As he prepares for another spring in Clearwater, Fla., Montgomery still alludes to his roots watching games at Connie Mack Stadium and selling tickets in the infancy of Veterans Stadium.
The current Phillies are a veritable baseball power, one constantly searching for new sources of revenue with packed minor-league ballparks, a never-ending stream of merchandise sales, and fan travel packages for road games.
So why is Montgomery concerned with how his game-day employees greet fans at Citizens Bank Park?
"I don't like to refer to it as a machine," Montgomery said. "The reality is it's all human. I strongly believe how you treat your fans is tied to how you treat your employees. Some of the nicest compliments we've had since we've been here is, 'It's friendly.' That all adds up."
In a recent interview, Montgomery offered insights into financial questions the Phillies face.
Question: Is there any reason why this franchise, when devoting the current amount of financial resources, cannot consistently be competitive?
Montgomery: We've had tremendous fan support. That enables us to do things other franchises can't. We've used that to try to win as much as we can now. So we've gone ahead and acquired people with some minor-league talent that if you weren't enjoying that fan support, you couldn't necessarily do.
That being said, the task of Ruben [Amaro Jr.] and the organization is to have our eye on both today and tomorrow. We don't want to have to stay with one group for so long that regardless of the fan support, you just don't have any young talent to infuse. Some of the nice things last year were in the bullpen, and in Vance Worley's case we had some young people emerge.
