Since my original discovery of a brand on Ryan Howard’s left arm over a year ago, I’ve been scouring various photo galleries for a a cleaner, full brand shot. Considering every photo I ever saw of the brand has been from Spring Training and partially obscured by his jersey, I wasn’t really expecting to get a pic during the regular season. But then, during the pre-game portion of last night’s telecast, the Comcast cameras caught Howard walking into the clubhouse wearing a throwback Dr. J All-Star jersey, exposing the brand for all to see.

Just as I suspected, the brand is in honor of his Southwest Missouri State fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma (ΦΒΣ). Check out the clip below; and don’t fret — if you miss it the first time, I went ahead and replayed it a second time and slowed it down while zooming in so you can get a better look. And the best part about the slo-mo replay is Harry Kalas’ voice is also skewed, making him sound shitface drunk.

If you still don’t notice it, check the screenshots after the jump.

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As a “writer” for the Phillies, I have a habit of saving an inordinate amount of player photos on my laptop. A majority never get used, so every once in a while I like to sort through the various folders and clean them out. The other day while deleting some pics from Spring Training, I noticed a shot of what seemed to be a scar on Ryan Howard’s left arm. But upon closer inspection, that “scar” looked more like he had been branded. Being that I have zero Photoshop skills, I forwarded it to someone who does and asked him if he could zoom in on it.

Check out what I got back:

Yup, looks like a brand to me. How did this go unnoticed? What’s the significance?

After the jump, I’ll do my best to figure it out…

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