Ted Key's book - Phyllis

Thought I would change it up a little with this week's featured collectible. The book, "Phyllis" by cartoonist Ted Key was published by E.P. Dutton in 1957. It is an easy to read story of a sparrow who built her nest in the tall grass of left field at Connie Mack Stadium during a Phillies road trip. The team, urged by the fans to not disturb the nesting mother bird builds a temporary chicken wire fence in the outfield and Phyllis becomes a local celebrity.

While not necessarily your typical collectible, the book is an interesting look back at baseball in the late 1950's and worthy of a place in your Phillies collection. Many illustrations depict Phyllis and the Phillies players in or around Connie Mack Stadium and opposing teams include the long defunct Brooklyn Dodgers. I bought a copy on eBay about a year ago, never previously seeing or hearing of the story. And, during Alumni Weekend I noticed there was a copy of the book in the Hall of Fame section as part of a Connie Mack Stadium display - which I thought was pretty cool. Copies are available online for a fairly low price (between $5-10).

Illustration from "Phyllis"

Ted Key's Wikipedia page

Images taken from this eBay auction.