Major League Baseball

Broad Street Billy: Halladay, proposals and Phillies down the Shore

Published Oct. 8, 2010 10:49 a.m. ET

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Broad Street Billy hasn't recovered from watching Roy Halladay make history - and it's already time to get pumped for tonight's Phillies playoff debut of our other Wonder Roy: "Ohhh-swalt!"

LOVE AT THE BANK: On the arctic night of Sept. 30, 2009, Jennifer Bird, from Northeast Philly, was cuddling with her boyfriend, Edward Pownall, at the Phillies vs. Astros game when she glanced at the PhanaVision screen - and saw her face.

"Then my name goes up there," she said, "and my boyfriend is on one knee, proposing to me! I got engaged at the ballpark and the Phillies clinched the NL East for the third consecutive year - all in the same night!"

They wed in August. "We're one married couple that shares such a love for the Phillies!" Jennifer said. "They will always remind me of the night I chose to marry a wonderful man!"

Jennifer is 37. Edward is 60. "People question our relationship due to the age difference," she said, "but just like the Phillies, we have beaten many odds. We watch every game together."

PHILS' DNA: Doug Parker, 52, raised in South Philly, now living in Maryland, writes: "My brothers and I helped our dad sell peanuts outside Connie Mack Stadium. My dad [who died in 1982] and my brother helped build the Vet and the Spectrum.

"My best Phillies memories: Spending hot summer days in the cheap seats with my childhood buddies - and still doing it with the same guys to this day. Watching games on our 13-inch, black-&-white TV while working summers in Wildwood. Partying at the '08 championship parade - with my same old buddies!"

CHEESESTEAK DNA: "Been gone from South Jersey since the late '60s," writes Carl Pappert from Cheyenne, Wyo. "By Saam and Bill Campbell were my 'voices' growing up. Whitey [Richie Ashburn] was my baseball hero. I get the MLB package to keep up with the Phillies out here.

"My brother once asked me if I was now a Rockies fan," Pappert wrote. "Like that would ever happen just because I've lived out here for 20 years! The blood that runs through my body still has cheesesteaks and Tastykakes in it! Go, Phillies!"

ALL SHOOK UP: U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, from Overbrook, a lifelong Phillies fan - "You kidding me? I went through the '60s with Gene Mauch!" - arranged a flyover tonight by U.S. Navy jets to honor our Armed Forces.

"I called my pal Bunny Sigler, who's singing 'God Bless America'," Brady said, "and told him, 'Bunny, you've got to be ready for the flyover because it shakes the hell out of you!' "

TALK TO ME: Send your Phillies stories and photos to:

phillies@phillynews.com

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