PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — After the Yankees won the 27th World Series Nov. 4, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia made good on a wager with Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York.
The Yankees bested the Phillies four games to two to become the 2009 champions.
Following the terms of the bet, Cardinal Rigali sent a box of Tastykakes to the Big Apple to congratulate his longtime friend on the Yankees win. Had the Phillies won, Archbishop Dolan was to ship a dozen bagels to the City of Brotherly Love.
The cardinal, in a congratulatory note to Archbishop Dolan, said he had “planned to enjoy your New York bagels with Philadelphia Cream Cheese after another Phillies world championship.” With the Yankee win, he said, the “loss of our wager stings a little less” knowing how much the archbishop would enjoy the “taste of Philadelphia.”
Cardinal Rigali also mentioned a possible rematch next year, citing the “talented nucleus” returning to the Phillies for the next season.
The cardinal and the archbishop made the wager Oct. 27.
“Cardinal Rigali is one of my closest and dearest friends; for several years he even served as my archbishop so I feel a particular loyalty to him. I know he has exquisite taste in most matters. I just wish he had better taste in baseball teams,” Archbishop Dolan said in a statement when they made the friendly bet.
Archbishop Dolan was ordained a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese in 1976, and from 1994 to 2003 then-Archbishop Rigali was head of the archdiocese. The New York archbishop also was an auxiliary bishop in St. Louis, 2001-02.