Philly players wants to find Subway love

[Chicago JK]

Wolf still wondering about mystery girl on N.Y. subway
June 14, 2003
By Scott Miller
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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How many times has this happened to you:

You're standing with friends on a New York City subway platform. A very attractive woman approaches. She needs directions. You know directions. The clackety-clack roar of the subway cars turns everything into a romantic blur. You help the young and beautiful woman (think Natalie Portman) toward the right train and make sure she gets on OK. Above the din, your friends holler for you. You whirl around, too late. They're on the train, but the door is closing. The girl disappears in one direction. Your friends disappear in the other.


Randy Wolf's tale of lost love has captured the attention of the national media.(AP)
You stand there alone, dazed, wondering what just hit you. And wondering why you didn't at least get the woman's name. So you go to work, the story spreads and, next thing you know, an all-points-bulletin practically has been issued. The story goes national, appearing in Sports Illustrated and People magazines, among others, and dozens of women contact your employer claiming to be Mysterious Subway Girl.

OK, so maybe this exact scenario hasn't quite happened to you ...

"It's like, what the hell is going on?" Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Randy Wolf says. "Trust me, I didn't think I was noteworthy enough to be in any gossip column."

The Subway Encounter Heard 'Round the World happened in late May, and to this day, Wolf really only knows one thing about the girl he would love to have the opportunity to meet again.

"I'm pretty sure she's not from New York," he says. "She had no idea how to get to Times Square. If you're from New York, I'm pretty sure you know."

Wolf was on his way to Shea Stadium that day with a handful of his Phillies teammates. Brandon Duckworth was one. Brett Myers was another. It was Myers who stuck out his hand to try to keep the subway door open as Wolf scrambled toward it. Fortunately, he pulled his arm back in before the doors closed. He was the starting pitcher that day, and it would have been hell trying to explain that injury to manager Larry Bowa.

So Wolf wound up riding to Shea alone with his thoughts. When he arrived, his teammates were dying to know details.

"We were laughing," Duckworth says. "We were able to see what he was like and we were like, 'Geez, somebody made an impression on this guy.'"

So, of course, they did their best to help. What happened with the girl, they demanded. You didn't even get her number?

"But even if I tried, it would have been hard not to come off looking like some kind of weirdo on the subway," Wolf says.

Even those Phillies who weren't at the scene had to concede that, yes, this sure sounded like a Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan moment.

"I guess if you look at it from a chick's standpoint, it's pretty romantic," Phillies reliever Turk Wendell says. "Unfortunately, he never did find out more about her. But it's a good story. It gave us something to talk about for a few days."

A few days? Three weeks later, Phillies outfielder Ricky Ledee is still calling Wolf the "Train Stalker."

"It was kind of cool," Wolf says. "You don't see many innocent-looking people on the subway, especially in New York."

Word of Wolf's encounter spread more quickly than the latest soapy twist on The Young and the Restless. Women began e-mailing the Phillies. Good Morning America and The Today Show both requested Wolf live. The people from Liz Claiborne called, wanting Wolf to endorse a new line of perfume called "Spark."

"It's ridiculous," says Phillies' publicist Leigh Tobin, shaking her head and chuckling. "The phone calls, reality TV shows … we've had sketch artists wanting to draw her."

The Phillies have received about 30 e-mails so far, some serious, some not-so-serious. One guy wrote an emotional note surmising that it may have been his sister whom Wolf met. For a moment, he had the Phillies wondering.

Then they opened the attached photo of the man's "sister" … and it was a photo of a guy in drag.

A week after the subway meeting, Wolf was at home in Veterans Stadium, running in the outfield, preparing for his next start, with the Mets in town. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied a big, fat man wearing a Mets jersey … and a wig.

As Wolf ran across the outfield, the man held up a big sign: "Hey Wolf, I'm the girl from the subway."

"I put my head down and tried not to laugh," Wolf says.

What else can he do? Even in this age of Internet search engines, it's pretty difficult to track down a pretty woman when you don't know her name and have no idea where she's from.

"It would have made a cool, happy-ending story," Wendell says, "if he had just gotten to meet her."

[Murphy3]

well, all you can say is "Good Luck"
it would make for a cool story. unfortunately, it'd probably end up on the WE channel in a year or so if they actually did meet

[Mandyahl]

hmmm, it makes it sound like i have been really out of it if i haven't heard this story.