Phillies Fall Classics III: 1980 World Series Game Two

A big 3rd inning explosion and Tug McGraw bullpen heroics had given the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-6 victory in Game One of the 1980 World Series at Veterans Stadium the previous night. That would set the stage for Game Two on Wednesday night, October 15th, 1980.

 

This was a big night for me, as it was and remains still the only World Series game that I have ever personally attended to date. 

 

I was just 18-years-old, having worked for a year at First Pennsylvania Bank as a low-paid, low-level clerk. I didn’t make a lot of money at that point. Frankly, I saw an opportunity to make some quick cash.

 

The Phillies added a new tier of seats for this World Series to expand the capacity and allow more fans to attend. This was bleacher-style seating in what had previously been a walkway at the very top of the 700 level at The Vet, ringing nearly the entire top of the stadium.

 

The weekend before that Fall Classic began, fans were given the opportunity to purchase tickets at the stadium box office. I took a wad of money that I didn’t really have, and on a prayer and the hope that I could sell the tickets for a profit, went down to stand in line.

 

Tickets that were available by the time my turn came were for that new upper-level at $15 each. There was a maximum available per person of eight tickets per game. I purchased eight for Game Two, shelling out the $120 from my wallet. Based on today’s ticket prices, that might sound like a bargain to you. But remember, these were 1980 dollars, and I didn’t have $120 of them to spare.

 

However, the Phils were in the World Series for the first time since 1950, the second time in franchise history, and the first time in my lifetime. The team had the town wildly excited. I believed that I could sell the tickets for a profit, but had no clue for how much.

 

The very first day that I walked into work and let it be known that I had them, one of the more well-off members of my department offered to buy a pair for $50 each. Sold! Later that same day, I sold another pair for $50 each. Four tickets sold in a matter of hours, and $200 returned on my original $120 investment. The next day, which was the day before the game, I unloaded two more for $25 each. With a $180 profit, I was now going to use the final two for myself.

 

At the last minute, my ex-wife was unable to attend, unable to get off from work. In those days before cell phones, pagers, and social media, the only ways to get in touch with someone was usually either in person or via a landline telephone.

 

I got on the telephone and quickly dialed around, frantically looking for someone to go with me. But no one was answering. I later found out that everyone that I had called was either still at work or on their way home. Finally, by a twist of fate, Frank LoBiondo, my uncle by marriage who was husband to my father’s sister, would answer the phone at his house just three blocks from mine. He would prove the lucky recipient of my extra World Series ticket.

 

Uncle Frank and I headed up to the game on the 79 bus, a trackless trolley that ran east-west along Snyder Avenue in South Philly. We then took the Broad Street Subway southbound to Veterans Stadium. 

 

It was a wonderful atmosphere, with the Phillies in the World Series and the stadium dressed up in red, white, and blue bunting and rocking with a boisterous sellout crowd. In just its 10th season of existence, The Vet in those days was still a wonderful place to watch a baseball game.

 

This was my personal setting for the dramatic events that were about to unfold before us, as Uncle Frank and I looked down from our nosebleed seats at the top of the 700-level, the very top of the stadium, directly above home plate.

 

 

The game began as a pitching duel between a pair of strong, experienced lefties. For the Royals it was 32-year-old, 11-year veteran Larry Gura. The Phillies were going with a future Hall of Famer, Steve Carlton, who was then 35-years-old and pitching in his 16th big-league season.

 

Gura and Carlton set down the opposition for the first 4 1/2 innings, and the game remained scoreless as the Phillies came to bat in the home 5th inning. In fact, Gura had a perfect game brewing. When he got Phils’ star third baseman Mike Schmidt to leadoff by grounding out, it was his 13th consecutive batter retired.

 

But the Phils’ bats finally began to get to him. Rookie Keith Moreland started it off, finally breaking up the perfecto with a clean ground single past KC shortstop U.L. Washington. Garry Maddox then drilled a ball deep into the left field corner, holding with a double as the slow-footed Moreland got around to 3rd base. Manny Trillo, the Most Valuable Player of the dramatic NLCS victory over Houston, then delivered a sacrifice fly to score Moreland, and the Phillies had a 1-0 lead. 

 

Larry Bowa followed with a line single to left, and it was a 2-0 lead. The crowd was roaring, and everyone felt the confidence now with Carlton being given a two-run lead. However, “Lefty” wouldn’t hold that lead for long.

 

In the top of the 6th inning, Amos Otis led off with a single and John Wathan walked, putting two aboard with nobody out. Willie Aikens then grounded a ball to usually sure-handed second baseman Manny Trillo. But on this one, Trillo threw the ball away at first base, allowing Otis to score to cut the lead to 2-1.

 

In trouble now, Carlton bore down like his Cy Young Award-winning self. He struck out former Phillie Jose Cardenal and induced Frank White to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 doubleplay.

 

 

Trouble would return for Carlton in the top of the 7th, this time of his own doing. He walked Willie Wilson to lead off the inning, Washington bunted Wilson over to second base, and the speedy Wilson then took off and stole third base, putting the tying run just 90-feet away with one out.

 

That brought to the plate what would normally have been future Hall of Famer George Brett‘s spot in the order. The Royals star third baseman was 2-2 with a walk in the game to that point. However, Brett had to be removed, suffering from a severe bout with hemorrhoids that would plague him the entire series.

 

In Brett’s place stepped Dave Chalk, who worked another walk off Carlton. When veteran Designated Hitter and KC’s cleanup man Hal McRae stepped in, Chalk took off and stole second base. 

 

Now with runners on second and third and one out, McRae walked on a 3-2 pitch, Carlton’s third free pass of the frame. The Phillies still led by 2-1, but the Royals had the bases loaded and just one out. Otis now stepped up and delivered the big blow, ripping a two-run double down the left field line that scored both Wilson and Chalk, putting Kansas City on top by 3-2.

 

Wathan brought home McRae with a sacrifice fly and the Kansas City lead was up to 4-2. Carlton would finally get out of the inning on the same play, with Otis thrown out on an 8-3-5 tootblan.

 

Royals’ manager Jim Frey decided at this point that he wasn’t going to waste his club’s newfound momentum, bringing right-handed closer Dan Quisenberry into the game in the bottom of the 7th inning. The submariner made him look like a genius for the moment, setting the Phillies down in order and sending the game to the 8th with the Royals still up by 4-2.

 

 

Carlton remained on the mound for the Phillies in the top of the 8th inning. Despite allowing a pair of two-out singles the big lefty got out of the inning without damage, striking out a pair of Royals hitters to raise his total to 10 K’s on the night. The Phillies would come to bat in the bottom of the 8th trailing by two runs.

 

Quisenberry was back out on the mound for KC in that bottom of the 8th, and returned Carlton’s earlier favors by committing the baseball cardinal sin of walking the leadoff man, Bob Boone. 

 

Phillies manager Dallas Green now turned to his bench, sending up pinch-hitter extraordinaire Del Unser to bat for rookie Lonnie Smith. Unser, as he did throughout this postseason, made his skipper look like a genius. The 35-year-old lined a double into the left-center gap. As the ball rolled to the wall the slow-footed Boone was able to score all the way from first. 

 

Pete Rose followed by grounding weakly to first base, but it allowed Unser to move over to third, where he stood just 90-feet away from tying the game.

 

The 65,773 fans in the record crowd who had joined Uncle Frank and I would not long forget what happened next.

 

First, Bake McBride drilled a single to right, scoring Unser to tie the game at 4-4.

Then up stepped Schmidt, the Phillies’ own future Hall of Fame third baseman. Schmidt crushed a double to the outfield wall. McBride charged around third, sliding in just ahead of a throw to score the go-ahead run. Schmidt rolled on to third base on the play, and when Moreland followed with a clean base hit to center, Schmidt scored with the run that put the Phillies up by 6-4.

 

Carlton would not come out to try and protect that lead in the 9th inning. He had thrown 159 pitches already. Allow that number to sink in for a minute, unheard of in our modern game. 

 

Green did not have his closer, McGraw, available either. Tugger had thrown 27 pitches in registering his third Save of the postseason the previous night.

 

Green considered his options, and chose to bring in 37-year-old, 15-year veteran Ron Reed to try and nail down a victory. The right-hander allowed a one-out single to McRae. After registering the second out, he would face Wathan as the tying run. 

 

With the entire ballpark on its feet in the tense moment, Reed struck Wathan out on a 2-2 pitch. It set off a wild celebration in the stands, including Uncle Frank and I exchanging high fives with one another along with every fan in hand-slapping distance of us.

 

The Phillies had a 2-0 lead in the 1980 World Series. It meant at the very least that the club would return home to The Vet, even if the Royals somehow managed to sweep the three upcoming games out in Kansas City.

 

That very nearly did happen. But as the next chapter in this Phillies Fall Classics series will show, the Fightin’ Phils would indeed find a way to win one game on the road, coming home less than a week from this very night with a chance to win the first World Series championship in franchise history.