The Next Vince Papale Story -- Again

Most of the recent hits to this blog have been from people who have "Googled" Vince Papale's name and come up with a story I wrote about 2 years ago on now-former Eagle TE Jeff Thomason, who was plucked at Super Bowl time from being a site manager for the home builder Toll Brothers in southern New Jersey and added to the Super Bowl roster after his good friend and former fellow Eagles TE Chad Lewis suffered a Lisfranc sprain to his ankle and wasn't able to play in the Super Bowl. The analogy was somewhat attenuated, because unlike Papale, Thomas had played college football and had played pro football before returning to the NFL. I summoned the image of Papale because once again the Eagles plucked someone from the working world and added him to the roster. It was a great story while it lasted.

Well, there's another "Made for Disney" story going on in Philadelphia right now, and you can click here to read all about it. Phillies' catcher Chris Coste is an amazing story in perserverance, as he was a career minor-leaguer (playing in Indy leagues, the minors and in Mexico) for about the past 15 years. At 33, Coste came to the Phillies' camp in spring training, auditioning for a job as a back-up catcher and corner infielder. He hit about .470 in Spring Training, only to be the last cut when the Phillies acquired David Dellucci from the Rangers.

So Coste got sent to AAA, to Scranton Wilkes-Barre, where he handled the pitchers well and, yes, honored that euphemism by hitting about .177 or thereabouts. When Mike Lieberthal went down with a knee injury and prospect Carlos Ruiz struggled in his first call-up of the season, Coste was called up (given what Coste was hitting at the time, the call-up seemed odd, but the Phillies were thin at catcher and Coste had showed them something in the spring). At the end of July, his job became more secure when the Phillies had sent Ruiz back down to the minors and designated back-up catcher Sal Fasano for assignment (ultimately trading him to the Yankees for two Tom Tresh cards and a Reggie bar).

There were very good reasons for all of this -- Coste is now hitting about .365, catching Cole Hamels and Jon Lieber and, at 33, making a case for himself that he should be the Phils' starting backstop next season (Lieberthal is a free agent).

And, yes, the movies have come a-calling.

Forget about that, though, as this is a very good story. And before Phillies' detractors point to the ascension of Coste as what's wrong with the Phillies and their farm system, think again. Offense isn't the Phillies' problem -- they're in the top 3 in runs scored in the National League. Pitching woes have plagued the team all year, and no one has griped about the catching, just the throwing from the mound.

Especially when one of the catchers is hitting about .365 in his rookie year.