Luke McNichol was sound asleep when his phone blew up with messages. He thought he knew what the notifications were about. McNichol, the baseball coach at Henderson High in West Chester, Pa., is one of the few local fans who isn’t rooting for the Phillies this November. He figured the Phillies had come back to win Game 5 of the World Series.
What he didn’t know was that Chas McCormick — his former player and the reason he’s pulling for the Astros — held off a ninth-inning rally when he robbed J.T. Realmuto of extra bases. McCormick leaped and banged into the wall at Citizens Bank Park to haul in what could have been a double or more. The catch helped the Astros win Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
McCormick lay on the ground with his back on the warning track dirt, his glove in the air in a ballpark he’s plenty familiar with. McCormick grew up a die-hard Phillies fan. He played high school ball about a 45-minute drive away from the park.
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“I wanted to lay there longer,” McCormick said Thursday night. “If it were the last out, I would’ve laid there all night.”
But his high school coach didn’t see it live. McNichol woke up in the middle of the night to check the score. And it wasn’t until the next morning that he saw the highlights and fans talking about McCormick’s catch. He showed his wife.
“I’ve seen him make great catches, but that catch has to go down as the best catch I’ve ever seen him make because of the stage he was on when he made it and the circumstances around it and the hometown,” McNichol said. “I can’t imagine what he was feeling like. It just brings tears to your eyes just knowing a kid that grew up in right outside of Philly goes and … like I said, it was robbery at the Bank.”
McNichol has coached Henderson since 1988, coaching not only McCormick but his twin, Jason, and his older brothers Ryan and Sean. McNichol believes having brothers helped McCormick work through adversity as a player.
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McCormick played at Henderson from 2010 to 2013 and immediately contributed on the varsity team as a first baseman, pitcher and center fielder. McNichol remembers McCormick as a confident player and a good teammate. He recalls the pressure never getting to McCormick, especially when facing older opponents or when he’d make mistakes.
“And that’s one of the things about that catch last night,” McNichol said. “[Astros third baseman Alex] Bregman even said it: He struck out the inning before that. And he goes out and his job now is to be the best fielder he can be. And he went and made that catch and that was just unbelievable.”
The catch helped the Astros win a crucial game and take two games at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies had not lost in the playoffs entering the series. Philadelphia did win Game 3, McNichol was there to see. McCormick set aside three tickets for McNichol and two assistant coaches to attend.
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They sat in Section 235, surrounded by fans decked out in Phillies gear. McNichol showed up in a hostile environment wearing his Astros gear. And when Astros fans started to do the “Chas Chomp” — mimicking the University of Florida chomp — McNichol joined in with the Houston television cameras shining on him.
If it was any other team, McNichol would be cheering for the Phillies. But other teams don’t have McCormick.
McNichol is especially proud of McCormick’s journey because of the unique path to get there. McCormick was a “Division I talent” according to McNichol, but his measurables kept him from getting offers from bigger programs. So he followed in his oldest brother Ryan’s footsteps and played at Division II Millersville before eventually being taken in the 21st round of the 2017 draft and making his way to the majors.
McNichol won’t make it to Houston as the Astros look to clinch the World Series at home Saturday. Still, he will be rooting for the hometown kid who made one of the biggest plays of the postseason.
“That [catch] did not surprise me at all,” McNichol said. “It’s hard to believe that that’s the same kid that was here and started as a freshman through senior year.”
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