Citizens Bank Park entering it’s 10th season

It’s hard to believe, but the 2013 season will be the 10th season for the Phillies stadium that opened in 2004. I remember looking over at the new construction site in 2003 from the Veterans Stadium mezzanine where there used to be that massive bowl of a stadium and thinking, “There’s the future of baseball in Philly.”

Think back to the 2003 season when Larry Bowa was the manager of the Phillies, and he managed the Phils to a 86-76 record to bring out the Vet’s glory and for the next year welcome the team into the new stadium. The only starter still on the Phillies is Jimmy Rollins from the 2003 team, and Chase Utley had just been called up for 43 games with the team both players were 24 years old in 2003.

The last 9 full seasons at Citizen’s Bank Park were very good as far as Phillies seasons go. We’ve practically owned the NL East for a long time, and even went to the World Series twice, winning it all in 2008. That doesn’t happen all that much, it’s been only the second time the Phillies have won the World Series in the history of the franchise, the other coming in 1980.

Citizens Bank, the company, paid $2.3M per season for naming rights for the stadium and signed a 25 year deal starting with the 2004 season and it runs to 2029. One thing that has remained consistent with the Phillies home is that it hasn’t changed names like so many other venues have when the group that bought the naming rights for a stadium had merged or been acquired in other means.

Just how good have the Phillies been since moving to CBP? Let’s look at the Phils record of the past nine seasons: