Ben Revere digging Philadelphia’s history

Ben Revere is starting to pick it up at the plate — and soaking in Philly’s history.

When Vance Worley was traded for Ben Revere, the first thing Vanimal thought of was how cold Minnesota would be early in the season. Worley didn’t know much about Minneapolis except that it was between his native Sacramento and his adopted home of Philadelphia. He was less than thrilled about relocating.

When Revere found out that he was history in Minny, one of his first thoughts was about digging into the history of Philadelphia.

“That’s my favorite subject,” Revere said. “When I’m not playing baseball or thinking about baseball, I have the History Channel on and I’m digging into history. It’s fascinating.”

Revere hasn’t had much of a chance to explore Center City, which attracts countless history buffs every year.

“I want to check out the sights and the museums and get to know Philadelphia,” Revere said. “It’s an extraordinary place. It’s one of the reasons I was happy to be traded to Philadelphia. There’s so much history here. So much has happened in this city. I’m looking forward to learning more about it. But I can’t focus on it now because I have to focus on why I’m here in the first place.”

Revere is finally putting it together between the lines. Entering last night’s Phillies-Red Sox game, the fleet center fielder was hitting .263 (second-best average among starters). He was hitting around .200 in the first six weeks of the season.

“I’m going to do what I can to get on track,” Revere said. “I know I can hit better than what I’ve shown so far. Fortunately, it’s a long season. I’ll get my numbers up. I’m not worried about that.”

Revere hopes to amp up his average and also to try a cheesesteak, not a cheesecake.

“I’m still getting grief for saying that I had to get a cheesecake when I was being interviewed during spring training,” Revere said. “I was going to the Cheesecake Factory and that messed me up. I made a mistake, but I’ll get right.”

Or Revere will be history. Well, not quite.