What is doubtlessly Ryan Howard’s final season in Philadelphia continues to take a rather unfortunate turn.
A Phillies fan threw a beer bottle at Howard as he was walking off the field after Saturday’s loss to Milwaukee, and Howard was none too happy with that.
“I’ve done too much in this town to have that kind of stuff,” Howard said, via Matt Breen of Philly.com. “If you want to yell out ‘You suck,’ that’s whatever. But when you start throwing stuff, that’s when stuff gets personal.
“We have to be held accountable,” Howard said. “If someone throws something, we’re just supposed to sit there and wear it and get hit. Nah man, we’re human beings first and foremost. People get it twisted. They see the baseball stuff and they don’t see you as a human being. They see you as someone that just plays baseball.”
Howard pointed out that if the reverse happened, he would get in huge trouble.
“If I would’ve done something, if I would’ve went into the stands and tried to beat this dude up, I would’ve gotten in trouble by Major League Baseball. He probably would’ve tried to sue me. But it’s OK for him to throw a bottle and then go home and be on his merry way? Nah, that doesn’t work.”
The Phillies are investigating the incident, and Philly Voice beat writer Ryan Lawrence shared this photo of the alleged bottle-thrower in the hopes that he could be identified.
— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) June 5, 2016
Howard makes a lot of money and has been unproductive for a long time, bottoming out at a .151 average in 2016. Columnists have asked him to retire, and even the always affable Vin Scully shaded him, but there’s no excuse for this. Unfortunately, some fans won’t remember the feared power hitter who hit at least 40 home runs four times and was one of the most important players on a Phillies World Series winner. A minority will only remember Howard in his decline phase, a player in his mid-30s who simply couldn’t stave off the decline. That’s a shame, because Howard should be remembered fondly in Philly sports lore.
