When Citizens Bank Park opened on April 3, 2024, it was the result of twelve years (and many false starts) of maneuvering for the venue to replace Veterans Stadium as the home to the Philadelphia Phillies. Banking On It describes the politicking that took place, from conflicts between the Phillies and the Philadelphia Eagles resulting from sharing a venue, to decisions about where to build the new ballpark, who would pay for it, and where the outfield fences would be placed.

Paul Hagen and Kevin Cooney recount the setbacks, frustrations, missteps, political machinations, and angst the team surmounted as the process played out. But Banking On It also details the benefits of all these efforts—the Phillies became a powerhouse franchise after settling into their new home. The new stadium helped the team elevate its game by generating money to attract and keep better players, including Jim Thome, Ryan Howard, and Kyle Schwarber taking advantage of groundwork laid by scouts and managers. The Phillies have had their most successful two decades in franchise history playing at Citizens Bank Park.

Banking On It celebrates the game, the team, and the stadium that helped create a championship era.

Paul Hagen is a baseball writer who has covered the sport and profiled more than a dozen Hall of Famers throughout a fifty-year career. He articles have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Times Herald, the San Bernardino Sun and on MLB.com. He is author of Hell of a Way to Make a Living: The Unvarnished Truth about What It’s Like to Cover Major League Baseball (Temple) and the coauthor (with John Kruk) of "I Ain't an Athlete, Lady...": My Well-Rounded Life and Times. In 2013, he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for “meritorious contributions to baseball writing” at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.