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John Middleton steps up for Phillies ownership

So now they have names, those mystery Phillies owners.

And, it seems, a more public and assertive way of doing things.

``Jim, Pete and I,’’ John Middleton said repeatedly during Monday’s press conference announcing the imminent hire of Andy MacPhail as the next president of the Phillies, referencing a partnership group that – at least until yesterday – could roam freely through Citizens Bank Park without fear of recognition.

That’s likely to change.

John Middleton and James and Peter Buck – the remaining owners from the cluster of names that silently and obscurely oversaw the operation of this franchise for more than two decades – will be more public in the coming years, said Middleton, who not only sat on a podium with the new Phillies president and the outgoing one Monday, but starred in the production as well.