Dave Jordan went to 47 baseball games when he was a young boy, between 1948 and 1952. His team lost 41 of them.

On Wednesday the Philadelphia Phillies lost game six of the World Series to American League foes the New York Yankees. Though the fall of the beloved and dynamic Phillies will be one the city will come to terms with and accept in the next few ways and weeks, Jordan, a lifelong baseball fan, knows one pain that is much harder to get over.

“You get used to losing ballgames,” Jordan said, “but losing your whole …

There is one place in West Philadelphia where fighting is acceptable.

High-flying kicks and swiftly moving bodies pass back and forth across the room. The sound of sneakers hitting the floor—and sometimes skin—is drowned out by the rhythmic drum music reverberating through the room. Someone shouts out directions over the thumping bass and others listen, complying with his demands for more moves, more motion. He demonstrates.

There are too many smiles for this to be any sort of …

For over 100 years Pennypack Park has provided Philadelphians with a place to do numerous activities. One can walk, jog, roller blade, play a game of baseball or simply just relax and enjoy nature. The park, which covers almost 1,400 acres, is part of the Fairmount Park system. It is one of the most popular places in Philadelphia and provides excellent scenery for photographs and paintings.  Every month the park holds a recycling day. On this day, volunteers get together to clean the park and keep it a safe and visibly appealing …

By 5:00 p.m. the sun was still scorching the kids wearing their uniforms in the playoff game between the two co-ed teams: the Little B.I’s and the Big legends.

The first pitch bounced slightly in front of the plate and glided into the catcher’s mitt. On the second pitch, Kahaliff Lisby swung and missed the ball just by a second. On the third, he hit a ground ball and swiftly ran to …

Baseball has been a staple of early life for generations of American youths, but in some inner-city neighborhoods many children never get a chance to get in the game.
In communities where parents sometimes struggle to keep their kids in school and off the streets, extra-curricular activities like baseball have often taken a backseat.
“Baseball has slipped through the cracks,” said Mike McKeown, the director of recreation at the Cruz Recreation Center in Ludlow and home of the Cruz Cardinals 14-and-under baseball team.

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The Logan Police Athletic League (PAL) Center, located at The Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church at 1100 W. Rockland St., is one of the smallest in Philadelphia.  Yet there is a gigantic amount of hard work and volunteering that goes into giving the neighborhood kids a place off of the streets.

Sharon Wells has been operating the Logan center for 13 of her 20 years as an officer with the Philadelphia Police Department.  While Wells …

The Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance (PADA) Memorial Day Hat Tournament starts at 10 a.m. Monday morning. On PADA time, however, that means things will generally get going by around 11 a.m. All are invited and every skill level is welcome. Once today’s volunteer organizers suspect that the bulk of people who will show up have—today about 100 people—everyone chooses a skill level and writes it and their name on …

Bellies up to the bar and cold beers in front of them, brothers Victor and Louis Martins cannot agree. Outside, Philadelphia’s first heat wave of the summer is as good a reason as any to hide out at the local watering hole, but the pair is not here to escape the sun. On the other side of the room, some of the world’s finest athletes are dancing across the large projection screen that covers an entire wall of …

The debris of winter past blows circles around the hard clay court at Weccacoe Playground. Donna Pancari and Kevin Parker take turns sweeping at the piles of dried leaves and scattered trash screaming mutual directions over the rumblings of a leaf blower. A man in a straw hat, printed shirt and cargo shorts prepares the new tennis court net to be strung. He looks more like he’s ready to board a cruise ship than participate in a playground clean-up, but it’s evident that he’s passionate about the cause …

If you ask Philadelphians what one person embodies the personality of their city, you might be surprised that the answer is a fictional character.

Rocky Balboa, Philadelphia’s boxing hero, mirrors the personality of the city: a blue-collar, lunch-pail, no-nonsense town where hard work will gain you the utmost respect.

Those same characteristics are the exactly qualities that will earn you respect in the world of boxing. In a lifestyle full of grueling training regiments, long hours in stuffy gyms, and repeatedly getting hit, the sport referred to as “the …