Ricky Bottalico Honored by the Reading Phillies

1997 UD SP #136 Ricky Bottalico (B-Side)

Tonight Ricky Botallico is being honored by the Reading Phillies by being inducted into their Hall of Fame. Botallico was the Phils closer during the 1996 and 97 season, for his career he logged 72 saves as a Phil (116 overall between 6 teams including the Phils). His tenure with the Reading Phillies (AA Eastern Lg) consisted of parts of two very good seasons in which he logged a combined 42 saves.

Ricky was the sole Phillies member to represented the team at the 1996 All-Star Game which was held in Philadelphia. Bottalico did well contributing to the NLs Shutout of the AL that night. He shutout the junior circuit during the 5th inning, the only blemish an error by Ken Caminiti on a Brady Anderson grounder. Botallico struck out Pudge Rodriguez and then Got Future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken to fly Out. With two outs Anderson reached on the error, which was followed by a Jay Buhner line out.

That was over 13 years ago and remains the most recent NL All-Star game victory.

I hope Rickey enjoys his night - He currently does a lot of pre- and post- game work for the Phils. His analysis is often excellent, and almost always entertaining. He was present at the Phils alumni night and was good enough to sign autographs for the fans.

That is part of the reason I chose to post the b-Side of the abve 97 SP card. It shows Bottalico signing some cards for the fans. I would have to think those are the minor league issue cards as there could not have been to many cards of Ricky at the time.