Hoskins leaves lasting impact on Phillies fans

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Philly is going to miss Rhys Hoskins.

It has been clear since November, when the Phillies announced their plans to move forward with Bryce Harper at first base and Kyle Schwarber at DH, leaving Hoskins without a place to play. Still, emails and social media posts continued through last week, when the Brewers and Hoskins agreed to a two-year, $34 million contract, which includes an opt-out after one season.

Any chance Hoskins comes back?

No, there wasn’t.

The Brewers announced the deal on Friday afternoon. Three minutes later, the Phillies posted a 3 minute, 38 second tribute video.

Hoskins connected with the Phillies and the city for countless reasons, one of them being that he offered hope to a moribund franchise when he made his MLB debut in August 2017. Hoskins put up big numbers as the Phillies suffered five more losing seasons and/or late-season collapses before clinching an NL Wild Card in Houston in October 2022.

Fans related when they saw Hoskins tear up that night at Minute Maid Park. Like Andy Dufresne, he had crawled through 500 yards (of stuff) and came out clean on the other end.

The Hoskins family will return to Philly for the first time June 3-5, when the Phils play the Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.

If you want to say thanks, you might not want to wait.

Phillies single-game tickets went on sale Thursday. A little more than 24 hours later, they sold more than 1,500 to the June 3 series opener. Typically, a Monday night game in June against a random opponent sells 400-500 tickets within the first 24 hours of single-game ticket availability.

Hoskins’ return sparked more than a 200 percent increase.

To put that number into further perspective, the team sold 2,500 tickets to Cole Hamels’ retirement ceremony on June 21, and 1,800 tickets for Bryson Stott’s bobble figurine giveaway on June 21.

But both of those games were advertised.

“This is just our fans recognizing that it’s his first game back,” Phillies senior vice president of ticket operations and projects John Weber said Friday. “Clearly, there’s a recognition of what he meant to the organization and what he meant to the community. There are certain players that really resonate with the fan base. For many reasons -- he’s homegrown, what he did on the field -- he really resonated with our fans.”