Marion wrote:Harry Kalas' widow, Phillies in dispute over Harry the K's restaurant at Citizens Bank Park

IT'S HARD to find a Phillies fan who didn't love Harry Kalas.

Randy Miller is no exception.

The Phillies beat writer for the Bucks County Courier Times and PhillyBurbs.com has authored a book, "Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas," which will be published March 9 by Running Press.

Miller says that although he loved Harry, he didn't want to write a puff piece. Harry's widow, Eileen, didn't want him to write fluff, either, and talks in the book about Harry's infidelities, the couple's counseling for it, and how she made him quit drinking.

"The toughest part was all the women," said Miller, who didn't want to hurt Harry's first wife, Jasmine, whom he left for Eileen.

Eileen encouraged Miller to speak with Jasmine and also gave the writer Harry's phone book, which enabled him to reach some of his oldest friends. Miller interviewed 170 people for the 335-page book. Mike Schmidt wrote the foreward and Ryan Howard the introduction.

The book also details the stormy relationship between Harry and longtime broadcast partner Chris Wheeler. You may recall Wheeler seemed to be the only member of the Phillies organization who wasn't quoted publicly about Harry's death last year.

"I cared a great deal about Harry," Wheeler says in the book. "We shared a lot of fun times that I'll always remember, and those memories belong to me and nobody can take them away," he told Miller. The hardcover, priced at $24.95, will be available in stores and from online retailers, but it's not a Phillies-authorized product so Miller doesn't expect the book to be sold at Citizens Bank Park or to do any book-signings there next season.

momadance wrote:Can't wait to see what kind of crap he makes up this time.

IT'S HARD to find a Phillies fan who didn't love Harry Kalas.

Randy Miller is no exception.

The Phillies beat writer for the Bucks County Courier Times and PhillyBurbs.com has authored a book, "Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas," which will be published March 9 by Running Press.

Miller says that although he loved Harry, he didn't want to write a puff piece. Harry's widow, Eileen, didn't want him to write fluff, either, and talks in the book about Harry's infidelities, the couple's counseling for it, and how she made him quit drinking.

"The toughest part was all the women," said Miller, who didn't want to hurt Harry's first wife, Jasmine, whom he left for Eileen.

Eileen encouraged Miller to speak with Jasmine and also gave the writer Harry's phone book, which enabled him to reach some of his oldest friends. Miller interviewed 170 people for the 335-page book. Mike Schmidt wrote the foreward and Ryan Howard the introduction.

The book also details the stormy relationship between Harry and longtime broadcast partner Chris Wheeler. You may recall Wheeler seemed to be the only member of the Phillies organization who wasn't quoted publicly about Harry's death last year.

"I cared a great deal about Harry," Wheeler says in the book. "We shared a lot of fun times that I'll always remember, and those memories belong to me and nobody can take them away," he told Miller. The hardcover, priced at $24.95, will be available in stores and from online retailers, but it's not a Phillies-authorized product so Miller doesn't expect the book to be sold at Citizens Bank Park or to do any book-signings there next season.

You may recall Wheeler seemed to be the only member of the Phillies organization who wasn't quoted publicly about Harry's death last year.

bleh wrote:

You may recall Wheeler seemed to be the only member of the Phillies organization who wasn't quoted publicly about Harry's death last year.

There's no way that's true.

bleh wrote:

You may recall Wheeler seemed to be the only member of the Phillies organization who wasn't quoted publicly about Harry's death last year.

There's no way that's true.

Wheeler's book was a major disappointment too in regards to talking about Harry - it was the elephant in the room the whole time I read it and he just mostly avoided it. I'll definitely get this new Harry book.

Drew rejected the Phillies signing bonus of $2.8 million, then the most lucrative offer ever made to an unsigned draft pick. Drew opted to go back into the 1998 draft, and was later selected by the St. Louis Cardinals. The finality of the saga became apparent when Scott Boras, Drew's hard-line agent, held a fruitless negotiating session with the Phillies while the club was in New York in April 1998. The night of the negotiations, a group of Phillies beat writers was having drinks at the Grand Hyatt when Harry walked in.

"We'd spent the whole night chasing down Boras and Harry walked in liquored up," said Martin Frank, a Wilmington News-Journal sports writer. "He asked what was going on and we told him about the Drew stuff. He looks at us and says slowly with anger in his voice, 'Fuck J.D. Drew.'"

Since Harry rarely used obscenities, it was clear that he was offended.

Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth experienced Harry's great respect for others firsthand. Harry made an emotional plea for forgiveness from Werth after Harry felt he had disrespected him on the air the night before. On April 10th, 2008, the Phillies lost a 12-inning game to the Mets in New York. When describing Angel Pagan's walk off hit on television, Harry announced that the game was over as soon as the line-drive single to center field touched the ground. But after watching the replay, Harry realized that Werth nearly threw out Jose Reyes at home plate. Harry was angry at himself for discounting Werth's strong throwing arm.

"The next day, HK came up to me at my locked with tears in his eyes. He was apologetic that he messed up the call. He was upset about it. I think he lost sleep over the fact that he knew that he didn't give me a chance to throw the guy out at home in his call. Who am I to even deserve an apology from this guy? And I didn't even know. I went back and listened to the call and I didn't think I needed an apology. That's so Harry. It just gave me more of an idea what a great guy he was. It took stones for someone to come up and say that to me, let along HK.

Even at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Harry is the center of attention.

The historic cemetery, located at 3822 Ridge Avenue (just off the Kelly Drive), will debut the Harry Kalas Museum Exhibit on April 11, 2 days before the first anniversary of his death.