Rhys Hoskins’ return to South Philly packed with emotion

PHILADELPHIA — There were tributes to returning heroes like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, alumni weekends in August which featured some similar emotions.

For several seasons, Rhys Hoskins took all that in as he stood among both under-talented and rising Phillies squads of the present. Now, wearing a different uniform, it was his turn.

“I’ve been in this place many, many times before when guys that have played here have gotten great receptions back, and I’m hopeful that’s in the cards,” Hoskins said prior to the Phillies’ game against their old team leader and his Milwaukee Brewers. “Not that anyone ever wants to get booed, but when you’re a visiting player and you’re getting booed, that usually means something’s going right for your team.

“So a good, clean, loud environment is hopefully what we’re going to get tonight.”

Even Hoskins didn’t seem prepared for what he was going to get. In his time here, he was cheered and cheered loudly on so many occasions, even when he was powering long balls along with Bryce Harper in a sudden turn of a 2022 season that wound up in the World Series. But he was also booed too often, even during that run, when a couple of missteps at first base in critical situations befell him.

All of that — along with an unfortunate knee injury that wiped out what would be his last season in a Phillies uniform — was only tears under the bridge Monday night, when the Brewers’ free agent designated hitter was introduced before the game.

The standing ovation was long and loud, as it was at the top of the second inning when a Hoskins tribute video played, as it was with two outs in that Brewers second inning, when a roar came up just before he did at home plate.

“Emotional for sure,” Hoskins had said when asked what kind of first at bat reaction he’d expected. “I’m kind of a cryer. I’ll probably cry at some point today. But I think that just tells you all you need to know about the energy and emotion I’ve been able to grab from this place over the last decade. It’s going to be memorable for sure. Hopefully they won’t have to stop the game from crying so much.”

In his typically classy manner, Hoskins doffed his helmet in salute to old teammates and older fans in the stands for a long couple of minutes. He seemed to be fighting his emotions as he stepped in, and to his everlasting misfortune … he had to do all that and face Zack Wheeler.

After he popped to short, he dashed hard for the dugout, perhaps knowing that the moment he’d witnessed often as a Phillie had come and gone in the blink of a Brewers’ game eye.

“I’m excited, man,” said Hoskins, who came off that yearlong ACL to sign a two-year, $34 million contract with the Brewers. “It’s obviously been a long time since I’ve played here, but just to see what this place has turned into over the last couple of years; obviously these guys are playing really, really good baseball. So it’s just a chance for us to get to see where we’re at competition-wise.

“I’m excited for my teammates here to see what this place is like, to play in this type of atmosphere. But I think more than anything, I’m just excited to see the people that I created really good relationships with over the last five, six, seven years.”

Hoskins said team President Dave Dombroski had called him shortly after the season, saying what Hoskins already knew, that the Phillies were to make Bryce Harper a regular first baseman. With Kyle Schwarber likely to become a DH, that left little room for one of the longest tenured Phillies to stick around. And thus …

“I miss those guys a lot. Those are my friends,” Hoskins said of his former teammates. “But it’s a business still, first and foremost, right? I have no ill will or hard feelings for anybody in this organization. I have some great memories here. So yeah, I miss them as friends.”

Hoskins would walk in his second at bat, and have a friendly moment with J.T. Realmuto. He surprised him by stealing second, and flashed a big grin at him after doing so.

A moment later, there’s a hit to right-center and Hoskins is heading home. Johan Rojas made a fantastic, on-the-fly throw and Realmuto applied a tough tag to his old buddy Rhys. Then Realmuto smiled as he got up and jogged off.

Better moment: In his third at bat, Hoskins touched Wheeler for a first-row home run to left. That uncorked some boos, but when he waved to the crowd, the cheers were back.

“Good or bad, the one thing that you can hope for is people respect who you are as a person,” Hoskins said. “Hopefully, that means I went about things the right way. I treated people with respect and some kindness along the way and made some sort of impact on a group of people, and I hope that’s something to hang your hat on.”

That respect didn’t only come inside the clubhouse. Hoskins made mention of how he and his then-longtime girlfriend Jayme Bermudez came to the area from their “small town on the West Coast,” never having spent much time in a large city. They would quickly become engaged and marry, but all along spent time in the offseason in the area, too.

“It helped me gain an understanding of what this place is about specifically, and what the Wells Fargo Center is like, what the Linc is like, what the people of Philly are like, really, instead of just at the ballpark,” Hoskins said. “I have to believe it made my time here 1,000% better, just an understanding of what makes these people tick. Why they cheer as hard as they do and why they boo as hard as they do, right?

“We had a chance to explore that, and we ended up loving it so much that we stayed. It’s a great chapter of my life.”