Cleanup from Saturday’s storm was continuing Monday, as communities around the Philadelphia region deal with aftermath of fallen trees, flooding, and high winds.
A series of four “microbursts” brought severe damage to a limited area Saturday, with wind gusts traveling up to 60 to 70 miles per hour. Those isolated bouts of high winds, which ripped through parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, toppled hundreds of trees and damaged or collapsed several buildings, while sudden and severe rains caused floods around the region.
Microbursts, the National Weather Office said, occur when there is a rapid increase in the updraft of a thunderstorm. Once that updraft stops, the mass of the storm system crashes back down, resulting in severe winds.
As of early Monday afternoon, Peco continued to restore power to affected customers, with more than 170 outages impacting nearly 2,400 people. And though a comprehensive account of damages was not immediately available, damage reported to the weather service and select other entities indicated dozens of recorded incidents.
(function() {
var l2 = function() {
new pym.Parent(‘july_11_storms’,
‘https://media.inquirer.com/storage/inquirer/projects/innovation/arcgis_iframe/july_11_storms.html’);
};
if (typeof(pym) === ‘undefined’) {
var h = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0],
s = document.createElement(‘script’);
s.type = ‘text/javascript’;
s.src = ‘https://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js’;
s.onload = l2;
h.appendChild(s);
} else {
l2();
}
})();
BIDDEFORD, Maine — The motorist killed by ICE officers in a Maine shooting Monday was not the target of the warrant the officers were executing, Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Mullin told him.
It’s the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force and at least the ninth since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.
Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia.
King, an independent senator from Maine, said Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles southwest of Portland.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
King had initially said Mullin told him the man was the target of a deportation effort. Mullin later called King with new information he had received, a spokesperson for the senator said.
The Maine attorney general’s office, which is investigating along with the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The man was the target of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal, the office said, and the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.
Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Man was authorized to work in U.S., advocates say
The advocacy groups Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number. After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, executive director Mufalo Chitam said.
“It’s a young family and he was leaving to go to work,” Chitam told the Associated Press. The family, she said, isn’t ready to speak publicly about the shooting.
Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.
“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
The Colombian Embassy told the AP in an emailed statement that it is in contact with U.S. authorities and “working to formally confirm the individual’s identity and nationality.”
Security video but no body-worn camera footage
Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, told the AP that security cameras at the business captured footage of the man’s car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired. Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.
“Two ICE members ran to the intersection and another ICE member in a Ford SUV went into the intersection to stop the car from rolling,” he said. “I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe he was alive when the car started rolling.”
He said Maine State Police asked that he not release the footage publicly.
The agents involved in the shooting didn’t have body-worn cameras, King said.
“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle,” King said. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?
“That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”
Anti-ICE protesters gather near scene
Dozens of demonstrators critical of ICE and President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.
Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.
“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said “ICE is best when crushed.”
“It’s heartbreaking and I wanted to show up,” Goodman’s friend, Molly Zucker of Cape Neddick, said as she held a sign reading, “No human being is illegal.”
Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches, and businesses near downtown. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE’s presence in the community and state.
“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”
A recent uptick in Trump’s immigration crackdown
The fatal shooting in Maine was at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the second in a week, following the killing of a Houston man.
The reported shooting comes amid a newly intensified push by the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.
“More than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’” Rep. Chellie Pingree (D., Maine) said in a video posted on social media.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for Senate, wrote on X: “It’s time to get ICE off our streets.”
Hundreds of Maine ICE arrests since Trump’s return
ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests.
The Homeland Security Department named the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent play on Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done for other enforcement surges, like “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Immigration officials said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes” including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Court records show that while some had felony convictions, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.
ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP. About 45% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data show.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
Last week, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his construction crew to their latest job site.
Except for the portraits of Jesus, the chapel in California’s oldest prison is reminiscent of a high school gymnasium, with cinder block walls and a high, narrow strip of windows. On a recent day, it was the venue for an unusual six-hour event in which the people in prison had a chance to talk to the people who put them there.
About 60 men in dusky blue work shirts — referred to as “inside people” — congregated with about 20 people in darker business attire — “outside people,” a contingent of district attorneys and their staff members.
It was the first time that Erik Nasarenko, the district attorney for Ventura County, had visited a prison in his 18 years as a prosecutor. Gripping and grinning, he worked the crowd. “What high school did you go to?” he asked one inmate, who was from Long Beach.
“Wilson,” the man said, affably. “For one day. Then I went to juvenile hall.”
Prosecutors rarely visit prisons, and even more rarely converse at length with people doing hard time. This was the second annual such meeting convened by Brooke Jenkins, the top prosecutor in San Francisco, who said that both sides stood to gain from the experience.
Prosecutors could ask prisoners for ideas about what interventions might have prevented their younger selves from committing crimes. And prisoners could tell their stories of redemption to the very officials who might review their requests for parole or a shortened sentence.
The location itself, on a stretch of Bay Area waterfront, was a draw for the outside people. Once the infamous home of California’s death chamber, the prison has undergone a rebrand. Three years ago, its name was changed from the San Quentin State Prison to the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, where prisoners have access to therapeutic and job training programs and can work on the hit podcast Ear Hustle; on the San Quentin News, which is distributed at prisons around the state; or in a soon-to-open cafe.
Prosecutor visits to San Quentin began in 2012 with George Gascón, Jenkins’ predecessor. Understanding the rehabilitation process helped prosecutors make better decisions, Gascón said then. For her part, Jenkins has supported proposals by San Quentin prisoners to ensure that the money they pay to the courts goes to crime victims first — before fines and fees — and for single-occupancy cells, to make prisoners safer and more productive. The first idea became state law; the latter passed in the state Assembly last year.
After bagels and coffee, a microphone was passed around the chapel for introductions. The chief prosecutor for Merced County turned out to be seated between a man convicted of carjacking and another convicted of murder; the acting district attorney for Yolo County was rubbing elbows with a former police officer who had kidnapped and raped women, and a man who had killed his own son.
Many of the residents had worked their way from rougher institutions to San Quentin, where they are encouraged to come to terms with the harm they had caused. Several mentioned their victims by name and made a point of saying they had been “rightfully convicted.”
The day’s chosen moderator, an inside person, invited everyone in the room to take two deep breaths, in unison. “We just heard a lot of accountability,” he said, “and I really believe in self care.”
State prison officials permitted the New York Times to observe the event on the condition that prisoners not be identified, except for a handful who were selected to give interviews.
After a panel discussion, the outside people were given a tour of a new learning complex with floor-to-ceiling windows and benches fashioned from gargantuan wooden beams.
Stephen Wagstaffe, the district attorney of San Mateo County, who has been a prosecutor for 49 years, was attending for the second time.
“In California at large, I’m one that would be described as one of the public safety, law-and-order, harsh types. I fully acknowledge that’s what I am,” he said. But, he added, “This is spectacular. This is what we ought to be doing.”
Wagstaffe said he did not approve of recent changes to California law that allowed prisoners to seek relief from sentences that can exceed 100 years, even in crimes where no lives were lost.
But he had made one adjustment since his last visit, he said. “I went back to my office and I put in a rule that nobody in my office can request a three-digit sentence without my review and approval.”
He gestured toward a San Quentin resident. “I see people like this gentleman and I think, ‘You know, he doesn’t have to die here.’”
For the next two hours, the inmates and the prosecutors gathered in smaller sessions that one DA described as “inmate-led focus groups.” Among the topics: the difficulty of determining when a prisoner is truly rehabilitated, whether prosecutors could hire people with the “lived experience” of having done time, ways to expand prisoner mentoring of at-risk youth, and how to get hip-hop songs, recorded by prisoners and aimed at deglamorizing violence, into the hands of DJs. Prosecutors asked what might have kept the inmates from committing crimes in the first place.
“To be honest, I don’t know if I could have told anything to my younger self to stop the journey that I was on,” said Ryan Pagan, who was serving 77 years for a murder he committed as a teenager. Now, he makes podcasts and documentary films. People had tried to scare him straight, he said, but he did not listen. “I feel like I needed prison.”
Jenkins protested. “That makes me feel hopeless,” she said.
Another inmate, Jason Jenkins, said it might have helped if someone had been around to cultivate his talent for basketball. But his mother had gone to prison for dealing drugs when he was 5, and his father had been shot and killed by police. “No one ever showed up to my basketball games,” he said.
And Taiosisi Matangi, who regularly speaks to high school students as part of a San Quentin mentorship program, said it was more important to listen to kids than to scare them.
If he could talk to his younger self, he would say that the abuse he experienced as a child was not his fault.
“But,” he would add, “we can do something to get you out of there and stop thinking that violence is OK.”
Inmates show a film made through the filmmaker training program at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. What might stop kids from committing crimes? A group of district attorneys went to San Quentin, once one of California’s most infamous prisons, to ask the inmates for advice. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKIStephen Wagstaffe, the district attorney of San Mateo County, speaks with Kevin Sawyer, an inmate at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. What might stop kids from committing crimes? A group of district attorneys went to San Quentin, once one of California’s most infamous prisons, to ask the inmates for advice. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKIDistrict attorneys gather after meeting the inmates at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. What might stop kids from committing crimes? A group of district attorneys went to San Quentin, once one of California’s most infamous prisons, to ask the inmates for advice. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKINathan Hochman, the Los Angeles district attorney, speaks with inmates at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. What might stop kids from committing crimes? A group of district attorneys went to San Quentin, once one of California’s most infamous prisons, to ask the inmates for advice. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKIBrooke Jenkins, the top prosecutor in San Francisco, is interviewed by inmates for The San Quentin News at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. What might stop kids from committing crimes? A group of district attorneys went to San Quentin, once one of California’s most infamous prisons, to ask the inmates for advice. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKIA general view of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., May 29, 2026. Inmates at San Quentin have access to self-help and job training programs. (Rachel Bujalski/The New York Times)RACHEL BUJALSKI
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge ships for safe passage.
He made the announcement in a post on social media Monday, after another exchange of fire between the United States and Iran over the critical waterway.
A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the strait before Iran asserted control over it after the start of the war.
The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks across the Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.
The latest exchange was sparked by an Iranian attack on a container ship on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has asserted control over the critical waterway for international oil and gas since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28.
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with an interim peace deal reached last month. The U.S. and others dispute that, citing international law on freedom of navigation, and the American military has tried to establish an alternative route outside of Iranian control.
Calling into Fox News on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “we’re taking over the Strait.” Trump also said that “everything was agreed to” in an 11-hour meeting Sunday, but that Iranian negotiators had called back later and suggested changes. He did not elaborate.
Iran and the U.S. are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a permanent end to the war and an agreement on Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Instead, a series of attacks over the strait have raised fears of a return to all-out war and further disruption to the global economy.
Oil prices jumped nearly 5% on Monday before falling back. U.S. benchmark crude, which had risen to nearly $120 a barrel at the height of the war, was trading at around $72.92. Markets were mixed.
US says it has struck dozens of targets in Iran
The U.S. military said it struck dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats. It said Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for the strait to be open, as it was before the war. “Freedom of navigation has to be respected,” she said.
Mohammed Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote that Tehran would fight for the strait.
“We defend it so that in the future, for the passage of our ships, we are not forced to pay tribute to the enemy!” he wrote on X. “Retreating from this vital matter has no place in the mind of any friend of Iran.”
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a key power center in the country’s theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal, said the Strait of Hormuz is “our territory, and we will not allow a rogue and child-killing army from the other side of the world to continue its illegal interference in it.”
U.S.-allied Arab states report another wave of attacks
Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait said it was intercepting hostile fire. There was no immediate word on damage in either country.
In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and said at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes in the eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, which is on a coast of the Gulf of Oman.
The attacks continued hours after the U.S. ended its strikes — again raising the possibility of Gulf Arab states retaliating against Iran. There were unclaimed attacks on Iran on Thursday.
A base belonging to the armed wing of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan region came under drone attack on Monday, according to Rebaz Sharifi, a local commander. There were no immediate details on casualties or damage.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. Iran supports a number of powerful militias in Iraq.
Fighting focuses on the status of the strait
Early on Sunday, the U.S. military said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps and communication equipment — a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week.
Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces.
Sunday’s attacks stretched to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman — which shares the strait with Iran. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticize the attack.
Iran’s chokehold on the strait has loosened as the U.S. military supports vessels moving along a southern route hugging the coastline of Oman. That new route has angered Iran, which has launched repeated attacks on ships using it.
Traffic through the Oman route dropped over the weekend “to minimal levels, indicating that operators continue to prioritize perceived security over more direct transit options,” the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos gripping the region.
“Considering the memorandum of understanding’s fourteen clauses, the Americans have, in this brief period, in one way or another, slaughtered its various components,” Baghaei told journalists Monday.
Baghaei also said Iran wouldn’t agree to visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to nuclear sites the U.S. bombed in 2025, where Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be entombed.
Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.
A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday. Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat and urged “de-escalation” on both sides.
Temple University will make student retention a focus in the year ahead with new programming for the first-year student experience and other efforts in the works as it seeks to reverse troubling trends in enrollment and matriculation.
Temple president John Fry and former interim provost David Boardman discussed the moves in an interview after the executive committee of the board of trustees approved a budget Wednesday that included a tuition increase and about 40 layoffs, the latest in a string of staff reduction efforts.
“We really want to mitigate any issues that we have around retention and really improve the success of our students through their journey through Temple,” said Boardman, who remains dean of Temple’s College of Media and Communication and the university’s chief strategy officer.
The move comes as the university copes with a slide in freshman retention. A decade ago, about 90% of freshmen returned for their sophomore year. By last fall, that percentage was 82%, and an internal Temple report that The Inquirer obtained in April showed there is concern the percentage will slip below 80% this fall.
Temple experienced a 27% decline in its U.S. enrollment over the last eight years, and falling retention is part of the problem. The school lost an average of $200 million annually during that period, the internal report said.
Employees from student affairs, enrollment management, and academic affairs have worked on the redesign of the first-year experience with support from the National Institute for Student Success, Fry said.
“This work has helped us identify barriers and create a more coordinated approach to orientation, advising, communication, and student support,” he said in a message to the campus Wednesday.
Boardman said the single biggest barrier is financial.
“There’s a very strong correlation here between the financial pressures on students and their ability to persist and graduate,” he said.
Academic success in the classroom early on is another, he said.
“There’s … a very strong correlation between first-year, even first-semester, GPA and their ability to persist,” he said. “That is tied directly to these other sorts of strategies that we’ve been talking about in terms of making sure that students have the proper preparation when they go into the classroom and the proper support around them.”
The new first-year experience is still under development, Boardman said.
“It’s just a more coordinated approach to how we bring students on board, making sure that they have the right and ample advising even before they get here,” he said.
Fry said the university is awaiting results from an audit by the institute, which began as a result of Temple’s involvement in the University Innovation Alliance, a national group aimed at graduating more students from low-income families. The results are expected in early to mid-fall, he said, which likely will kick off a university-wide discussion on retention.
“That’s going to help us think about first-year experience, but many other topics beyond that regarding retention,” he said. “It’s going to be a real moment for us.”
Several new leaders who will be integral to improving student retention are joining Temple this summer, he said. They include Evelyn Thimba as vice president for enrollment management; Elizabeth “Libby” Wentz as provost; and Heather Servaty-Seib as vice provost for undergraduate education. They will join Jodi Bailey Accavallo, vice president for student affairs, who has been working on the issue.
The university also has aimed at improving its recruitment, admission, and support of transfer students, and that also has shown results, Boardman said. The university is using a more streamlined process for the transfer of credits, primarily from community colleges, he said.
“In this enrollment cycle, our transfer enrollments are up almost 100% from the previous year,” he said.
MLB All-Star Week concludes Tuesday night with the 96th midsummer classic at Citizen’s Bank Park (Fox, 8 p.m.). The Phillies have six players representing the National League, including starting pitcher Cristopher Sànchez.
Kyle Schwarber loses Home Run Derby to Jordan Walker
Phillies pitcher Jhoan Duran embraces teammate Kyle Schwarber during Monday’s derby.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Kyle Schwarber needed to take a breath.
Schwarber went deep seven times in a nine-swing span in the semifinals of Monday night’s Home Run Derby. With three swings left, he needed to regroup.
And so, Schwarber did what any slugger in a hometown Derby would. He took a beat and waved to the Phillies fans in sold-out Citizens Bank Park to make more noise.
Schwarber won the round and nearly the Derby. But the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker, who drew cheers from the 43,863 paying customers after each swing that didn’t result in a homer, smashed four homers in a row in bonus time to eke out a 12-11 victory in the finals.
St. Louis Cardinals Jordan Walker won the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia Monday. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();
Second-round results
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();
First-round results
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();
Playoff atmosphere at The Bank thanks to Schwarber
Phillies fans cheer as Phillies Kyle Schwarber advances to the finals of the Home Run Derby.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Willson Contreras last ball at the second round of the Home Run Derby might as well have been the last out of the ninth inning of game seven of the World Series.
The crowd at Citizen Bank were locked in during the Red Sox first baseman head to head competition against Kyle Schwarber for a place in the final round.
Every shallow or foul ball was as met with mocking applauds, and every skipped pitch with roaring boos.
Contreras lost to South Philly’s Schwarbomb machine by one homer, and it was Bedlam at the Bank.
Kyle Schwarber swings his way into the Home Run Derby finals. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Kyle Schwarber will face Jordan Walker in the final round of the Home Run Derby.
Willson Contreras, booed often by the Philly crowd, was only able to hit 8 home runs, one shy of Schwarber’s nine.
Two Phillies players have won the Derby — Bobby Abreu in 2005 and Ryan Howard in 2006.
This is Schwarber’s third appearance in the event. He didn’t make it out of the first round in 2022, and finished second place to then-Washington Nationals slugger Bryce Harper in 2018.
Philly fans bring something new to the Home Run Derby – boos
A fan reacts after catching a home run during Monday night’s Derby. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Fans who traveled to Philadelphia for the Home Run Derby were introduced early to the city’s love language.
Phillies fans responded with deafening boos to the name of every player that isn’t called Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber during the pregame show.
And fans of other teams seem to like the passion.
“I think it’s awesome,” Pete Gibson said. “It’s sports. Support your team. Let’s go.”
The 35-year-old tattoo artist traveled from Nashville for the home run derby with his friend, Dave Putman, 33.
For the past five years, the duo has been attending the pre-All-Star game event, and they came up with a tradition. They each spin a wheel to determine what jersey they will wear. And the wheel chose the San Fransisco Giants for Gibson this year. But that didn’t stop him from also rocking a Kansas City Royals cap.
“We support on the head the teams we love, and on the body the teams we randomly draw,” Gibson said.
Carlos Luna, 34, also didn’t mind the boos. The New York Yankees fan came to Philly from the Big Apple, and said he enjoys the sense of rivalry Phillies fans brought to this derby.
“I see how you guys feel,” he said. “I don’t expect anything else.”
Had the derby took place in Yankee stadium, his fellow New Yorkers’ boos would be more targeted — “if it’s a Red Sox player, we probably boo him” — but Luna was okay with the Philadelphia’s blanket boo approach.
Phillies fans’ reputation, it turns out, precedes them. The city was welcoming, and the boos add to fun.
“I love me some overt negativity,” Orioles fan Connor Way, 31 from Maryland, said. “I feel like everyone knows Philly is like that.”
Schwarber hits 10 homers, setting up a showdown with Harper
Kyle Schwarber swings during his Home Run Derby at-bat. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Kyle Schwarber missed on his first five swings and only managed to hit 10 home runs during his first-round Home Run Derby appearance.
That leave Schwarber in fourth place with teammate Bryce Harper coming up to bat. Harper will either advance and knock out Schwarber, or come up short and be eliminated from the competition.
Either way, one Phillies player will make it to the second round.
Jac Calianone hits just 8 homers, but one goes into upper deck
Jac Caglianone watches one of his homers leave Citizens Bank Park.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Royals’ Jac Caglianone got off to a very slow start, but caught a groove with four straight homers — capped by a 477-foot shot to the third deck — that got the crowd back into it.
Caglione also sent one over the shrubbery in the batters’ eye that got a big cheer. He finished with eight, well behind Contreras and Walker.
Jordan Walker takes a swing during his Derby at-bat.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker got off to a hot start, but appeared to tire as his round went on.
He managed to tie Willson Contreras with his 13th homer with the “magenta ball,” which is used for the final swing of the round, sending it 382 feet into the left field seats.
Kyle Schwarber stands in a boxing ring during player introductions. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
This year’s Home Run Derby jumped to Netflix from ESPN, which had broadcast the event for more than 30 years.
While Barry Bonds and Anthony Rizzo were terrific on Netflix’s pregame show, a few technical glitches and unnecessary cross promotion rubbed some sports media pundits and fans the wrong way.
The most noticeable issue was Netflix turning to Will Ferrell and his costars from The Hawk (coming soon to the streamer) to help introduce the players. Maybe it was funny, but everything they said was drowned out by the crowd during the broadcast.
Will Ferrell introducing Bryce Harper at the #HRDerby:
Maybe I'm way off, but I don't think the Will Ferrell-Luke Wilson thing is working at all. (Honestly, I get the sense that *they* also know it isn't working.)
With Pa. budget approved, Lt. Gov. Davis takes in a ballgame
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov Austin Davis meets with Cowboys Hall of Famer Michael Irvin ahead of the Home Run Derby. Abraham Gutman / staff
The negotiations are over and the state budget is done — so Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is enjoying a change of pace at Citizen Bank Park.
The Democrat is in Philadelphia for the MLB Home Run Derby, the latest major sporting event Pennsylvania has hosted this year, following the NFL draft in Pittsburg and FIFA World Cup games in Philly. And the state’s second top executive has been proud.
“Pennsylvania this year really showed how diverse and how great our commonwealth is,” Davis said. “I think we absolutely rolled out the red carpet to welcome the country and the world.”
Wearing a Pittsburg Pirate’s polo, Davis stood behind home plate before the game to watch batting practice.
He roots for the Phillies — when they don’t play the Pirates, of course — but at the end of the day he’s a “Pittsburg boy through and through” and has to “fly the black and gold.”
Josh Shapiro’s second-in-command took in the carnival-like ambiance on the field, surrounded by baseball and sports royalty. He stopped Michael Irvin, former-Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, for a photo.
The prolonged budget season was so all consuming, Davis said, he didn’t have the mental space to think too much about who he thinks will win tonight’s Derby.
“It’s just going be a great time, to see so many folks come out tonight and enjoy this great ballpark,” he said
Phillies Bryce Harper (left) walks with his National League All Stars during batting practice Monday. Yong Kim / Staff PhotographerFans reach for a ball hit during batting practice at Citizens Bank Park. Yong Kim / Staff PhotographerKyle Schwarber speaks to reporters Monday afernoonMonica Herndon / Staff PhotographerPhillies interim manager Don Mattingly sports an All-Star cap.Monica Herndon / Staff PhotographerEagles general manager Howie Roseman takes in the festivities. Alex Coffey /
You can cross at least one name off the Phillies list of potential acquisitions at the trade deadline.
Before Monday’s Home Run Derby, Twins center fielder Byron Buxton made it clear that he would not consider waiving his no-trade clause even for a trade to a contender.
The 32-year-old center fielder has long been mentioned as an ideal trade target for a Phillies team that is in desperate need of right-handed pop. He certainly brings that in abundance, and at a premium position, with 25 home runs in 335 plate appearances thus far this season. But Buxton has been steadfast in his loyalty both to the state of Minnesota and to the organization that drafted him No. 2 overall in 2012.
“I’ve got family,” Buxton explained on Monday. “My family loves Minnesota. I’ve got two kids that grew up there, one of them was born there. It’s a special place not only for me but for my family. You’re not just moving me, you’re moving my whole family and what we have built in Minnesota.”
Buxton also sounded an optimistic note about the Twins, who have outperformed expectations with a 48=49 record despite last season’s firesale that included the trade of closer Jhoan Duran to the Phillies.
“What we have there and what we can accomplish, we’ve got something special going and it’s something I want to be a part of,” Buxton said.
Tigers rookie All Star Kevin McGonigle grew up in Delco and still has a Cole Hamels poster on his wall
Tigers’ Kevin McGonigle speak to reporters Monday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Kevin McGonigle idolized Chase Utley, went to Phillies games with his buddies, and had posters on the wall of his Delaware County bedroom.
“I still have a Cole Hamels poster on my wall,” McGonigle said on the eve of playing in Tuesday’s All Star Game at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies could have drafted McGonigle in 2023. They scouted him at Bonner-Prendergast, worked him out at the ballpark, and were well aware of the infielder from Ridley who grew up a diehard. But the Phillies passed on McGonigle and drafted Aidan Miller with the 27th overall pick while McGonigle went No. 37 to Detroit.
Kevin McGonigle is taking batting practice right now at CBP.
McGonigle, 21, is an All Star as a rookie with a .812 OPS while playing shortstop and third base. Miller, 22, has not played this season and underwent a procedure last month to address a recurring back issue. He’s expected to be sidelined until late July or early August.
“I knew the Phillies were coming up to pick but I didn’t get a phone call so I knew that wasn’t going to work out,” McGonigle said. “But it all worked out perfectly, I’d say. I’m in the spot I want to be in: Detroit. The city, the fans, it’s unbelievable with how they’ve treated me so far. Eight more years and hopefully more with that city. I can’t thank that fan base enough.”
McGonigle went to a Phillies playoff game with his family in 2023, a month after he finished his first minor-league season with Detroit. A year earlier, he wore Phillies gear to Red October. But now the fan was employed by another team. He wore neutral colors that night but admitted it took some time to shed his fandom. But he’s not shedding his accent.
“Sometimes, I’ll say ‘Wooder’ and they’ll be like ‘What did you say?,’” McGonigle said. “And I’ll go, ‘I’m sorry. Wah-ter.’ It’s just how I grew up saying it. I’ll say some things differently being from Delaware County and they’ll give me crap about the way I say things. It’s just funny to me. I don’t even realize I say it in a different way. ‘What did you say?’ ‘What do you mean?”
McGonigle hung out Sunday night with his Delco buddies and slept Sunday night in his childhood bedroom, the one with the Hamels poster on the wall. For one day, the trip from Ridley to South Philly was his route to work. Perhaps it could have become his usual trip.
“It took a lot of work to get where I am today,” McGonigle said. “And the main reason is where I’m from. That’s Delco.”
In front of home crowd, Bryce Harper is ready to ‘launch’
Philadelphia Phillies infielder Bryce Harper speaks during the National League Media Availability at Citizens Bank Park on Monday, July 13, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Bryce Harper does not take batting practice outside often, as he prefers to finetune his swing before games in the ballpark’s indoor batting cages. But when he does swing outside, he acts like he’s in a Home Run Derby.
“When I go out for BP, I want to launch,” Harper said Monday, a few hours before he’ll take part in the derby at Citizens Bank Park. “That’s the only time I go out there, is to launch and feel that.”
Harper said he has hit batting practice homers at Citizens Bank Park into the third deck in right field and onto Ashburn Alley. So the Alley is in play on Tuesday?
“For sure,” Harper said.
Harper said Monday night’s event will be his last Home Run Derby, which he won in 2018 in Washington while playing for the Nationals. His opponent that night in the final? Kyle Schwarber, who was then playing for the Cubs.
“I just remember the cinematic movie thing,” Schwarber said. “… That last 45 seconds, he just catches fire and starts peeling them off left and right. You sit back and it’s like you’re watching a movie. It was made to be and it was really cool to see.”
Harper said he stopped regularly taking batting practice outside in 2015 at the suggestion of Matt Williams, who was then Washington’s hitting coach. He can still tell in the indoor cage if he hit a ball hard. But sometimes he does wander outside to put on a show. On Monday, the fans will get a glimpse of it.
“I hope everyone enjoys it,” Harper said. “I hope everyone sees what Philly is all about. Every year we get into the postseason, they see our fans. I think that’s a big look for free agents and possible trade targets and things like that. They see our fan base, the style our fan base has, and how loud it is. It’s just a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Giant blue baseball gloves take over Home Run Derby outfield seats
Don’t adjust your television sets — those are not tiny fans trying to catch home runs in the outfield seats. It’s the giant gloves, courtesy ofd Geico.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
There are going to be some massive gloves fielding home runs in the outfield seats at the Home Run Derby. Geico provided gigantic blue gloves for fans seated across 16 outfield sections at Citizens Bank Park.
But if you’re headed down to the park, don’t go discarding your regular-sized glove just yet. The gloves’ giant size makes them exceedingly hard to close. If you catch a home run inside it, it’ll probably just fall right out — if you can even hold it up.
Chase Utley: If I lived here, I’d work for the Phillies
Chase Utley poses for a selfie with a fan inside Sarcone’s Bakery on Monday.
Patrons of Sarcone’s Bakery — the 108-year-old South Philadelphia staple — are accustomed to seeing familiar faces behind the counter. On Monday, guests were served by a new member of the Sarcone’s family: Chase Utley.
The Phillies legend helped serve tomato pie to fans lined up around the corner as a part of the bakery’s partnership with sports apparel company ’47. The two companies teamed up to host a pop-up inside the bakery. Guests who purchased food received an exclusive Sarcone’s T-shirt and hat, produced by ’47.
After Utley finished up behind Sarcone’s counter, The Inquirer caught up with the former second baseman, who will be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame next month …
Q: We’re at Sarcones today. You just got done serving and meeting some fans. Could you tell me a little about that experience?
It’s good to be back in Philadelphia in a historic place like Sarcone’s. It just brings back so many different memories. Interacting with all the fans, talking about some old times, some stories we had over the years was fantastic. I’m happy that Sarcone’s had me out here.
Once or twice a month I’d roll through this area, stop at Sarcone’s [Deli], and grab a pie or a cheesesteak. There was a certain point we would order a bunch for the clubhouse. They’ve done such a good job. The store has been here over 100 years, which is so unbelievable. They run a good ship.
Chase Utley works behind the counter at Sarcone’s Bakery in South Philly.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Q: You recently were hired by the Dodgers as the team’s special assistant to the president of baseball operations. Can you talk about how that’s going so far?
I finished my career in Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles, and I wanted to still be around baseball, but still be around my family and not travel too much. So it made sense just to get under their hood a little bit and understand what they’re doing. I get to sleep in my bed every single night, it’s a fantastic organization. I love Philadelphia and the Phillies organization. If I lived in Philadelphia, I would do the same thing.
Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper answers questions during All-Star media day at Citizens Bank Park.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Bryce Harper is flanked by Phillies media-relations director Kevin Gregg (left) and agent Scott Boras, who stand poised to pounce in case anyone utters the words “fan” and “duel.”
Bryce Harper joins the chorus of stars pitching LeBron James
Phillies outfield Bryce Harper was the latest Philly star to pitch NBA free agent and future Hall of Famer LeBron James on the idea of bringing his talents to South Philly, joining Saquon Barkley, Jaylen Brown, and others.
So what is Harper’s elevator pitch?
“Jaylen Brown, their whole team,” he told the media Monday. “They’ve got an opportunity. They’ve got four guys that are really good, got a great fan base.”
Bryce Harper Makes LeBron James free-agent pitch to come to Philly & Join Sixers
Mike Trout on Phillies: I’m an Angel, but ‘I love this city’
Angels outfielder and Vineland native Mike Trout, who will lead off for the American League at Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game, was asked Monday afternoon whether he’d ever like to play for the Phillies.
“I didn’t think I was going to hear this question,” he said sarcastically before continuing. “You know, I hear this a lot. Like I said before, I enjoy coming to Philly. I’m an Angel, obviously. I’ve got a no-trade clause, so it’s all my decision. But, like I said, I love this city.”
Chris Sale calls Zack Wheeler snub a ‘head-scratcher’
Phillies fans — and former players — aren’t alone in wondering why starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, who delivered another gem on Sunday against the Tigers, wasn’t among the players initially selected to represent the National League at this year’s MLB All-Star Game in home ballpark.
Braves starter Chris Sale, a 10-time All-Star and former Cy Young winner, said Monday during media day at Citizens Bank Park that the decision not to pick Wheeler, who ultimately turned down a last-minute invite from MLB, was a “head-scratcher, to say the least.”
Chris Sale says Zack Wheeler not making the All-Star team is a "head-scratcher, to say the least."
"His numbers are better than mine, and I'm sitting here. I'll leave it at that." pic.twitter.com/oKIJ63YoAx
While the 37-year-old Sale is having a All-Star season — 9-6 with a 2.20 ERA, 1.112 WHIP, and 4.68 strikeout/walk ratio — Wheeler has indeed been better, posting a 2.13 ERA, 0.892 WHIP, and a 4.91 SO/BB ratio.
Wheeler’s WAR for pitchers (4.8) is second in the national league to just Cristopher Sànchez.
Kyle Schwarber vs. Bryce Harper: Who wins in a Home Run Derby?
// Timestamp 07/13/26 2:22pm
Kyle Schwarber will lead off for National League; Marsh will bat seventh
Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber will hit leadoff for the National League at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The starting lineups for Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game were revealed by the teams’ respective managers Monday at Citizens Bank Park.
The lineup behind Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez, who gets the start on the mound for the National League, will begin with his Phillies teammate, designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. Outfielder Brandon Marsh will bat seventh for Dave Roberts’ NL squad. Here’s a look at the full order:
Kyle Schwarber, DH, Phillies
Juan Soto, LF, Mets
Freddie Freeman, 1B, Dodgers
CJ Abrams, SS, Nationals
Max Muncy, 3B, Dodgers
Ozzie Albies, 2B, Braves
Brandon Marsh, RF, Phillies
Andy Pages, CF, Dodgers
Drake Baldwin, C, Braves
Meanwhile, here’s a look at the starting lineup for John Schneider’s American League side, behind starting pitcher Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays:
Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, and Bobby Witt Jr. meet fans in Center City
Bryce Harper’s night may be booked with the Home Run Derby, but the Phillies first baseman spent some time earlier on Monday meeting and taking pictures with fans at an Under Armour pop-up event in Center City.
The company announced on Instagram that Harper, Bobby Witt Jr., and Juan Soto would be making an appearance at the Under Armour Dugout at 1190 Market Street to meet fans. By the time the event got underway around 11:30 a.m., the line extended down the city block.
Bryce Harper, Bobby Witt Jr., and Juan Soto are appearing at the Under Armour Dugout on 12th & Market for a fan meet and greet starting at 11:30. With five minutes until the start, the line currently extends all the way down to 11th & Market. pic.twitter.com/YtU1Zob4AQ
Witt Jr. signed baseballs and took photos before showing off his skills — or rather lack of skill — with a few rounds of Backyard Baseball.
Bobby Witt Jr. is a lot better at Major League Baseball than he is at Backyard Baseball. He put on a show for fans at the Under Armour meet and greet, but his skills were lacking. pic.twitter.com/HKug2HUN6D
And despite being a member of the rival New York Mets, there was love for Soto in Philly too, with fans lining up to take photos with him in front of the Under Armour logo.
Fans in Philly were also showing love to Juan Soto, taking pictures with him at the Under Armour store as well. pic.twitter.com/Z7i241dbxj
Harper and Soto will team up again tomorrow night when they represent the National League and go head-to-head with Witt and the American League in the All-Star Game.
— Mia Messina
// Timestamp 07/13/26 1:33pm
Exclusive All-Star Game merch is big business
Foocoos mini bobble head mystery boxes showcasing the few bobble heads you can open at the All Star Games Media Preview to showcase All-Star Week Events, New Food, and Commemorative Bell at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Take me out to the gift shop.
The MLB All-Star Game has become a temporary retail city built around exclusivity, collectibility, and host-city pride. Fanatics’ 16,000-square-foot flagship at the ticketed All-Star Village at the Convention Center carries more than 400 product styles, while Aramark’s 7,500-square-foot ballpark store (open to the public without a ticket) offers about 400 All-Star items, roughly 75% exclusive.
Across the ballpark, All-Star Village, and MLB’s online stores, fans can choose from about 600 products, from the wild (there’s a sports jacket covered in the logos of all 30 teams) to the Philly-themed (‘47 Sports “Hit That Jawn” T-shirt) to the routine (Foocoos mini bobblehead figures sold in blind boxes) to genuine objets d’art (original 3D pop-art posters by artist Charles Fazzino. And T-shirts and hats and jerseys, of course.
Why buy? The retail analysts we spoke to say it all boils down to one thing: You want to prove you were there.
Bryce Harper responds to Inquirer gambling video investigation
First baseman Bryce Harper is one of the Phillies’ six All-Stars.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Bryce Harper, the Phillies All-Star first basemen, claimed on Monday that he was unknowingly working on behalf of FanDuel when he recorded a personalized video for a man with a gambling addiction who had placed millions of dollars in bets on the site.
Harper said on his verified Instagram account that he had joined the messaging site Cameo to engage with fans with paid videos but that “what happened here went beyond anything I knew about or approved.”
“I did not know this video would be used for commercial purposes,” Harper wrote. “The request included a short script. I read it in good faith. FanDuel then put its own logo on the video and used it as a gambling promotion. I did not know FanDuel would do this, I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it.”
The Inquirer obtained a copy of the 21-second video from November 2024, which is marked with a blue FanDuel logo and shows Harper offering a greeting to the bettor, Terry Thompson, and Thompson’s son, by name.
Harper’s statement also said he has no affiliation with FanDuel and that “Contrary to the Inquirer’s suggestion, I did not know that the Cameo video would be used for a FanDuel VIP promotion.”
However, in the video Harper states that he’s reaching out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager — “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel.” Harper also posted the Cameo script, which included the language about FanDuel.
The Inquirer reported on the video on Thursday. Harper had declined to comment until today. His statement came ahead of Monday night’s 2026 MLB Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park. A media availability is planned for this afternoon.
The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you, or someone you know, wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com
Ryan Howard talks Home Run Derby: I hope someone ‘hits that bell on the fly’
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (center) watches as his home run sails out of PNC Park in Pittsburgh during the 2006 Home Run Derby.ASSOCIATED PRESS
Twenty years ago, Ryan Howard launched baseballs into the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh and won MLB’s annual Home Run Derby.
In some ways, it launched his career.
Howard was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 2005. But his star turn at the 2006 Derby came in the midst of a season in which he won NL MVP and became the foremost power hitter in the sport for a six-year stretch.
As the All-Star Game returns to Philadelphia for the first time in 30 years, Howard sat down with Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss the Phillies’ first half, his expectations for a Home Run Derby in Citizens Bank Park, and more.
Q: You played in three All-Star games in your career. You were the Home Run Derby champ in 2006. When I say All-Star Game, what sticks out to to you from your career?
A: When you say All-Star Game, it’s one of those things that when you’re younger, you always strive to want to be a part of. It’s kind of where, it’s the elite of the elite, if you will, and you’re always striving to try to make an All-Star team, and you’re always striving to try to win a championship. So to be able to participate on the All-Star teams and be recognized by the fans and your peers as one of the top players, in the middle of the season, is something that’s always such a great honor to have. And it means you’re doing something right. So you always want to continue to try to do something like that.
Q: How much are you looking forward to seeing what a Home Run Derby in Citizens Bank Park will look like?
A: I’m so excited to see what it’ll look like. This group of guys are just different. It’s a whole different level of strength, and these guys are bigger, stronger, faster. The ball just travels further, so I’m excited to see where the ball lands. Charlie [Manuel] always told Jimmy [Thome] and I that he saw Julio Franco hit a ball in batting practice that hit the bell. Now we’ve said that’s a little suspect, Charlie. There’s got to be like a 35 mph tail wind. He’s got to catch it and do the whole nine, but like it’ll be very interesting. I think somebody could potentially get close to trying to hit that bell, so I would love to see somebody hit a ball that goes up and hits that bell on the fly.
A: Kyle Schwarber is one of the preeminent sluggers of this generation, him and Aaron Judge, and certainly Shohei Ohtani. Is this the year that maybe Schwarber matches or tops your Phillies record 58 home runs in a season?
A: He’s must watch TV. You don’t want to miss his at-bat because of what he’s able to do with the swing of the bat — the ball comes off his bat different. It’s just so violent, and the swing is so … quick and it’s so violent off the bat that it’s so fun to watch. The ball he hit a few years ago in San Diego, people don’t do that. People don’t hit the ball like that, but Schwarber does. As far as the 58, it’s just a matter of him staying healthy and just continuing to stay consistent and do what he does. He got close last year [with 56]. Right now he’s at [32]. You just want him to stay healthy and be good for the stretch run, and he’s going to get those hot streaks where he’s dropping off like five, six, seven homers in a week, and again it’s like video game type stuff.
But it’s fun to watch. I like to call it kind of like some blackout moments where you’re like, I don’t even know what’s going on, but I’m not going to fight it. And he gets in those zones where it’s just like it feels like every time the bat comes off your shoulder, damage will be done, and usually it winds up on the other side of the fence.
The Schmitter returns to Citizens Bank Park tonight
The Schmitter sandwich displayed at the All Star Games Media Preview to showcase All-Star Week Events, New Food, and Commemorative Bell at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
One of Philadelphia’s signature sandwiches is heading back to Citizens Bank Park after a decade away.
The Schmitter, the classic cheesesteak-salami creation from McNally’s Tavern in Chestnut Hill, will return during the forthcoming Major League Baseball All-Star festivities, Aramark announced as it unveiled a lineup of foods and merchandise at the ballpark Wednesday.
The Schmitter, which has a spot on The Inquirer’s list of 76 essential foods, will be served at Pass & Stow, the sports bar accessible to ticketed fans, throughout All-Star Week. Aramark, the Phillies’ concessionaire, plans to keep it on the ballpark menu through at least the end of the season.
It joins a lineup of fan-voted creations and Philadelphia chef collaborations at Citizens Bank Park, which hosts four days of events starting with the HBCU Swingman Classic on Friday.
Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper will be first Phillies teammates to compete in Home Run Derby
Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber will compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Phillies haven’t had a Home Run Derby champion since 2006, when Ryan Howard blasted 23 total to take the crown.
This year, at Monday’s competition at Citizens Bank Park, they will have double the chance. Because for the first time in the 41-year history of the Derby, the Phillies have a pair of teammates competing against each other. Kyle Schwarber announced Friday that he would officially be joining Bryce Harper in the event.
“I just wanted to make sure pretty much getting through that series in Cincinnati, make sure everything was good healthwise, and everything’s been trending the right way. So that’s when we pretty much made a decision to do it,” Schwarber said.
Schwarber and Harper have competed in the same Derby before in 2018, although they were representing different teams. With Harper in his final year with the Nationals and Schwarber playing with the Cubs, the future teammates found themselves in the final round together in Washington D.C. Harper bashed 19 homers to narrowly best Schwarber’s 18.
Schwarber hopes that this year ends with another rematch.
“I think it would be awesome, especially in Philadelphia, where our fans obviously are going to get the opportunity to really show out what they’re capable of and what we’ve seen for years and years of just pure electricity,” he said. “So I think it would be a pretty cool ending there if that could happen. But we’ll see what happens.”
One-time Phillies outfield Hunter Pence will be part of Netflix’s broadcast of the Derby
For the first time in more than 30 years, the Home Run Derby has a new broadcast home, and it won’t appear on either broadcast or cable TV.
Instead, it will stream exclusively on Netflix beginning at 8 p.m. Philly time as part of a three-year deal that also included MLB’s opening night back in March and next month’s Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa between the Phillies and Minnesota Twins.
Calling all the action will be Matt Vasgersian, with Elle Duncan and Lauren Shehadi also leading the coverage. Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rizzo, CC Sabathia, and former Phillies outfielder Hunter Pence will also provide analysis.
“The Home Run Derby’s always been one of my favorite things as a kid,” Pence said. “I’m going to be in the stands a little bit. I’m going to be in the booth as well… Netflix definitely has some excitement up their sleeve.”
Netflix hasn’t offered many details about its plans for the Derby, but if its opening night telecast is anything to go by, expect a lot of stars. Among them will be former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, who hosts The White House video podcast for Netflix.
Breakout White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami was the final player to join the Home Run Derby.Nam Y. Huh
Kyle Schwarber, Phillies
Bryce Harper, Phillies
Jordan Walker, Cardinals
Wilson Contreras, Red Sox
Munetaka Murakami, White Sox
Jac Caglianone, Royals
Ben Rice, Yankees
Junior Caminero, Rays
Not participating for the second straight season is Baltimore Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso, one of only four players to win multiple Derby championships. Despite a strong first-half, Alonso wasn’t selected to this year’s All-Star Game.
Also not competing is last year’s winner, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who has struggled this year after being last year’s American League MVP runner-up.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh wears a large necklace after winning the Derby last year.Lindsey Wasson
This year’s Derby has a different format that previous years.
For starters, there won’t be a timer. Instead, each slugger will get a set number of swings each round — 20 in the first round and 15 in both the second and final rounds.
The last Derby without a clock was 2014.
There’s also a “keep going” rule. If the batter hits a homer on his final attempt, he’ll keeping swinging until he fails to blast out a home run.
“I love it,” said former Phillies outfielder Hunter Pence, who is calling the event on Netflix. “It’s really awesome for TV and healthier for the players. They’re not just having this endurance contest. We get to really feel each swing and each player.”
There also won’t be a bracket for the first round. Instead, the four sluggers will the most homers during the first round will move on to the second. There the competition shifts to head-to-head until a champion is crowned.
Philly road closures due to tonight’s Home Run Derby
Banners for The All Star Game hang at the Citizens Bank Park.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
On Monday, Independence Mall will see road closures starting at 5 a.m. to accommodate building out the MLB Red Carpet Show. Set to be in place through midnight, those closures will impact:
Fifth Street between Market and Chestnut Streets
Ludlow Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets
Randstead Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets
Independence Mall will remain tied up Tuesday for the MLB Red Carpet show itself, with closures again in place from 5 a.m. to midnight. Those closures will affect:
Fifth and Sixth Streets from Arch to Walnut Streets
Market and Chestnut Streets from Fourth to Seventh Streets
Ranstead and Sansom Streets from Sixth to Seventh Streets
Philadelphia police, the city said, may institute additional closures in the interest of public safety.
All roads affected by closures will also be temporary no-parking zones, the city said. If vehicles are parked in those locations during the times they are closed, the vehicles will be moved.
Drivers who may have had their cars moved should contact the police district of the area where their vehicle was parked, the city said.
To accommodate fans heading to Citizens Bank Park, SEPTA will run six additional express trains on the Broad Street Line, also known as the B Line, to NRG Station before and after the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game Monday and Tuesday.
Free rides on the line from NRG Station will also be available at select times during those events. Free rides begin after the second round of the Home Run Derby on Monday, and after the sixth inning of the All-Star Game Tuesday, the city said.
On Saturday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died of an aortic dissection — a rip in the aorta, the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
Such a tear is a medical emergency. Fifty percent of patients make it to the hospital, and about half survive, said Dr. Michael Mack, a heart surgeon who is chair of the research institute Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas.
Mack added that an aortic dissection is the first thing that comes to mind when a patient who is feeling well dies suddenly.
The wall of the aorta has three layers, said Dr. Kendra J. Grubb, a heart surgeon formerly at Emory University and now at Medtronic, the medical device company. A dissection occurs in the inner layer, allowing blood to pour in between the layers of the tubelike vessel.
It’s most likely caused by an underlying aortic aneurysm — a bubble in the vessel, similar to what can occur in old bicycle tubes. Aortic aneurysms can be caused by high blood pressure, atherosclerosis or some rare underlying genetic conditions, like bicuspid aortic valves.
Patients usually describe an excruciating pain, from the chest to the back, “like a knife to the heart,” Grubb said.
Treatment depends on where in the artery the tear is. If it occurs after the section that goes to the brain, doctors can try to repair it, threading a wire from the groin to the aorta that carries material on the vessel to seal the rip.
If the tear occurs in the part of the aorta that carries blood to the brain, treatment involves emergency open-heart surgery. The patient is put on a heart-lung machine, the body is cooled, and a surgeon cuts out the torn section of the aorta. The surgeon then inserts a graft made of fabric.
Hours before his sudden death, Sen. Lindsey Graham returned to Washington from his 10th wartime trip to Ukraine, the latest visit in a four-year campaign he had waged to persuade Americans, often including his close ally President Donald Trump, to treat that country’s fight against Russia as their own.
Since the war began, the South Carolina Republican had been among a small group of senators whose trips to Kyiv had mirrored those often undertaken by senior diplomatic officials within the administration.
He met repeatedly with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, toured towns and communities that had been reduced to rubble by Russian bombardment, and would return to Washington with fresh zeal and firsthand accounts of the war as he pressed fellow Republicans to sustain military and economic support.
Graham’s death leaves Ukraine without its most influential champion inside Trump’s political orbit. He was one of the few lawmakers who had both an unwavering belief in a muscular American role abroad and a direct line to the president. It was a rare combination in the era of Trump, who has surrounded himself with advisers keen on withdrawing from the global stage in favor of a more inward-looking, “America-first” approach to foreign policy.
Graham was not alone among Republicans in his support for Ukraine, and he almost always deferred when the president resisted supporting the nation’s battle for survival. But his closeness with Trump gave him a unique perch that he used to urge an often reluctant president to confront Russia directly and to ensure Ukraine had the weapons and resources it needed to continue fighting.
He was doing so in the hours before he died, reaching what he said was a breakthrough with fellow senators in both parties and the White House to impose harsh new sanctions on Russia.
“I’ve never been more optimistic today that we have the formula to end this war,” Graham said during a news conference in Kyiv on Friday before traveling back to Washington.
Graham’s commitment to Ukraine was rooted in a worldview he embraced throughout his career. A military lawyer stationed in West Germany during the final years of the Cold War, he often described himself as “a Ronald Reagan Republican,” arguing that the United States should shape world events according to its values rather than retreating from them.
Alongside his close friend Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, he became one of Congress’ leading defenders of the trans-Atlantic alliance and an interventionist foreign policy hawk, warning repeatedly that American disengagement would embolden authoritarian adversaries.
“When America leads, the world is safer,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor last May. “When we disengage and when we retreat, like we saw for the last four years under the Biden administration, chaos fills the void.”
His focus on Ukraine far predated Russia’s full-scale invasion. After Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Graham was as an early advocate for providing Ukraine with defensive weapons, arguing that helping Kyiv resist Russian aggression was both a strategic necessity and a moral obligation.
“If Putin’s actions in Crimea are permitted, it will set a dangerous global precedent that will damage international stability and U.S. national security interests,” he said in a statement at the time, along with former Sen. Kelly Ayotte. “The U.S., working with our international partners, must make clear that Putin will incur increasingly severe diplomatic and economic consequences if he does not end his aggression in Ukraine.”
His support was often paired with public criticism of Democratic administrations that he said had created the conditions for authoritarian leaders such as President Vladimir Putin to act with impunity.
“Putin basically came to the conclusion after Benghazi, Syria, Egypt — everything Obama has been engaged in — he’s a weak indecisive leader,” Graham wrote in a social media post in 2014.
Through a number of administrations, and as control of Congress changed partisan hands, Graham remained one of the Senate’s most consistent voices pressing administrations of both parties to move faster on a number of military aid packages and foreign assistance programs.
When Trump returned to the White House last year for his second term, Graham ascended to an important, if often informal, role as an intermediary between Kyiv and the White House. Before the explosive Oval Office confrontation between Trump and Zelenskyy earlier this year, Graham met privately with the Ukrainian president in an effort to smooth tensions and encourage a productive meeting.
In the months that followed, he continued speaking with both leaders, attempting to bridge deep disagreements over military aid and negotiations even as the administration adopted a more skeptical posture toward Ukraine.
During a meeting with Zelesnkyy in Kyiv last week, his influence was noted after Trump announced a pledge to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems.
Zelesnkyy told Graham that it was a “positive signal” and “very important.”
Trump, who said Sunday that he had spoken with Graham shortly before his death, described the senator as tired after returning from Ukraine but praised him as one of his closest advisers.
“He was a very strong military person,” Trump said in an interview on CNN after the announcement of Graham’s death.
In mourning Graham, Zelenskyy recalled not only his repeated visits but his steadfast support throughout the war, describing him as a true friend of Ukraine who never stopped advocating for the country’s freedom.
“We will always be especially grateful for the recognition of our people and words of admiration for the courage of Ukraine’s defenders,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “America and the world have lost a determined leader.”
Sam Neill, a New Zealand actor who brought a quiet intensity to art-house fare and Hollywood blockbusters alike, including as a rigid husband vexed by his wife’s love of music in The Piano and a fedora-clad paleontologist fleeing a T-rex in Jurassic Park, died Monday in Sydney. He was 78.
In a social media statement, Mr. Neill’s family described his death as “sudden and unexpected” but did not disclose a cause. He was diagnosed in spring 2022 with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, but in April, he announced he was cancer free after a clinical trial of a new therapy. His family said Monday that he remained free of the disease.
In roles as loners, scoundrels, madmen, and everymen, Mr. Neill proved a versatile performer comfortable in leading or supporting parts. He had started acting as a schoolboy, discovering that his childhood stutter disappeared when he was performing onstage, and went on to appear in more than 150 movies and TV shows across five decades.
Mr. Neill helped launch a new wave of New Zealand cinema while starring in the dystopian thriller Sleeping Dogs (1977), the first feature film made in the country in years, and gained wider notice in Australian director Gillian Armstrong’s period drama My Brilliant Career (1979), as a handsome blue-blood — tousled hair, mellifluous voice — courting an aspiring writer (Judy Davis).
The film’s admirers included British-born movie star James Mason, who tracked down Mr. Neill’s phone number, called him up and invited the younger actor to his home in Switzerland. He became a mentor, helping Mr. Neill get a London agent and offering what Mr. Neill recalled as “good practical advice” for screen acting: “Never eat, drink, or smoke in a scene. If you do, you’ll be eating, drinking, and smoking all day.”
Mr. Neill said he modeled his approach to work after Mason, whom he described as an actor who “was prepared to show the darker sides of light characters and vice versa.”
That also became true of Mr. Neill, who delivered multifaceted performances in films including the horror thriller Possession (1981), as a spy whose marriage and wife are both unraveling; A Cry in the Dark (1988), also known as Evil Angels, in which he and Meryl Streep played the parents of a missing child; and the thriller Dead Calm (1989), as a grieving father trying to save his wife, Nicole Kidman, from an intruder at sea.
For The Piano (1993), an erotic drama that brought him back to New Zealand to work with director Jane Campion, Mr. Neill played a 19th-century bachelor who arranges to marry a mute Scottish woman (Holly Hunter) who has a young daughter (Anna Paquin). His character is patient but remote, seemingly uncertain of his new situation, until he learns that his wife is in love with another man (Harvey Keitel). He responds by cutting off one of her fingers with an ax.
“Neill’s taciturn husband conceals a universe of fear and sadness behind his clouded eyes,” wrote film critic Roger Ebert, calling the movie “as peculiar and haunting as any film I’ve seen.”
Less than a month after The Piano won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Neill starred in Jurassic Park (1993). As Alan Grant, a crusty paleontologist invited to tour a theme park of resurrected dinosaurs, he helped bring a human touch to a movie that set a new benchmark for computer-generated imagery and jumbo-sized animatronics.
When the time came for Steven Spielberg to unveil his CGI dinosaurs on-screen, the director pointed his camera at Mr. Neill, who was shown tossing off his hat, setting aside his sunglasses, and hopping out of a jeep in astonishment. “It’s — it’s a dinosaur,” Grant says, pointing upward as a brachiosaurus takes a bite out of a tree.
On location in Hawaii, Mr. Neill and his human co-stars (including Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum) had been instructed to look at a piece of paper with an X on it, marking the spot where the dinosaur would be inserted in postproduction.
The film grossed more than $1 billion, won three Academy Awards, and inspired five sequels, although Mr. Neill was skeptical that the effects-driven movie would make him a superstar. “Maybe the T-rex,” he told the Toronto Star, “but not me.”
But the film’s success did help him find new opportunities in Hollywood, including roles opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Restoration (1995), Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man (1999).
Still, he preferred to make movies closer to his homes in Sydney and New Zealand, where he ran a winery and was knighted in 2022 by a representative of Queen Elizabeth II. By his account, he was more interested in growing grapes than in cultivating the kind of consistent, recognizable screen persona expected of a movie star.
“I’ve never had an image,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 1995, “nor have I fostered one or wanted one, which has meant that I’ve had fantastic freedom to do whatever it is that appeals at the time.”
When he wasn’t acting, Mr. Neill was by all accounts self-deprecating and unpretentious, far warmer than many of the rascals he played on-screen. He steered interviews toward discussions of climate change and his left-leaning politics, avoiding examinations of his acting style or personal life. “I’m just Mr. Triviality, as shallow as my wash basin,” he told Scotland’s Glasgow Herald newspaper in 2001. “No deep glacial lakes of profundity here.”
For decades, he continued to mix independent films and big-budget productions, starring as a pipe-smoking observatory chief in the Australian comedy The Dish (2000), a brutal police inspector in the British drama series Peaky Blinders (2013-14), and a cantankerous foster parent in Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), a comic drama directed by New Zealand native Taika Waititi.
He also slipped comfortably back into character as Grant, battling a pack of angry velociraptors in Jurassic Park III (2001) and reuniting with Dern and Goldblum in the franchise’s Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
“I get stopped for different reasons on the street, but Jurassic Park would be the most universal of them,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “If I go to the Philippines or Rwanda or something, people just know me all around the world. And they’ll start roaring like dinosaurs.”
‘A sense of complexity’
The second of three children, Nigel John Dermot Neill was born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, on Sept. 14, 1947. His mother was an English homemaker, and his father was a New Zealander who served as a British army major before joining the family business, a wholesale company that sold wine and other goods.
When Mr. Neill was 7, his family moved to New Zealand, settling near the South Island city of Dunedin. Four years later, Mr. Neill discarded his first name — “probably the best decision I made in my life,” he wrote in his memoir — and began using the nickname Sam, which he considered less “effete.”
He went to boarding school in Christchurch, where he started acting as a way to meet girls, and graduated from Victoria University of Wellington, the capital.
Finding limited opportunities to act on-screen, Mr. Neill joined the New Zealand National Film Unit, directing and editing documentary shorts and picking up some of the techniques that he later used to make an hourlong documentary, Cinema of Unease (1995), about the history of New Zealand cinema.
After his early breakthroughs, he acquired a reputation for playing, as he put it, “men with cold blue eyes that can drill holes through steel at 100 paces,” whether as Damien the Antichrist in Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) or a demented spaceship designer who, in Event Horizon (1997), vivisects a colleague, gouges out his own eyes, and declares, “Where we’re going, we won’t need eyes to see.”
Other films highlighted his rugged physicality. He had action roles in Attack Force Z (1981), a World War II film with Mel Gibson, and The Hunt for Red October (1990) as the second-in-command to Sean Connery’s Soviet submarine captain. He also drew praise for starring as a cold-blooded and womanizing secret agent in the British miniseries Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983).
The show helped bring him steady work on television, including roles as a KGB colonel in the ABC miniseries Amerika (1987), Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in Showtime’s The Tudors (2007) and the magical title character in NBC’s Merlin (1998), which earned him an Emmy nomination. He received a second nomination for narrating New Zealand: Earth’s Mythical Islands (2016), a documentary miniseries.
The rural life
When he was in his early 20s, Mr. Neill had a son, Andrew, who was given up for adoption. They reconnected 25 years later, according to Mr. Neill. He also had a son, Tim, from a relationship with New Zealand actor Lisa Harrow, his on-screen love interest in Omen III.
In 1989, he married Noriko Watanabe, a Japanese makeup artist who worked on Dead Calm. They had a daughter, Elena, and Mr. Neill also adopted Noriko’s daughter from an earlier marriage, Maiko. The couple separated in 2017, and in recent years Mr. Neill was reportedly in a relationship with Australian political journalist Laura Tingle.
Information on survivors was not immediately available.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Neill was a soothing presence on social media, posting videos of himself playing the ukulele and relaxing on his winery, Two Paddocks. Located in South Island’s Central Otago region, the estate was home to animals that Mr. Neill named after some of his friends, including Laura Dern (a cow), Jeff Goldblum (a ram), and Meryl Streep (a chicken that ended up getting killed by a ferret).
Mr. Neill posted playful videos of himself doing morning stretching routines with one of his pigs and reciting positive mantras to his duck, Charlie Pickering. But the farm was no joke: He was a serious vigneron and had been interested in fine wine ever since Mason poured him his first glass of Burgundy.
“My wine has many more dimensions than I could possibly aspire to have,” he told the Times of London in 2014. “I don’t expect people to take me seriously, but I’m determined that they respect my wine. A few weeks ago it won a trophy and two gold medals in London. I call that the ‘up yours’ factor.”
P.S. Thank you for your continuing support. We want your thoughts! Tell us your opinions of the newsletter by taking our survey or replying to this email.
Amanda Caroccio, a child and adolescent psychiatric nurse practitioner, was living in a Haddon Township apartment when she decided she wanted to buy a home for herself and her daughter, Giuliana.
In September 2024, she began to work overtime to build additional savings and slashed her spending except for special occasions.
By February 2025, she started searching in Haddon Township and Haddonfield to get ahead of the spring competition. In mid-March, she found the house she ended up buying on Zillow.
“It was my version of hitting the lottery,” said Caroccio, “because it had every single thing on my checklist: updated, small, close to downtown, within walking distance of schools.”
For about a week, there has been 25 gas stations with Freedom Fuel Network signs in the greater Philly region selling gas that is 40 to 50 cents cheaper compared to nearby stations.
Nino Constantino, 13 and from Westville, died earlier this month in Franklin Township after getting trapped underneath an overturned tractor. His family and friends remember the incoming eighth grader as an adventurous teen who was kind and had a love for the outdoors.
A retired South Jersey police officer who worked for the Haddonfield Police Department has been charged with sexually assaulting an underage girl, said Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw on Friday. Louis J. Baselice was taken into custody at the Maple Shade Police Department earlier in the week on Tuesday.
Speaking of the Ben Franklin Bridge, it costs $6 to cross from Camden into Philadelphia. Before it opened a century ago, Pennsylvania officials advocated for it to be free while New Jersey was adamant about charging tolls.
According to 70and73, Virtua Health named Dr. Nicole Lamborne, an expert in women’s and children’s health, as its new president of its hospitals in Voorhees and Marlton.
The work to repave a section of South Avenue in Mount Holly is set to begin today. The project for the 0.7-mile portion of the road is expected to take two weeks to finish.
I’ve never walked across the bridge but have bicycled it hundreds of times. I used to commute into Center City in the 2000s. My commute bicycle was a ‘70s vintage Motobecane 10-speed. During my first ride home in the rain, I discovered that my brakes were totally ineffective. The bicycle had steel rims and when wet, they were almost useless. It was a little harrowing. I bought a set of aluminum wheels the next week. The bike was donated to the Collingswood Bike Share program a few years ago.
My only challenge cycling across was in 2008 after our Phillies won in the World Series and masses of people were walking across the bridge to the victory parade. I had a bell on my bike and used it a lot that day crossing the bridge.
I encountered Carlos Ruiz once as he was jogging across in the morning on my way to work. The Phillies lost the previous night. He didn’t look very happy.
One morning, the air temperature was in the low 20s and I rode into the city facing 20 miles per hour headwind. It took me about 20-30 minutes to defrost. I never rode below 25 degrees again.
What does your community look like? What South Jersey memory would you like to share? Submit a photo and/or a brief description for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.
