Citizens Bank Stadium Tour A Must Visit for Phillies fans of all ages!

My grandson, Noah, is probably the biggest Phillies fan with six candles or less on his birthday cake. As a matter of fact, today is his sixth birthday.

Since he has already been to several Reading Phillies games, a Philadelphia Phillies game, and has one year of t-ball under his belt (playing for the Yankees, no less), my daughter had the foresight to book a tour of Citizens Bank Park to celebrate his birthday this year.

Now, as a veteran of Connie Mack Stadium and Veterans Stadium, I, too, was interested in getting a behind the scenes look at the Phillies' relatively new digs.

The tour starts with an amazing video that gives you a great perspective on just how the 28-month building project morphed into a ballpark. Our good friend, Harry Kalas, did the narration.

Officially, our tour began down on the field, and it gives you a shiver when you walk on the turf feeling like Ryan Howard, nervously pace the dugout like Charlie Manuel, or trot up the dugout steps onto the field imagining you're Shane Victorino or Chase Utley.

From the Diamond Club seats behind Home Plate, to a visit inside the Diamond Club itself, for just a few minutes, you feel like a "big shot."

Next on the tour are the indoor batting cages, where Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez practice hitting from their own batting tees, or take a few hacks from the pitching machine.

A short elevator ride then took us to the press level where we were given a peek into the Richie Ashburn Radio Broadcasting Booth, and the Harry Kalas TV Booth next door. His equipment and headphones still sit idle in the booth with a simple piece of tape labeled with a marker, "HARRY."

As you sit in his chair,and glance out that window of the booth at the wall in center field, you can almost hear him say, "that ball's outta here, home run!"

Our memories of Harry Kalas will never leave that booth.

After visiting the rest of the press level, we were given a tour of the Hall of Fame section of the ballpark, and a wall made out of 16,289 official major league baseballs.

Another fan favorite was spending time inside the Phillies media room. Here was an excellent opportunity for you to pretend that you are the Phillies manager giving a post game press conference or the GM and are introducing a newly signed free agent.

Included in the tour were visits to the dressing room of the Phillie Phanatic and the locker room for the Umpiring Crew. The latter, by the way, contains the only sign in the ballpark that is not marked in braille. (No pun intended?)

Tour reservations can be made on-line, and there is a $10 charge per person. Our tour took place at 10:30 AM, but check the Phillies' website for details. Admittance to the locker room on game days is not permitted.

There is much more to this behind-the-scenes look at the Phillies, but we'll leave that for you do to discover for yourself. Bring your family or bring your friends, but more importantly, bring your imagination, because for 90 minutes or so, you're part of the team! - Tom Schalata, Jr.