I have a Samson Zoom H4 – Handy Recorder, a little toy that I spent too much money on and use too little. With that being said, I am always looking for opportunities to use it so that I can both exercise my creativity as well as provide a little entertainment for friends, family, and anyone else who reads my blog or listens to my podcasts (Hello!). The 2008 World Series provided one of those opportunities.

My house became the unofficial World Series headquarters for my tight circle of friends — I’d like to think that my company is the reason, but the appeal is more likely that my wife likes to bake delicious Phillies-inspired cakes (see picture 1 below), cookies, and muffins for our guests. We had many friends and family members over for each of the 5 games, but it was Aaron, Adam, Ryan, and Jarad who joined Ali and me for both portions of Game 5. Eric was supposed to join us, but he was fortunate enough to be in the stadium for all three games in Philadelphia!

Ali’s Phillies cake — the true reason our friends came over

As the tension built in our house, we discussed the poor leadership of Bud Selig, the idea that we may finally witness one of our beloved teams win a championship, and the exciting possibility of a season ending without someone saying, “Well, maybe next year is our year.” I wanted to document the approaching historic moment as naturally as possible, so I turned on my little microphone during the 8th inning of Game 5b of the World Series. I placed it on a shelf in our living room and left it on to record our reactions and experience with a potential championship. We now know that the Phillies won the World Series and, two months later, I just listed to the captured audio for the first time.

I found a lot of interesting dialogue captured in the audio: we debate and discuss everything from the ideal time to listen to mute the TV and turn on 610WIP (to listen to the Phillies’ announcer, the legendary Harry Kalas), to the challenge of playing with mitochondria, to Scott Eyre warming up in the bullpen just so he can get some air time when the cameraman pans over to see what Brad Lidge is up to. Oh, and I also heard our reactions to the glorious moment itself! The attached audio may be dull at times, but it is a snapshot of pure, natural emotion and happiness.

I would ultimately like to edit the audio into something interesting, intermixed with interviews from each of those present (and Eric, who can provide his perspective of being in the ballpark) and with pictures laid over the top. For now, I have edited down the 1 hour of audio to the best 3 minutes*; essentially, the 3 minutes are the audio of Hinkse’s at-bat and our reaction for a minute or so afterward.

A guide to the recording below: the magic happens at 1:47 (WARNING: It gets VERY loud at this point of the audio!). Then, it’s about a minute of us reacting in absolute glee and exuberance. Finally, Jarad makes a very revealing declaration at 2:54 — be sure to listen =) The audio is below, so enjoy!

The gang, seconds before the big moment

Hinske just swung through strike 3!

No caption necessary

*Note: I edited some of the dead time out of the Hinske at bat, just to make the file a little shorter. Just wanted to let you know in case you notice that some filler dialogue from Harry and Wheels is missing.