Don Money had to wait to congratulate grandson Buddy Kennedy on his Phillies moment

A few hours after Citizens Bank Park was awakened by the rhythmic chanting of his grandson's name, Don Money also awoke.

Money, 77, went to bed early Monday night because the cable TV at his South Jersey home froze in the sixth inning of the Phillies-Rays game. But around 2 a.m., Money was getting restless, so he turned the TV back on and found the replay of the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

And after the Rays tied the game with a home run in the ninth inning, Money figured he would stay up until the end of the inning.

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“I didn’t know what happened,” he said by phone on Tuesday.

What happened was that the Phillies used infielder Buddy Kennedy, recalled from Triple A three days earlier, as a pinch hitter when he got two outs and the winning run at second base. And when the Millville, NJ native walked into the batter's box, nearly 40,000 fans stood and chanted.

“Buddy! Buddy! Buddy!”

Phillies manager Rob Thomson called it “fantastic.” Kody Clemens said from the waiting circle that he got goosebumps. What must have been going through the mind of a proud grandfather who also happens to be a former Phillies infielder and four-time All-Star with the Brewers in the '70s?

“It was very cool. Really,” Money said. “I mean, the fans don't know him. They know about him. I think they know he's from Millville. I played for the Phillies a long time ago. But he got the opportunity to play in front of Philly, and I think the fans started chanting — and it got better and better — which was very nice. It was really great.”

The result wasn't that bad either.

A first pitch from left-hander Garrett Cleavinger of the Rays was too high. Kennedy threw the second pitch, a knee-level slider, as a strike. He missed the next two pitches before fouling back a 98-mph fastball. At full count, Cleavinger tried to get Kennedy to chase a dirt-diving heat. He didn't bite, drawing a two-out walk.

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Two pitches later, with the bases loaded, Clemens hit a single through the right side to cap the 2-1 victory and spark a Phillies celebration.

And in his third at-bat of who knows how many (Alec Bohm can be activated from the injured list on Friday), Kennedy had his Phillies moment in their 86th win of the season.

“[Bryce] Harper came up to me afterward and all the guys said, 'Just a great shot. You did your job,'” Kennedy said. “I passed the bat to Kody and he hit it. I was just so excited. It was just a moment you can never take back.”

If it hadn't been the middle of the night, Money would have called Kennedy immediately. Instead, he waited until the morning – “He calls every day,” Money said – to go over each pitch of the at-bat.

And if you think it's condescending to praise a major league hitter for a walk, try living out every kid's backyard Wiffleball fantasy without giving in to the impulse to swing from the heel on every pitch.

“First of all, it's hard enough playing as a pinch hitter,” said Money, who had a .261 batting average and 176 home runs in 16 major league seasons. “And then you go up there, ninth inning, game-winning run on second base, two outs, and all of a sudden they start yelling, 'Bud-dy! Bud-dy!'

“He told me, 'I wasn't really nervous. I heard them. I went out for a split second, went back in and thought about what this pitcher was going to throw to me.' He wasn't overly aggressive. Sometimes you get so excited that you get a little more out of the zone than you should. But he had his composure. Mentally, he was ready to go.”

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Kennedy, 25, was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round in 2017 straight out of high school. He made his major league debut in 2022 and bounced from Arizona to Oakland to St. Louis to Detroit on waivers in the five months leading up to this season.

The Phillies signed Kennedy for cash in June. In 63 games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he has a .295 batting average and .513 slugging average with 10 home runs and a .910 OPS. He was called up two weeks ago when all-arounder Weston Wilson was placed on the paternity list, but did not play.

Wherever his career has taken him, Kennedy knows where to get hitting advice. When he hit a mini-slump a few weeks ago after setting a Lehigh Valley franchise record by reaching base in 40 consecutive games, he sent Money a video to compare his at-bats earlier in the season to those from the day before.

“I said, 'Buddy, look at the pictures. They're not even close to the same,'” said Money, who worked as a coach in the Brewers' farm system after his playing career. “His hands were too far back. I said, 'Put your feet three or four inches further apart. Your stride will be three or four inches shorter. Maybe that'll be enough to get you through the zone sooner. And then when you feel better, go back to normal.'”

The language of hitting doesn't change from generation to generation. Neither does the appreciation for what it takes to play at the highest level. Money was the 12,660th player to make it to the major leagues; 39 years after his last game, Kennedy was only the 22,704th.

That's why Money encourages Kennedy to ask coaches for extra grounders or more swings in the batting cage and to always be ready when he gets the chance.

Like Monday night.

“I was hoping for a base hit, I can tell you that, because you don't get many walk-offs in your career,” Money said. “That would have been a great hit. But he struggled. He had some ups and downs. He doesn't get to play that much. But he was ready to go.”

“It's your grandson, and you're sitting there watching him play in the major leagues, which you did over 40 years ago or more. I'm very honored. It's just a great thing.”

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