The demand for Phillies tickets kept increasing as the team progressed further in each round of this year's playoffs, and prices went up after each win.
How high will World Series tickets be? According to published reports, the average cost of a World Series game in Philadelphia was $822 on StubHub.
When the World Series returns to Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, one Northeast man will have one of the best seats in the house, and the Phillies will be paying him to sit there.
"Everybody always says that I have a great seat, but you have to sit in the dugout to understand (that I don't)," said Mort Stein, 74, who has been a security guard for the Phillies since 1994. "The dugout is low. I'm sitting below ground level. (Fans) have a much better view (of the game) from the stands.
"Maybe the manager has a good seat because he's all the way down at the end (of the dugout) and he's up against the railing, but I don't. There are TV cameras that are kind of in the way, and a lot of the players sit on the top step (of the dugout) to watch the game. They block my view, and I don't have the authority to make them move out of my way."
So maybe the dugout is not the best view, but it's definitely a different perspective, according to Stein.
"I could never understand managers arguing balls and strikes with the umpire because they can't really see the pitches straight," he said. "The Diamond Club seats (behind home plate) are probably the best seats for seeing the balls and strikes."
Then Stein remembered a quote from a Phillies executive who addressed the Sportsters in 1997. Sportsters, a sports club that has since disbanded, met regularly at the JCC Klein Branch for many years.
"Bill Giles told us about all the guys in the seven-hundred level (at Veterans Stadium) who said they could see all of the balls and strikes, but when the game was over, they couldn't find their cars," recalled Stein.
Some would say that Stein is working a dream job, and they would be correct. He was a big baseball fan while growing up at 20th Street and Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia.
"When I was a kid — and I go back a long way — there was no NBA, and the NFL was just a bunch of big guys beating up on each other, so it was baseball for us all year round," he said. "I was within walking distance of Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium, which was at 20th Street and Lehigh Avenue), so I went to a lot of Phillies and A's games."
A graduate of Central High School and Temple University, Stein spent the first 40 years of his career teaching history at Northeast High School. He and wife Rene raised their family on Tremont Street, near Ashton Road, where they lived for 43 years before moving to Rydal, Montgomery County, in 2004. Daughter Andrea is a college professor in California, and son Craig is in real estate in Philadelphia.
Stein retired from teaching in June 1993 and began working for the Phillies in 1994, so this will be his first World Series. He started out in the 700 level at the Vet and was moved down to the field the next year.
"When they changed supervisors in my division, I think (new boss) Lou Mastropolito had some sympathy for me," recalled Stein. "He took me away from the rowdies in the seven-hundred level and put me down on the field. I was on the field in '95 and '96, and after the All-Star Game in 1996, the guy who had the Phillies' dugout (position) retired, and they put me in the dugout."
The field security personnel switched sides for 2008. Between innings or during a pitching change when security guards form a ring on the perimeter of the field to discourage fans from trespassing, look for Stein in front of the visitors' dugout, closest to the plate. You can't miss the guy in the security uniform with the wire-rimmed glasses and thick white mustache.
Prior to this season, though, he spent 11 years in the Phillies' dugout. He must have had some interesting experiences.
"I've made some good friends over the years," he said. "Probably the best ones were (shortstop) Desi Relaford and (first baseman) Rico Brogna. And (pitcher) Curt Schilling was very nice to me. He wasn't very nice to some of the managers, but he was always nice to me.
"And I always liked (former manager) Terry Francona, and I was friends with some of the coaches, like John Vukovich, Brad Mills and Vern Ruhle. Ruhle was Larry Bowa's pitching coach."
Stein will share his first World Series experience with his family.
"My daughter has never been to a World Series, and she called me after (the Phillies) beat Milwaukee and said 'We're going to the World Series!' " he explained. "I said, 'Hold your horses; we're not there yet.'
"Of course, she called again after we beat the Dodgers. The Phillies gave (security employees) the opportunity to buy two tickets, so my wife and daughter are going to the World Series."
While Stein might be going to the World Series, he won't be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but perhaps his right hand should be enshrined in Cooperstown.
"I don't collect autographs because we're not allowed to, but I'm trying to shake hands with as many living hall of famers as possible," Stein explained. "I'm doing pretty good, so far. I've met all of the (living) Phillies hall of famers, and I also anticipate who might get to the hall of fame, so I've shaken hands with Greg Maddox and Manny Ramirez. And I got Ozzie Smith before he retired. And Rod Carew was in (Philadelphia) for a special occasion a few years ago. And Cal Ripkin.
"My wife says I should make a list. Maybe I should."
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