Ryan Howard and Donovan McNabb: Equivocal Legacies Of Two Philly Legends
When legends leave, the city they played for mourns the loss of watching them fight for their team. For some reason, that sentiment has failed to reach two of Philly’s greatest legends in Ryan Howard and Donovan McNabb.
The Philadelphia Phillies said goodbye to the final remaining piece of the beloved 2008 World Series championship team on Sunday. Ryan Howard’s long and historic stretch with the organization has come to an end, and behind him he leaves a debated legacy in Philadelphia.
When you play in Philadelphia, the fans worship you at your best and boo you out of the stadium at your worst. This is an unforgiving, but passionate city of sports fans that put as much emphasis on an athlete’s attitude as their on-field performance. It’s a city that loved the hard-nosed play of Chase Utley, the underdog grittiness of Allen Iverson, and the aggressive mentality of Brian Dawkins.
When athletes come to play every day, Philadelphia will notice. But that doesn’t mean they’ll get a pass just for putting in effort. The city wants results. The legacy of Ryan Howard is the perfect example of that.
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Ryan Howard leaves the organization with a career home run total of 382, second in franchise history only to hall of famer Mike Schmidt. He also leaves the team finishing third in RBI. Ryan Howard has the credentials to be touted as one of the greatest Phillies to ever play, but that still depends on who you ask.
The portion of the fanbase that had a positive view on Howard remembers the 2005 NL Rookie Of The Year award, the 2006 NL MVP Award, the 220 home runs in a five season span, and the 2008 World Series ring he wears around his finger. That portion of the fanbase remembers the iconic point of the bat towards the pitchers, and the near 500-ft. blasts he would hit to make Citizens Bank Park look like a Little-League field.
They remember “The Big Piece” as the best power threat the team saw post-Schmidt, and they remember the importance of his play to an organization that went from the depths of the standings to an incredible dynasty that made it to three NLCS series in a row.
Ryan Howard’s good outweighs the bad to this portion of the fanbase. But it’s Philly, and there’s no such thing as avoiding a love-hate relationship. Others remember his poor performance right after the historic extension he signed, which was of course a 5-year, $125 million deal.
More money, more problems, right? The backlash of every Ryan Howard performance ensued immediately. Every high-fast ball he swung and missed on, every double play with a runner in scoring position, every less than spectacular play at first base were all magnified by 125 million.
The other portion of fans look at the $125 million and the 1,843 strikeouts and say, ‘what’s good about this guy?’ The home runs never reached the totals that he produced in his prime. In fact, he only reached the 30-home run mark twice in the course of his contract, making the All-Star game once in that same span.
“This is an unforgiving, but passionate city of sports fans that put as much emphasis on an athlete’s attitude as their on-field performance.”
Howard’s low batting average was always a problem, but it becomes an even bigger problem when you are amongst the highest-paid athletes in the world. The calls of Harry Kalas’ strikeout call in 2008 and the joy of seeing Ryan Howard sprint towards that mound to tackle Brad Lidge soon faded. That 2006 NL MVP was forgotten, and the city started to turn on their pricey, aging first-baseman.
This legacy is similar to that of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. McNabb was the prolific young quarterback that was meant to lead the franchise toward’s their first Super Bowl victory. A half-decade after being drafted, McNabb reached the Super Bowl.
“But it’s Philly, and there’s no such thing as avoiding a love-hate relationship.”
His performance and vomit scene have tainted his legacy forever in Philadelphia. Fans disregard the fact that he is undoubtedly the best statistical quarterback in franchise history, and possibly the best to ever field the position of quarterback in Eagles’ history.
McNabb’s 6 Pro-Bowls, 5 NFC Championship appearances, and 25 game-winning drives ironically hasn’t helped his legacy. Neither has leading in almost every statistical quarterback category. Philly cares about winning, and McNabb not winning a ring has given him the legacy of “folding under pressure”.
McNabb and Howard are polarizing figures. People either love them unconditionally, or despise their names being brought up as Philly “greats”. What isn’t arguable is the fact that the two embraced Philadelphia even when the city didn’t, and stayed committed to producing for their respective teams.
Ryan Howard helped bring the city’s first championship in 25 years, but even that hasn’t repelled the critics. Donovan McNabb gave the city possibly the greatest stretch of consistency throughout his long tenure as the starting quarterback, but people remember throws at the feet and failure.
We pick and choose our legends. And despite Ryan Howard and Donovan McNabb at points being the best in their entire league, their legend status has become equivocal. Howard’s post glory contract turned him from fan favorite to public enemy number one, despite pouring his heart and soul into the Phillies. Donovan McNabb did everything in his power to keep the Eagles a yearly playoff threat.
McNabb and Howard are two debated figures in Philadelphia for reasons that escape me. If you look at their entire body of work, without seeing names, you’d put them at or near the top of their franchises. The personality factor was never an issue with either of these humble stars, so maybe it’s fans taking them for granted, using recency bias to stain the legacy of these legends.
Ryan Howard and Donovan McNabb deserve to be praised as the greatest Philadelphia athletes of the 2000’s, but the city is stubborn. Sometimes with stubbornness comes ignorance. It’s flat out ignorant to say these two Philly icons should not be considered as some of the best this city has ever seen.
Next: McNabb: The Best QB The Eagles Have Seen
Ryan Howard is a champion, Donovan McNabb is a winner. Let’s remember them as that.