Phil Sheridan: Fans are behind the Phillies' success

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The real secret to the Phillies' transformation into a winning organization was in plain view last Sunday at Bright House Field.

It was raining two hours before the scheduled first pitch of a game against the Baltimore Orioles. It rained for the next three hours, somewhere between a steady downpour and biblical torrents. The whole time, a steady stream of fans waited in line just to get into Diamond Outfitters, the park's retail store.

This wasn't just folks dealing with the water-boredom of a two-hour rain delay. This was a phenomenon. Hundreds of people, most of them already wearing Phillies caps and sweatshirts and jackets, stood in the rain, waiting for a chance to purchase more Phillies stuff.

And there they were, the real reason the Phillies now belong in any conversation about perennial World Series contenders: the fans.

You. Well, you and three million of your closest red-clad friends. There is a symbiotic relationship at work here. As the team moved into Citizens Bank Park and became more successful on the field, fans overflowed the Phillies' coffers - giving the organization the chance to operate like a true big-market baseball team.

But lots of teams have gotten new ballparks without converting that into success: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Washington, Baltimore. Other teams have won pennants and World Series without a prolonged surge in attendance: Florida, the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay, Colorado.

No, there is no getting around that the Phillies revived the smoldering passion for baseball in Philadelphia and have done a good job of harnessing that energy. This is about the point where some people - pandering talk-radio hosts, lazy columnists and the like - loudly proclaim that the Phillies have flipped the city from a football town to a baseball mecca.

That whole concept is hugely insulting, and not just to the Eagles, who remain insanely popular. It belittles the Philadelphia sports fan to assume that he or she can manage interest in only one sport at a time. Philadelphia is a great sports town, period, and it was long past time the Phillies became a baseball franchise worthy of the market.