SCHWEIM TIME

Diehard Philly sports fan Billy Schweim has found his niche in sports radio B Billy Schweim has had a lot of jobs in his career, but only one of them hasn’t seemed like work.

That would be his current gig as a sports-talk show host on ESPN 97.3 FM. His Saturday and Sunday radio show—The Locker Room with Billy Schweim—has become popular with South Jersey listeners. “I love to be able to talk sports since I can’t play anymore because I’m fat and old,” he kidded before laughing heartily in a recent interview. “This is, far and away, the favorite job I’ve ever had.” Schweim, 58, is a diehard Philadelphia sports fan who happens to have his own radio show that dissects the ups and downs of the local teams.

He is more than a talk-show host, however. He lines up the guests, sells advertising for his shows, and schedules places to host remotes during the Eagles’ season.

SCHWEIM DOES IT ALL WITH THE BOUNDLESS ENERGY of someone half his age. “I love the challenge of going out and getting exciting guests,” he said. “I love making people laugh and entertaining people with sports. I don’t take myself too seriously and think I know everything like a lot of talking heads do.”

His goal, he said, is to bring fans “the lighter side of sports. I’m a big Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, and Phillies fan, and I try to bring that passion to the radio.”

Sometimes he does his shows with his twin brother, Bobby, as his radio co-host. Lately, with Bobby busy with HIS twin sons and his job as a pilot for Amazon, Scotty McKay has been an almost-regular co-host, and former Eagle Ken Dunek, the publisher of JerseyMan and PhilllyMan Magazines frequently joins him on remotes before Eagles games. “My brother and I used to argue a lot [on the air] and people thought it was funny,” Schweim said. “But his job has kind of taken him away from participating, and his twin boys have a lot of activities on the weekends and he likes to hang out with them.” The brothers’ back-and-forth dialogue became a big hit with listeners. “It’s like listening to two brothers going back to their childhood and arguing,” said Pete Thompson, who also does a sports show on ESPN 97.3 FM. “Billy will get passionate about something—say it’s the Astros scandal or one of the Philly sports teams—and Bobby will call him an idiot and they go at it. It becomes very entertaining.” Schweim’s Saturday show airs after a two-hour program hosted by Thompson that is heavily into high school sports. Thompson, a long-time TV and radio personality, is enamored by Schweim’s high energy level. “There are no short answers in Billy Land,” Thompson said. “And his enthusiasm is not fake; that’s what makes him so much fun.”

“Billy will get passionate about something and Bobby will call him an idiot and they go at it. It becomes very entertaining.”

Bobby (left) and Billy on the air

Schweim and McKay talk mostly about the Philly pro teams and sprinkle in some conversation about the collegiate ranks. “I try to pride myself on getting athletes from the South Jersey area who have made it,” he said, adding some of his guests have included former local stars who have reached the NFL, including Phil Costa, Isaac Redman, Mike Rozier, Kevin Ross and Dwight Hicks,

The ESPN 97.3 FM studio is located in Northfield and the 50,000-watt station has a 50-mile radius, making it available from Atlantic City to Deptford and reaching Delaware and Toms River. Schweim, a Collingswood, NJ resident who lives in Ocean City in the summers, didn’t get into the radio business until he was almost 50. He says he wishes he did it sooner, but life took him on a different path.

AFTER GRADUATING FROM COLLINGSWOOD HIGH in 1980, Schweim and his twin brother attended Lees-McRae College in North Carolina, where they both played football under assistant Paul Johnson, who later coached at Navy and Georgia Tech. Billy was the quarterback, Bobby was a defensive back. At 23, Billy took a job with USAir, loading and unloading planes at Philadelphia International Airport. “It was like I died and went to heaven,” he said. “The money was good, and you worked four flights a day.” It was a carefree time in Schweim’s life. He was sporting a mullet, playing in an airline hockey league, hanging out with ex-Flyers, and making good money. “And I traveled for free,” he said, noting a perk for working for USAir. “It was a great time.” It was the start of a long career with the airline. Looking back, he has a tinge of regret.

“I wish I was a little more motivated and got involved in radio at a younger age,” he said. From 1985 to 2008 he worked at US Airways. The physical job took a toll on him: five herniated disks, spinal stenosis, and damage to his right elbow that required surgery. The injuries forced him to leave US Air in 2008. “I had to reinvent myself,” he said. Schweim became a teacher’s aide at Bankbridge School in Sewell, NJ. He also went back to college to get his history degree and pursue teaching. While attending Rutgers-Camden, he took a journalism class and enjoyed it. When he was required to take an internship, he called Chuck Betson, a veteran sports-talk host at WOND in Linwood, NJ. Schweim interned at the station and sometimes filled in for Betson. Schweim, who can chat sports with the best of them, felt like he had found his niche. “I got the fever for radio,” he said. When his internship ended, there were no openings, but his wife, Toni, pushed him to stay the course. “If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have ever taken the chance,” he said. “She encouraged me to get my own show. I said, ‘Who’s going to take me?’ ” He kept taking classes at Rutgers and in 2013, at age 49, he graduated. At around the same time, he pitched a show to WIBG in Ocean City. The Locker Room with Billy Schweim was born. “I worked hard to get guests through people I knew and through networking,” Schweim said. “I had Dick Vermeil, Aaron McKie, Craig Berube, Phil Martelli, Jeff Francoeur.” Nearly two years later, in May of 2015, he went to ESPN (97.3 FM). “They heard my show and liked it and thought I’d be a good fit,” said Schweim, who has two daughters, Alyza Grace and Andrea, and three grandsons.

That became his passion, but it didn’t pay all the bills, so he took a job as a social studies teacher at Pennsauken Tech, a position he held for three years. Now he’s back to one job: The Locker Room with Billy Schweim can be heard on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon. On his Feb. 29 show, his guests included Mike Eruzione, the 1980 U.S. hockey Olympic hero, and Randy Lerch, the former Phillies pitcher who wrote a book, God in the Bullpen, about how God helped his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. Do not be misled by Schweim’s “four-hour” work week—that is, the amount of time he’s on the air. Schweim’s week is full. He sells advertising for his shows, books guests, does extensive research and writes scripts for his air time. And more. “I have to do it all, from soup to nuts,” he said. It’s not an extravagant business, he said, but he is doing something he loves. Schweim also has a website (www.thelockerroombillyschweim. com), a YouTube channel, and a podcast on Spotify. “I don’t get rich off of it,” he said, but he wasn’t complaining. “I obviously started late in life. On May 9, I’ll be starting my sixth year, so I must be doing something right.” n Schweim can often be found cheering on the Eagles in the stands at the Linc.

The New Old School Phillies Manager Joe Girardi

BY RICH WESTCOTT

It didn’t take long for Joe Girardi to earn a special place in Phillies history.

As soon as he was hired last fall, his name became etched among the team’s most notable managers.

Just one of the Phillies’ 55 managers ever came to the team with more experience as a major league skipper than the 55-year-old Girardi. His 11 years as a pilot are topped only by Bucky Harris, who led teams for 19 years before joining the Phillies in 1943. Ironically, Harris was fired by the Phillies in mid-season that year after constant battles with team president William Cox, who soon thereafter was banned for life from baseball for betting on his team. Harris, who had piloted the Washington Senators to their first World Series victory in 1924, eventually served as a big-league manager for 29 years with another World Series champion coming in 1947 with the New York Yankees.

When he came to the Phillies in 1952, Steve O’Neill also had 11 years of managerial experience, including a World Series winner in 1945 with the Detroit Tigers. Nobody else

JOE GIRARDI

MANAGER PHILLIES

who has guided the Phillies during their 137 years in the National League comes close to that figure. Moreover, Girardi is the first Phils strategist in nearly three decades to come hereafter previously managing in the majors for more than two seasons. Jim Fregosi was the last one to hit that level when he came to Philadelphia in 1991 with four full and parts of two other years’ experience in a big-league dugout. Girardi, whose career record of 988-794 was earned with the Yankees (2008-2017) and Miami Marlins (2006), has one World Series victory as a manager. Of course, that has a place in Phillies history, too, because it came in 2009 when the Yankees beat the Phils, thus preventing them from winning two straight World Series titles. A big-league catcher for 15 years, Girardi comes to town as the eighth backstop who has managed the Phillies. He joins Jack Clements (1890), Chief Zimmer (1903), Red Dooin (1910-14), Pat Moran (1915-18), Jimmie Wilson (1934-38), O’Neill (1952-54), and Pat Corrales (1982-83). In addition to that, only five people who managed the Phillies for more than two full seasons appeared in more games as a player than Girardi. The list includes Fregosi and Wilson (both 18), O’Neil and Hugh Duffy (both 17), and Larry Bowa (16).

GIRARDI WAS DRAFTED in the fifth round in 1986 by the Chicago Cubs, and spent time in the majors with the Cubs (twice), Colorado Rockies, Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. He played for three World Series winners while compiling a career batting average of .267 with 36 home runs and 422 RBI. He also caught a no-hitter by Dwight Gooden and a perfect game by David Cone. In another piece of irony, Girardi made his

Girardi speaking at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association banquet.

big-league debut in 1989 against the Phillies on opening day at Wrigley Field. In his first at-bat, he got his first major league hit when he singled off of Floyd Youmans early in the Cubs 5-4 victory. Later, his first road game was played at Veterans Stadium where he singled off of Bruce Ruffin in his first at-bat. Put these accomplishments together, and the Peoria, Illinois native not only has his name already lodged on the pages of Phillies history, but he inherits a club that is badly in need of a well-accomplished manager who knows how to build a winner. Girardi, who beat several other high-level managers for the job, certainly has that on his resume, too. It won’t be easy, but Girardi is ready for the challenge. “I’m a manager who really cares,” he said. “I care about everyone involved here. I want to win. That’s why I came here.” As the 2020 season approaches, he has to put together what would hopefully be an effective starting rotation that initially included only Aaron Nola and newcomer Zack Wheeler, and a bullpen that is loaded with uncertainty. He also has to decide who plays where in the infield. And he has to put together a suitable outfield, much of which depends on the full recovery of Andrew McCutchen from last year’s knee injury. Of course, the Phillies’ bench is also an enigma that has to be solved. Girardi is the kind of manager who spends long hours trying to develop solutions for such problems. It helps that he has a positive attitude. Along with that, he is intelligent, intense, enthusiastic, aggressive, focused, and tenacious. And he’s the kind of guy who will not relax one bit if the team turns into a loser or there’s any kind of problem among the uniformed participants. “I can’t wait to see the work the men in the Phillies uniform will do this season,” Girardi said before spring training began. “I’m excited about this whole team. To be successful, my job is to keep everybody healthy, to stay out of the way, and to put them in the right positions. “Part of that is finding where players are the most comfortable, and also where it’s most advantageous for us. That’s a combination that you have to weigh so you get the most out of the player and your team.”

THAT WASN’T WHAT HAPPENED with Girardi’s three immediate predecessors (Ryne Sandberg, Pete Mackanin, and Gabe Kapler). All had losing records as Phillies managers with none lasting as much as three full seasons. The Phillies’ last winning season came

in 2011 under Charlie Manuel, the winningest manager in club history and the skipper of the second of only two Phillies clubs that won a World Series. Girardi takes the helm while being many miles away from Manuel’s 780 Phillies wins. But he has another chance to put his name among noteworthy Phillies managers if he can rebuild the club and lead it to some suc- cessful seasons. In Phillies history, only nine skippers have posted winning records while leading the team for three or more years. Here’s one other Girardi footnote: Never before have the Phillies had a manager with the common name of Joe. And the team has had only one other pilot (Dallas Green) whose last name started with G. As a graduate of Northwestern University where he earned a Bachelor of Science de- gree while majoring in industrial engineer- ing, Girardi will hopefully not be one of those analytic freaks who guides his team based on creepy numbers. These people ignore the fact that the basic elements of baseball are hit, run, field, and throw, and what really counts among players is their ability, guts, knowledge of the game, hustle, enthusiasm, tenacity and various other physical and men- tal characteristics. And yes, won-lost records for pitchers and batting averages for hitters do matter, despite the current trend to ignore

such statistics.

Based on his winter appearances, it seems likely that Girardi is not caught up in the numbers rubbish. “I’m a manager who really cares about everyone involved here,” he said. “I want to be around people who are passion- ate and who want to play hard and win.” As he already knew, ‘passionate’ is a key word in the description of Philadelphia sports fans, and, in what matters most to him, among Phillies fans. He looks forward to the Citizens Bank Park attendees playing a major role in helping his team out of the doldrums of recent seasons. “I’m well aware of the passion of baseball fans here,” he said. “This is a special place, and I know the importance of winning here. The fans are the ones who push us every day to be great. They’re the ones who demand excellence from us.”

PHILLIES PLAYERS ARE ALSO PASSIONATE about having the chance to play under Girardi. One of those who expressed this feeling was J.T. Realmuto, who has often been described as the best catcher in baseball. “I’m really excited about playing for him,” said Realmuto, who came to the Phillies in the winter of 2018 in a trade with the Marlins. “He’s got a lot of feel. He knows exactly what he wants to do as manager. He has a lot of confidence, and he’ll be able to instill that confidence in us.” And if that’s the case, the 2020 season has the potential to be the time when the Phillies start to rejoin the elite teams of the National League after an absence of nearly one decade. It could also add substance to Girardi’s place among the Phillies most notable managers. n