Harry Kalas - Honors

Honors

Nicknamed "Harry the K" by Phillies pitcher Larry Christenson in the mid '70s, a nickname quickly adopted by Phillies fans, Kalas received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, he was named Person of the Year by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. That year, he was also inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, as a member of the charter class (21 members). He was named Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year 18 times.

Kalas also helped announce the ceremonial closing of Veterans Stadium on September 28, 2003 and was the master of ceremonies at the ceremonial opening of Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

At Citizens Bank Park, the restaurant built into the base of the main scoreboard is named "Harry the K's" in Kalas's honor. After Kalas's death, the Phillies' TV-broadcast booth was renamed "The Harry Kalas Broadcast Booth". It is directly next to the radio-broadcast booth, which is named "The Richie 'Whitey' Ashburn Broadcast Booth".

When Kalas died on April 13, 2009, fans created an impromptu memorial tribute to him at the base of the statue of Mike Schmidt at the Third Base Gate of Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies honored Kalas for the remainder of the 2009 season with a round, black "HK" patch over the heart on all player, coach, and manager jerseys. Additionally, a billboard featuring a microphone, his initials and lifespan ("HK 1936–2009") were displayed on the wall in left-center field during the 2009 season.

Immediately after the Phillies clinched the National League Eastern Division, the players all went to the billboard, lit cigars and poured beer and champagne on the billboard as a symbolic way of including Kalas in the celebration, as Kalas had participated in all of the Phillies' victory celebrations during his tenure in Philadelphia, including both World Series wins, having rode in both of the Phillies World Series parades.

The Phillies players, led by Shane Victorino, hung Kalas' signature baby-blue blazer and white loafers in the dugout for every game.

Following Kalas' death, the Phillies began playing a video of Kalas singing the first verse of "High Hopes" at Citizens Bank Park after every Phillies win, as well as Kalas's famous "This ball is outta here!" call was played at Citizens Bank Park after every Phillies home run.

In June 2009, the National Radio Hall of Fame announced that Kalas would be posthumously inducted into its Hall of Fame. Thirteen other sportscasters were previously inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Phillies fan Antonio Jose initiated an online petition seeking support for a statue of Kalas to be erected outside the Phillies' ballpark. As of May 2010, there were 24,000 signatories. Sculptor Lawrence Nowlan has begun work on a model for the statue. In September 2010, a story that aired on the "10 Show" on WCAU-TV stated that the full-size clay model for the statue was nearly complete, and was ready to have a mold of it cast so the actual bronze statue can be cast.

On Tuesday, August 16, 2011, the Nowlan sculpture, a 7 feet (210 cm) tall bronze statue (which depicted Kalas standing cross-legged on a home plate, holding a microphone in his right hand, which also held a baseball bat that he was leaning upon) was unveiled in the Ashburn Alley outfield concourse at Citizens Bank Park between Harry the K's Restaurant and the statue of Richie Ashburn prior to that evening's game versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. This unveiling was postponed from the previous Sunday, when the statue was scheduled to be unveiled prior to the game versus the Washington Nationals, which had been rained out.

In 2009, Kalas was that year's inductee into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.

The 2010 Mummers Parade on New Year's Day featured the Happy Tappers Comics dressed as Phillies players with the "HK" patch on the Phillies jerseys to pay tribute to Kalas and their theme was "Harry K's Field of Dreams."