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Got the Phanatic and the official Vet logo. Nice.

 

Barely a month after stopping by “The Vet” for a Ferris Bueller-esque day off, ABC’s The Goldbergs is going back tomorrow night. For the episode “The Lost Boy,” the show draws on a very specific memory for producer Adam Goldberg, according to Todd Zolecki:

“There was one particular instance where we got separated, and in the ’80s when you got separated from somebody in a big place without a cell phone, there was no way to find them. So I was telling this story [in the writers’ room] about how I went with my dad to a Phillies game and we got separated. And there was this panic you felt, because Veterans Stadium was so big and so scary. It was terrifying. It’s really an episode about Adam’s [portrayed by Sean Giambrone] transition into manhood as he learns to survive in Veterans Stadium by himself.”

But neither of the scripts for the show’s visits to “The Vet” were initially cleared by the MLB. Goldberg had a chat with the Phillies director of marketing and special projects Michael Harris, and got the scripts cleared, with one change: No throwing batteries.

Goldberg said he “very cavalierly” wrote a joke in “Barry Goldberg’s Day Off” about Barry Goldberg (Adam’s older brother, portrayed by Troy Gentile) being pelted by batteries at a Phillies game after he caught a ball.

“And here come the batteries,” the announcer said.

“That one line they were like, ‘Oh, boy. That’s a nonstarter. That’s something we never want to happen again. We don’t want to encourage it,'” Goldberg said. “When I heard that was the concern, I was like, ‘Oh, I totally get what you’re saying. We’ll remove it.’

“They had concerns about the scripts as any franchise would, be it sports or even when we try to get an ’80s movie cleared. Everyone wants their property to be portrayed in the right way, and they have concerns.”

The Phillies even sent the Phanatic over for good measure, to save Goldberg $8,000 to create a reproduction costume. The Goldbergs airs tomorrow at 8:30 p.m., and now you also know what it’ll cost to make your own Phanatic costume. [Editor’s note: Somewhere, the Always Sunny guys wonder why in the hell they had to use the cheap-looking Frenetic.]