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We, the Philadelphia Phillies, will be a healthy forest … the healthiest in pro sports.”Īfter quoting a sports psychologist and telling the crowd they’re all participants in this environment, Kapler finishes to applause and a few looks that suggest equal parts appreciation and befuddlement: Is this a sports dinner or a slam poetry night? One writer near the back of the room turns to another with a smirk and deadpans, “Guess we’re part of the ecosystem.” We are the landmarks for everything alive in our forest. We provide shelter from treacherous conditions. … We are also the trees in our forest, both depending on ourselves as soil, but also growing and changing constantly. We’re the building blocks upon which our players thrive.
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Our job is to be the healthiest, richest, most nutrient-dense soil anywhere. “Our players are the plants, and the flowers, and the vibrant greenery breathing life into our ecosystem. Dressed in a burgundy tie and a tailored navy suit struggling to conceal a physique that’s impossibly sculpted, Kapler speaks slowly, with careful pauses between each sentence and a steady intensity, as if he’s trying to etch each line directly into the listener’s cerebrum. If it wasn’t already clear that Gabe Kapler, at 42, is a unique dude, that point is driven home by his speech tonight, a thoughtful meditation on his coaching philosophy. Hoskins listens intently as the sports banquet turns into a book club. Kapler endorses Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, impressing Maddox with his depth of knowledge. Maddox recommends Misbehaving, by Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist Richard Thaler. As attendees pick at their chicken marsala, Kapler tells Maddox there are three things he feels are best shared with others - food, music and books. Seated to his right are slugger Rhys Hoskins, the centerpiece of Kapler’s young roster, and Garry Maddox, the Phillies’ center fielder through much of the 1970s and ’80s and the recipient of tonight’s “Living Legend” award. His two teenage sons and ex-wife are still out West, but Kapler insisted on getting to work - prepping for spring training on his iPad, bonding on a food tour of Chinatown with his coaching staff, meeting with his players and folks across the organization from here to Miami and the Dominican Republic, and getting to know the city itself, which he sees as critical to his success and thus to the success of the team. When he was hired in October, the new Phillies skipper traded his home near the beach in Malibu for digs in Northern Liberties during a brutally cold winter.
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At least, that’s what Gabe Kapler’s done. When you’re the new manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, you light Christmas trees, donate to food drives, hand out meals to the homeless, and trek to New Jersey for events like this one. The dais at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Awards Banquet stretches nearly end to end in a drab conference room at the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza hotel, where a few hundred journalists and sports fans have gathered to hear from some of the city’s past heroes and legends in the making.