Goodbye, Harry Kalas. I am so glad you lived to see your team win the World Series again.

From the time I was 12, Harry Kalas was the voice of the Phillies. Whenever we made the playoffs, I resented the national broadcast team who took over from the local guys. Why should someone like Kalas, who called wins and losses steadily, for decades, have his place usurped when the team was finally getting some glory?

If Harry wasn’t calling the plays with Richie Ashburn, it wasn’t really a Phillies game. Richie’s been gone a few years, but now his old partner has rejoined him. They’re both in the Hall of Fame — Kalas as broadcaster, Ashburn as player.

Harry Kalas collapsed in the broadcast booth shortly before the Phillies game with the Nationals. He was 73. Philadelphia won’t be the same without him.