For years, Jimmy Rollins was the name most associated with the Philadelphia Phillies. One could go as far as to suggest he was their biggest star, at least in name, despite playing alongside guys like Chase Utley, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Ryan Howard.
Yet, the now Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop says Philadelphia isn’t a town for star players, taking a parting shot at the Phillies.
“The general area, the city [of Philadelphia] being blue-collar, it’s not conducive for a superstar. You can be good, but you’ve got to be blue-collar along the way, keep your mouth shut, just go and work. Where obviously, this is LA. It’s almost like it’s OK to be more flamboyant. You kind of appreciate that the more you’re out there. Because LA loves a star.”
While I understand what Jimmy Rollins is attempting to say here, he’s just wrong.
There have been a multitude of sports stars hailing from Philadelphia based teams including but not limited to Allen Iverson, Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens, Charles Barkley and more.
Granted, they may not get as much popularity as a player in a massively major market like New York or Los Angeles, but in the age of the internet, if you’re good you’re going to be a star no matter where you play your home games.
