The Philadelphia Phillies have betrayed legendary announcer Harry Kalas’ memory by removing a sign bearing the late broadcaster’s nickname, according to his widow.
‘Taking down that sign takes away everything he did for the city,’ Eileen Kalas told the Philadelphia Inquirer. ‘I think they betrayed Harry.’
One of baseball’s premier play-by-play announcers from 1971 until his death in 2009, Kalas will always be inextricably linked with the Phillies. The team still has a seven-foot statue of Kalas beyond left field, not to mention a plaque bearing his likeness on the club’s Wall of Fame and a TV broadcast booth that is still named after the beloved team figure.
But the bar area underneath Citizens Bank Park’s massive left-field scoreboard will no longer be known as Harry the K’s, as she learned earlier this month. Instead, it has been rebranded to Ghost Energy.
‘How did I feel? I felt betrayed for Harry,’ Eileen added. ‘Because he gave his all to the city and to the fans. He gave it all.’
She also suggested changing the bar area’s name to ‘the Ghost Energy Deck at Harry The K’s,’ but said the team didn’t bite.
Philadelphia Phillies Hall-of-Fame Broadcaster Harry Kalas is pictured next to the Commissioner’s Trophy after the team’s 2008 World Series victory
The bar area underneath Citizens Bank Park’s massive left-field scoreboard will no longer be known as Harry the K’s (pictured in 2014) and has instead been rebranded for an energy drink
Adding a financial penalty to the perceived insult, the decision could cost Eileen about $20,000 annually – the same amount she claimed the team paid her to use Kalas’ likeness. The team plans to pay her again this season, since they reportedly missed the deadline to break the contract in 2026, but they told her not to expect more checks after the season.
The team told her it will continue to show the beloved clip of Kalas singing ‘High Hopes’ on the scoreboard to celebrate wins at Citizens Bank Park, but she is now demanding to be paid for use of his image once again.
‘They’ll say, “Eileen Kalas got rid of it. She’s money hungry,”‘ she said. ‘That’s what they always said. Flip it on me… I don’t mind if they have things. They just have to pay for it. It’s intellectual property. They know that.’
For her part, Eileen insisted the dispute isn’t about her, but only the memory of her late husband.
‘It’s not about me,’ she told the Inquirer. ‘It’s about what they’re doing to Harry. I think they betrayed him for everything he did for them.’
As for her 36-year-old son, Kane, who sang the national anthem before Thursday’s opener, there doesn’t seem to be much of an issue.
‘We know the fans aren’t super, super happy with it,’ Kane told The Associated Press. ‘These things change over time. Our family, we understand that. My dad’s memory and legacy is still being honored in so many ways.’
The Late Broadcaster Harry Kalas of the Philadelphia Phillies video is shown on the scoreboard as he sings High Hopes following a 9-2 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011
A statue of former Philadelphia Phillies announcer Harry Kalas is unveiled by former pitcher Steve Carlton and Jimmy Rollins #11 of the Philadelphia Phillies before a 2011 game
A view the Wall-of-Fame plaque of Harry Kalas, who also worked for NFL Films
The Phillies declined to comment on Eileen’s comments when contacted by the Inquirer, but team owner John Middleton did address the controversy over the sign earlier in the week.
‘If you want a $300 million payroll, you need about $600-plus million dollars of revenue, you’re looking for money everywhere,’ Middleton said Tuesday. ‘By the way, if you go to Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, [advertising] is all over the place. That’s the cost of doing business.
‘The money we saved, it’s going to maybe buy some napkins or something like that,’ Middleton said of the $20,000 that was paid to Kalas’ widow, annually. ‘It’s not serious, serious money. We’re not going to go out and buy a new player.
‘Now the money that Ghost is paying us, that can fund a player.’
The Phillies now rank among the top-four teams in baseball in terms of payroll, at $315 million for the 2026 season.
