Hundreds Flock to Carpenter Complex for Start of Phillies Spring Training

Louise Muhlack hasn’t missed this day since 1979.

The New Jersey native comes to Clearwater about the same time each year, as catchers and pitchers start to get ready for the upcoming baseball season.

And while Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone and Steve Carlton hung their cleats up long ago, Muhlack, a diehard Phillies fan, makes sure at least one week out of the year is spent here.

“When you come down here you know you are getting close to the season starting,” she said.

Muhlack and more than 300 other fans came out to the Carpenter Complex Monday as the Phillies faithful got the first chance to see pitchers and catchers warm up for the coming baseball season.

With school out, some of the Clearwater High baseball players also were at the opening. They saw Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels - the fearsome Phillies starting pitching staff.

Cody Deejan, 15, is a catcher for the Tornadoes and a lifetime Phillies fan.
He predicts another World Series run for the 2010 National League East champions.

“I like to see them all get ready to win again,” Deejan said.

As Muhlack, 76, made her way to the parking lot as the first day came to a close she had some advice for ballpark newcomers: make sure to go to Lenny’s and “just bum around and enjoy it.”