given to Samuel on Friday night and said the decision to honor Jeltz stems from what he called Philadelphia's "love of losers."

"If you had told me a year ago that almost 44,000 people would show up to honor Juan Samuel I would have told you you were nuts," said Brazer. "But that's what happened. And you can say it was because it was a Friday night, or because the team's in first place, but the truth is 44,000 people came out to honor a mediocre second baseman and we feel they'll come out to support Steve Jeltz, who quite frankly was a pretty bad shortstop."

While players with the pedigree of Jeltz and Samuel would be out of place on many teams' Walls of Fame, it seems appropriate for the Phillies who have already honored Tony Taylor, a career .261 hitter, and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones who hit 180 home runs in 12 seasons with the Phils. With that in mind, and following the success of Juan Samuel night, the Phillies have their honorees picked for the next few years. According to Brazer, here are the upcoming players selected to the Wall of Fame:

• 2009 Steve Jeltz - Jeltz holds the records for most games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, runs batted in, walks and strikeouts ... for players born in France.
• 2010 Bruce Ruffin - Ruffin was a second round draft pick for the Phillies in 1985 and finished seventh in 1986's Rookie of the Year voting. He was also 42-58 with a 4.02 ERA in six seasons with the Phillies.
• 2011 Kevin Stocker - Stocker's first game for the Phillies was the infamous 20-inning game against the Dodgers in 1993. He finished with a career .261 average with the Phillies and was traded for Bobby Abreu in 1998.
• 2012 Charlie "I'm not Von" Hayes - In two stints with the Phillies, Hayes batted .256 and committed 71 errors. In a defining moment in 1990, Hayes broke up Phillies' teammate Terry Mulholland's perfect game against the Giants with a throwing error.
• 2013 Wes Chamberlain - At 6'2" 210lbs Chamberlain looked to be the next great home run hitter for the Phillies. In parts of five years with the team he batted .260 and belted 38 home runs.

Local Blogger Wears Anti-Smog Mask To Cover Olympics, Face

As athletes from around the globe descend on Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympics, the concern for many is the air quality in a country who's air pollution has been on the rise as it quickly industrializes. But the athletes are not the only ones anxious over the thick smog and how it might hinder their performance. One local blogger has taken to donning a respiratory mask to lessen the pollution's effect as he types away at his laptop.

Enrico Campitelli Jr., who founded the Philadelphia sports blog The 700 Level in 2003, is in Beijing to cover the 2008 Summer Games and said he's worried the poor air quality might have a negative effect on his writing style.

"I don't want people who read my work to look at this stuff from China and say, "What the hell happened?" said Campitelli. "So, hopefully this mask allows me to keep using words like 'schadenfreude' liberally.

Earlier this week four American cyclists caused controversy when they arrived at the Beijing airport wearing masks covering their noses and mouths. The group has since apologized, but Campitelli says there hasn't been any uproar with his mask wearing.

"I haven't had anyone complain about this yet, although I've been wearing this Chase Utley shirt a lot and that gets some reaction," said Campitelli. "They don't really boo in this country because ... well you know. 'Boos mean bullets' I think is the saying they have.

Campitelli says the 12 hour time zone difference will probably effect his ability to follow some of the Philadelphia sports, including the Eagles' first pre-season game this Sunday.

"It'll be 7:30 on Monday morning here, so let's see, yeah I'll be getting ready to go see either Men's Archery or the Women's Individual Foil," he said. "So yeah, I'm pretty excited."

Coverage of the opening ceremony for the games begins Friday at 7:30 on NBC. Unfortunately for the local NBC affiliate the Phillies will be taking on those dreaded Pittsburgh Steelers Penguins Pirates at the same time. More importantly the team will be honoring Juan Samuel by inducting him into their Wall of Fame before the game and handing out commemorative posters for the occasion. And you know how popular Juan Samuel is. Sorry Olympic games.