The 1980 edition of the Phillies may not have been the best team, talent-wise, in Phillies history. Both the 1976 and 1977 Phils won more games. The Phillies also won pennants in 1915, 1950, 1983, and 1993. In fact, it took a near miracle (and a six-game winning streak at the end of the year) for the Phillies to even win the division crown over the powerhouse Expos in 1980. Then the Phillies looked at baseball's version of the Grim Reaper against Houston, coming back in the 8th inning of games 4 and 5, winning both in extra innings to go to the World Series. And against the Royals, the Phillies just would not be denied, winning the FIRST World Championship in Phillies history in six games. Yes, other Phillies teams may have had more talent. Other Phillies teams may have won more games. But the 1980 Phillies won, with grit and determination, what no other Phillies team could achieve until 2008: The right to call themselves WORLD CHAMPIONS.

October 2024 Update:  Another month up, another month done!  September articles from the 1980 Atlantic City Press, including the untimely death of long-time sportswriter Harry Hoffman, is now in the library.  I also was able to condense the Camden Courier-Post and the Atlantic City Press from April through September.  While condensing, I was also able to fix the formatting errors I had discovered.  There is still a ways to go, but progress was made!

RIP Pete:  Pete Rose, the major league's all-time hit king, passed away on Sept. 30 at the age of 83.  Rose, whose ban from MLB for gambling on baseball has led to his exclusion from the Hall of Fame, was pivotal to the Phillies' first world championship in 1980.  Playing five years for the Phils, Rose stroked 826 of his 4,256 hits in pinstripes.

Division Title!  For the first time since 2011, the Phillies are the National League Eastern Division Champions!  The Phillies finished their schedule with a 95-67 record, six games above both rivals. 

Playoff Time:    The Phillies did not quite earn the best record of the National League, which went instead to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  However, the Phils did earn the second seed, which includes a bye for the wildcard round.  While there are some who believe the bye leaves teams flat for the second round, it seems to be that the team could use a few days’ rest to prepare for the playoffs.  As long as they can be mentally sharp, the rest could do them good.

Still On the Lookout For:

·   Digital pictures from the 1980 season.  I’ve been putting in a lot of clips from the newspaper I get the articles from, but the quality is often less than optimal.

·   Articles from the Philadelphia Bulletin.  Richie Ashburn used to do a weekly article in that newspaper, but to this point I cannot find it online.  Online, scanned, clipped… most importantly free!

Future Updates:  With October, the Phillies will enter the playoffs – both today and in 1980.  I will be starting the playoff articles this month, and hopefully finishing them (though sometimes there are many more articles to transcribe with the playoffs).  I will continue as time allows to fix the formatting errors that I have discovered in recent updates.  Future possibilities for articles include the Asbury Park (NJ) Press, Lancaster (PA) Intelligencer Journal, the Lancaster (PA) New Era,  and the Lebanon (PA) Daily News.  I will need to further condense the article pages to give space for these future possibilities:  instead of individual pages for the non-Philly newspapers, I will need to combine the rest into Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania newspapers (with maybe an additional page for Suburban papers).