"I was hooked the first time I heard him," he said.
Hoppman is one of those passionate, diehard Phillies fans who uses the pronoun we when talking about the club. He has computer technology that allows him to read newspaper articles about the team. He listens to every game, some on radio, some on television, some on the Internet. The only time he misses a game is when he's attending a Reading Phillies minor-league game with his parents, Carl and Joyce. The family has season tickets in Section 103 at Reading's FirstEnergy Stadium.
On Monday afternoon, Hoppman tuned in his local radio station, WEEU-AM (830), for the start of the Phillies-Washington Nationals game and heard the heartbreaking news.
Harry Kalas, the Hall of Fame voice of the Phillies for 39 seasons, was dead at 73.
"I couldn't believe it," Hoppman said. "It was so sad to hear. I like all the Phillies' broadcasters. But Harry was my first. He was my favorite.
"Every year, no matter if we had no chance in the world, Harry made you feel like we had a shot to get to the World Series."
Baseball, with its meandering rhythms played out over a six-month season, is the perfect sport for radio. That has always been Hoppman's favorite way of following the Phillies. The radio delivered the game to his home. Kalas and his longtime broadcast partner Richie Ashburn brought it all alive.
"Harry and Whitey for years were the only thing I knew," said Hoppman, whose blindness was the result of a premature birth. "They were part of the family from April to October.
"The way Harry described the games made it so easy to understand and allowed me to love the game the way I do now. Harry painted such good pictures for me and people like me that we are able to enjoy the game like anyone else.
