Congratulations to the Free Agent Fan

There were many winners in the Phillies return to the playoffs after a 14 year-absence. The biggest winner, no one’s talking about is Michael Volpe (aka The Free Agent Fan.) who after the Giant’s 1996 decision to trade Matt Williams to the Indians for Jeff Kent (who in 2000 won the MVP award) ended his affiliation as a fan of the Giants and began a search for a new team that attracted nationwide media as well as free stuff from several major and minor league teams who would love a new fan (or at least the publicity that came with this fan.) The Winner was the Phillies.

Over the last few years, Volpe has gotten the worst of the deal. The Giants garnered playoff berts in 1997, 2000, 2002, and 2003, with an NL Pennant in 2002. Now at last his new favorite team has made it and has as good of a chance as anybody of representing the NL in the World Series. At last, he’s rooting for a player