Glen Rock's Bogart a real Phillies fanatic

Bob Bogart's friends tell him he's the real Phillies Fanatic.

No, he doesn't dress up in a green mascot costume, ride an ATV around the outfield or taunt opponents. But he does fit the description in many ways.

Consider the definition of the word "fanatic": One having excessive zeal for an irrational attachment to a cause or position. Well, entering the 2024 season, Bogart hasn't missed a game since Aug. 7, 1986. That's more than 37 years. 

"Since I've watched or listened to 5,882 consecutive Phillies games, I guess it's safe to call me a fanatic," said the 62-year-old Glen Rock resident and federal government retiree.

And before he missed that game — of course, there's a story behind that — he had a three-year streak. So, in 40 years, Bogart has missed just one Phillies game.

Bogart's not the casual fan who typically catches part of a game. He's there from the first pitch to the last pitch. He religiously follows the Phillies on their West Coast trips, through rain delays, day-night doubleheaders, extra innings and every other imaginable situation.

When Bogart worked, he scheduled his vacation days to correlate with the Phillies' West Coast trips. He used vacation time to leave work early when the Phillies played midweek afternoon games. He typically attends six to 10 Phillies games a year.

To document his incredulous streak, he keeps score of every game. His love of keeping score is one of the things that fueled his streak.

"Keeping score of the game is a practice my grandfather, Kenneth Tebo, taught me," said Bogart, who grew up in Blossburg, Tioga County. "He was a Phillies fan as well. He introduced me to the Phillies in 1966 when he took me to Connie Mack Stadium when I was 5 years old."

So, how did Bogart miss that game on Aug. 7, 1986?

One of his goals was to see the Phillies in every National League ballpark. His girlfriend, Lauri — who is now his wife — invited him to see the Phillies play at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Her parents live in the Chicago suburbs.

They drove to Chicago on a Wednesday and the Phillies had a game against the St. Louis Cardinals that night. Bogart listened to the game on KMOX that evening and figured he would be able to hear the following afternoon game on the same station.

The next afternoon, however, turned out to be a frustrating one, as even the 50,000 watts of power of KMOX wasn't enough for Bogart to pick up on the game on his radio. So he sat in his future in-laws' house waiting for CNN Headline News to give him updates every 30 minutes. He was miserable not knowing the details in real time.

The following afternoon, he was much happier sitting in Wrigley Field with Lauri, watching the Phillies and keeping score.

Technological advances have made Bogart's quest to watch or listen to every Phillies game much easier. When he started his streak in 1986, satellite television, the Internet and streaming capabilities were rare, or didn't exist.

Bogart admits his streak would have ended years ago if not for those advances. They have helped him keep the streak alive while on business trips to Hawaii, England and even New Zealand. On those trips, he either watched the games on a delayed basis (but always before the next game) or woke up in the middle of the night to watch on his computer.

The Phillies have lost more games than any other Major League team in history, and they endured an 11-year postseason drought before reaching the 2022 World Series and the 2023 National League Championship Series. But Bogart's enthusiasm never waned, and it's still as strong as ever.

"I'm not tired of following the Phillies, and I can't imagine a scenario in which I would be," he said. "I savor every nugget of Phillies news I can find during the offseason, and I look forward to every Phillies game. I can't imagine not knowing what's happening with the Phillies."

Spoken like a real Phillies Fanatic.

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