October 21, 1980: After 98 seasons of play, the Philadelphia Phillies are 1 game away from finally winning their 1st World Championship. They are the last of the "Original 16" teams not to have won a World Series.
It's Game 6 against the Kansas City Royals at Veterans Stadium. Steve Carlton starts. In 1972, when the Phillies won only 59 games all season, Carlton won 27 of them. He would tell his teammates, "It's Win Day." He was never that good again, but he was still as good as any pitcher in baseball. Now, he was ready to pitch the clincher. It was Win Day. Or so they hoped.
The game was scoreless in the bottom of the 3rd when catcher Bob Boone -- son of Ray, and father of Aaron and Bret -- walked to lead off. Lonnie Smith reached on an error. Pete Rose, despite being 39 years old, not only bunted the runners over, but beat it out. The bases were loaded with nobody out. And Mike Schmidt, so often ripped in the Philadelphia media for not coming through when it matters, singled home Boone and Smith.
The Phillies got another run in the bottom of the 5th when Smith doubled, Rose hit a sacrifice fly to center to move him to 3rd, Schmidt was walked sort-of-intentionally, and Bake McBride hit a grounder to short to bring Smith home. In the bottom of the 6th, Larry Bowa doubled to left, and was singled home by Boone. Smith flew to center. Phillies 4, Royals 0.
In the 8th, Carlton tired, and the Royals scored a run. John Wathan drew one of those dangerous leadoff walks, and Cardenal singled to left. Green had seen enough: He pulled the great Carlton, who got a big hand, and replaced him with Tug McGraw. Tug finished the inning without further damage.
To start the 9th, McGraw struck Amos Otis out looking. 2 more. But he walked Willie Aikens. With Aikens a bit pudgy and not fleet of foot, Frey sent Onix Concepcion in as a pinch-runner. Wathan singled to right. Cardenal singled to center, but it was too short, and Maddox too good a center fielder, for Concepcion to risk being thrown out at the plate.
Then came a play that had Phillies fans -- remembering the collapse of the last 2 weeks of the 1964 regular season, the shocking 9th inning of Game 3 of the 1977 NL Championship Series, and he NLCS losses of 1976 and 1978 -- thinking, "Oh no, here we go again." Frank White popped up, and the ball drifted toward the Phillie dugout along the 1st base line. Boone chased it. He was normally a good fielder. But it popped out of his glove...
But Rose was right there to catch it. What could have been a disaster was prevented by "Charlie Hustle," the heart and soul of the Cincinnati "Big Red Machine" that had won 4 Pennants and 2 World Series in the previous decade, and had been brought to the Phils to teach them a winning attitude.
One out to go. There are 65,838 Phanatics roaring inside The Vet. The batter was Willie Wilson. Now, McGraw was nervous. And he was a bit spoked by the mounted policemen that Mayor Bill Green sent to line the field in foul territory, to keep fans off the field, artificial though it was. No one wanted a repeat of the Phils' last game at Connie ack Stadium, 10 years earlier, when the fans rioted and tore the old ballpark apart.
McGraw got to a count of 1 & 2. He was gassed. But he had all Fall and Winter to rest. He put everything he had into one last screwball. It was 11:29 PM on October 21, 1980. Wilson swung and missed for strike 3.
According to the Nielsen ratings system, this game was watched by 55 million people, making it the most-watched baseball game of all time.
Dallas Green's wild (or, at least, wild-haired) bunch had done it. Boone, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, Garry Maddox, all the rest, after 3 failed trips to the postseason before this, they had their ring at long last. Rose and McGraw, opponents in the '73 NLC,S and each with at least 1 previous ring, add to their collection. So do Carlton, who'd won with the '67 Cardinals; and Manny Trillo, the 2nd baseman who'd won with the '74 A's, and made a huge difference for the '80 Phils, particularly as the MVP of the NLCS.
The next day’s Philadelphia Daily News filled up their entire front page beneath the masthead with the words "We Win!" A parade went down Broad Street from City Hall to the Sports Complex, and a massive rally at John F. Kennedy Stadium, whose 105,000 seats was a lot more than the Vet's 65,000. Tug held the Daily News up for all to see. It remains the greatest moment in the history of Philadelphia sports.
The Phillies won another World Series in 2008. Again, it ended on a strikeout, Brad Lidge fanning Eric Hinske of the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park. There was another parade. Jamie Moyer had attended the 1980 parade as a 17-year-old high school senior in nearby Souderton, Pennsylvania. As a 45-year-old Phillies pitcher, he was in the 2008 parade.
In 1978, the Phillies founded the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame. They have elected a Phillies figure every year since, and elected a Philadelphia Athletics figure every year until 2003. From the 1980 team, they have elected Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Tug McGraw, Garry Maddox, Bob Boone, John Vukovich, Manny Trillo, Bake McBride, Ron Reed, manager Dallas Green, executives Paul Owens and David Montgomery, owner Ruly Carpenter, and broadcasters Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas. Pete Rose was set to be elected to it, but shortly after the announcement that there would be such a ceremony, allegations were made that forced a cancellation of the honor.
Carlton, Schmidt, Bowa, Luzinski, McGraw, Maddox, Boone, Green, Owens, Montgomery, Ashburn, Kalas, executive Bill Giles and public address announcer Dan Baker have also been elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. Rose would probably be in it as well, if not for those allegations.
*
October 21, 1980 was a Tuesday. This was also the day of the "October Surprise" that prevented the ending of the Iran Hostage Crisis before the Presidential election on November 4. I have a separate entry for that event. Also, businesswoman/socialite Kim Kardashian was born on this day.
It was midweek for football. There were 8 NBA games played that day:
* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 105-97 at Madison Square Garden. Ray Williams scored 27 for the Knickerbockers.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 121-116 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-95 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 116-11 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the the Hy-Vee Arena.)
* The Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets, 119-117 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. Moses Malone had 41 points and 26 rebounds for the Rockets.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the San Diego Clippers, 123-120 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. The Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks, 111-99 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-103 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 4 NHL games:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-5 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the St. Louis Arena.
