The matched the
Philadelphia Phillies against the
Kansas City Royals , with the Phillies winning in six games to capture the only World Series title in franchise history to date. It is remembered for Game 6, which ended with
Tug McGraw striking out
Willie Wilson at 11:29 p.m. Willie Wilson would set a World Series record by striking out 12 times in the six-game set.
The
Philadelphia Phillies won the
National League East division by 1 game over the
Montreal Expos then defeated the
Houston Astros , three games to two, in the
National League Championship Series . The
Kansas City Royals won the
American League West division by 14 games over the
Oakland Athletics then defeated the
New York Yankees , three games to none, in the
American League Championship Series .
Two freshman managers,
Dallas Green of the
Philadelphia Phillies and
Jim Frey of the
Kansas City Royals found themselves with an opportunity to do what no other manager could do before them; win a World Championship for their respective clubs. This was the first appearance for the Phillies since losing to the
New York Yankees in the
1950 Series and just their third overall, having also lost to the
Boston Red Sox in
1915 .
The
Kansas City Royals entered the league as an
Expansion club in
1969 . They had early success under the leadership of
Whitey Herzog , winning their division from 1976 to 1978 but each year they would lose to the
New York Yankees in the
American League Championship Series , exacting revenge with a sweep of the Yankees in the
1980 ALCS . The Phillies had a strikingly similar run entering this Series, as they were also divisional winners from 1976 to 1978, losing to the
Cincinnati Reds in
1976 NLCS and the
Los Angeles Dodgers in
1977 and
1978 , before regrouping in
1980 and triumphing over the
Houston Astros in the league championship series.
The led the club in hits (185) and doubles (42), while speedster centerfielders
Garry Maddox and utility-man
Lonnie Smith combined for 68 steals. The pitching staff was just good enough, led by Carlton and 17-game winner
Dick Ruthven . In the bullpen was the ever enthusiastic screwballer
Tug McGraw who was making his third trip to the Series, riding the bench with the winning
New York Mets in
1969 and the losing Mets in
1973 . Third time was the charm for both the cheerleading McGraw and the bad-luck Phillies.
The
Kansas City Royals had a
Most Valuable Player of their own in the indomitable superstar, third-baseman
George Brett who flirted with the sacred .400 mark all summer before settling a for not-so-bad .390 batting average. The unquestioned heart and soul of the Royals was surrounded by a solid corps including veteran Royals,
Amos Otis , super-designated-hitter,
Hal McRae , solid second-baseman,
Frank White and switch-hitter
Willie Wilson who finished the season with 230 hits and 79 stolen bases. The pitching staff had six players with 10 or more wins led by 20-game winner,
Dennis Leonard (20-11, 3.79) and left-hander,
Larry Gura (18-10, 2.95). Submariner
Dan Quisenberry won 12 games out of the bullpen including an
American League best 33 saves.
October 14 ,
1980 at
Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kansas City Royals 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 9 1
Philadelphia Phillies 0 0 5 1 1 0 0 0 X 7 11 0
PITCHERS: KCR - Leonard, Martin (4), Quisenberry (8)
PHI - Walk, McGraw (8)
WP - Walk
LP - Leonard
SAVE - McGraw
HOME RUNS: KCR - Otis, Aikens (2)
PHI - McBride
ATTENDANCE: 65,791
The Royals jumped on Philly rookie starter
Bob Walk early with a pair of two run bombs - one by
Amos Otis in the second and another by
Willie Aikens in the third. In their half of the third, the Phils rallied to take the lead. The key blow coming on a three run homer by
Bake McBride . They would add two more runs late to extend their lead. Despite Aikens hitting another two run homer to cut the lead to one,
Tug McGraw was able to hold on the Phillies a 7-6 victory.
October 15 ,
1980 at
Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kansas City Royals 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 4 11 0
Philadelphia Phillies 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 X 6 8 1
PITCHERS: KCR - Gura, Quisenberry (7)
PHI - Carlton, Reed (9)
WP - Carlton
LP - Quisenberry
SAVE - Reed
HOME RUNS: KCR - none
PHI - none
ATTENDANCE: 65,775
Game 2 was a pitcher's duel between left handers
Larry Gura and
Steve Carlton . Carlton looked in control up 2-1 until, acting on a complaint from Kansas City manager Jim Frey that Carlton was using a foreign substance on the ball, the umpires made Carlton wash his hands.During Game 2 of the 2006 World Series on October 22, 2006, the television announcers on Fox related this story when the Fox cameras picked up an inexplicable foreign substance on Kenny Rogers's hand. Carlton then loaded the bases on three walks and
Amos Otis ripped a double into the left field corner driving in two, and setting up a third score. The Phillies were down 4-2 they rallied to go up on the Royals in the eighth. The big hits in this inning came on a game-tying RBI double by
Del Unser and a go ahead RBI single by
Bake McBride past the drawn in infield.
Mike Schmidt drove in an insurance run with a double off the right-center field wall and
Ron Reed picked up the save in the ninth as Philadelphia went up 2-0 heading to Kansas City.
October 17 ,
1980 at
Royals Stadium in
Kansas City, Missouri
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Philadelphia Phillies 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 14 0
Kansas City Royals 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 11 0
PITCHERS: PHI - Ruthven, McGraw (10)
KCR - Gale, Martin (5), Quisenberry (8)
WP - Quisenberry
LP - McGraw
SAVE - none
HOME RUNS: PHI - Schmidt
KCR - Brett, Otis
ATTENDANCE: 42,380
K.C. got back in the series with a thrilling extra inning victory in Game 3.
George Brett began the scoring with a blast into the right field stands in the first.
Amos Otis gave the Royals a 3-2 lead in the seventh with a home run but
Mike Schmidt tied it with a homer of his own in the eighth. The game headed into extra frames and in the bottom of the tenth,
Willie Aikens drove in
Willie Wilson with a double to left-center for the game winning run.
October 18 ,
1980 at
Royals Stadium in
Kansas City, Missouri
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Philadelphia Phillies 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 10 1
Kansas City Royals 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 5 10 2
PITCHERS: PHI - Christenson, Noles (1), Saucier (6), Brusstar (6)
KCR - Leonard, Quisenberry (8)
WP - Leonard
LP - Christenson
SAVE - Quisenberry
HOME RUNS: PHI - none
KCR - Aikens (2)
ATTENDANCE: 42,363
A beautiful Saturday afternoon was the setting for Game 4. The Royals jumped all over Phillies starter
Larry Christenson in the bottom of the first.
Willie Wilson doubled,
George Brett tripled him in, and
Willie Aikens smashed his third homer of the series. The onslaught continued when
Amos Otis doubled in
Hal McRae to give the Royals a 4-0 lead right out of the gate. Aikens would add another blast an inning later and despite the Phils' attempt at another comeback, the Royals would triumph 5-3. Despite the Royals victory, Game 4 is best remembered for Dickie Noles' fourth inning brushback pitch under Brett's chin that ultimately prompted the umpires to issue warnings to each team. Brett told Baseball Digest in March 1998 that he had "no idea if that
pitch by Noles turned the Series around. All I know is we lost." Mike Schmidt, in his book "Clearing The Bases," called it "the greatest brushback in World Series history."
October 19 ,
1980 at
Royals Stadium in
Kansas City, Missouri
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Philadelphia Phillies 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 7 0
Kansas City Royals 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 12 2
PITCHERS: PHI - Bystrom, Reed (6), McGraw (7)
KCR - Gura, Quisenberry (7)
WP - McGraw
LP - Quisenberry
SAVE - none
HOME RUNS: PHI - Schmidt
KCR - Otis
ATTENDANCE: 42,369
Game 5 would be the pivotal game as the Phillies went up 3 games to 2. The game was scoreless until the fourth when
Mike Schmidt hit a two run bomb to right-center. The red hot
Amos Otis led the Royals back with another homer and by the sixth, K.C. was in front 3-2. After the Phillies threw out a K.C. runner at the plate to keep the game a one run affair, they marched to victory by coming back in the ninth. Schmidt singled to open the inning and
Del Unser drove him home all the way from first with a double down the right field line. After a bunt moved Unser to third,
Manny Trillo drove in the go ahead run with a line shot the ricocheted off pitcher
Dan Quisenberry for an infield hit. In the bottom of the ninth, the Royals threatened by loading the bases with two out. The fans at Royals Stadium were standing hoping for a dramatic K.C. win. But
Tug McGraw slienced the crowd by striking out
José Cardenal with a high fastball to end the game.
October 21 ,
1980 at
Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kansas City Royals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 2
Philadelphia Phillies 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 X 4 9 0
PITCHERS: KCR - Gale, Martin (3), Splittorff (5), Pattin (7), Quisenberry (8)
PHI - Carlton, McGraw (8)
WP - Carlton
LP - Gale
SAVE - McGraw
HOME RUNS: KCR - none
PHI - none
ATTENDANCE: 65,838
Game 6 would be the culmination for the first Phillies championship ever. Philadelphia scored two in the third on a
Mike Schmidt single. It was all that
Steve Carlton and
Tug McGraw would need for the 4-1 win. Kansas City made Philly fans nervous by loading the bases in the eighth and the ninth but Tug McGraw struck out
Willie Wilson for the third out in the final frame.
:
mlb.com coverage of Game 6
over
Kansas City Royals (A.L.)
- Willie Aikens of the Royals became the first player in World Series history to have a pair of two-homer games.
- George Brett had to have minor surgery after Game 2. In Game 3, a fully recovered Brett hit a home run as his Royals wound up winning in 10 innings by the score of 4-3.
- Phillies catcher Bob Boone 's knees were so sore by the end of the World Series that he could barely make it to the mound after the final out was recorded.
- Willie Wilson of the Royals struck out 12 times in the six games after getting 230 hits in the regular season that year.
- When the modern-day World Series began in 1903, the National and American Leagues each had eight teams. With their victory in the 1980 World Series, the Phillies became the last of the "Original Sixteen" franchises to win a Series (although it should be noted that the St. Louis Browns never won a Series in St. Louis, having to wait until 1966, twelve years after they had become the Baltimore Orioles ).
- The Royals became the first American League expansion team to reach the World Series.
- Soon after the World Series, members of both teams played for a week on '' Family Feud '' with host Richard Dawson . The Phillies won three out of the five games played, with all the money going to charity.
- As of 2007 , this is the last World Series with both franchises not having won a World Series to that point. This was the first time that had happened since 1920 .
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 383-387)
