Wilmington Evening Journal - October 14, 1980

Phils hailed:  ‘We’re goin’ all the way!’

By Staff Correspondent

PHILADELPHIA – They stood and waited, more than 5,000 people, in the biting wind, some for over three hours. These were loyal Phillies fans.

They gathered at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday afternoon to do one thing: greet the National League champions on their triumphant return from Houston. And the cheering and enthusiasm never let up.

"We're goin' all the way!" shouted a bunch of rowdies from Philadelphia as they took swigs from beer bottles. "There's no doubt about it now!"

Pennants, signs and posters were in abundance. One man had a stack of small signs saying "PHILS WILL!" in red letters and was passing one out to everyone. One cloth banner about 10 feet wide proclaimed: "Pinstriped chaos."

The fever will peak tonight at 8:30 when rookie pitcher Bob Walk takes the mound for the Phillies against the Kansas City Royals. Walk, 11-7, had several impressive outings after being brought up from the minor leagues in mid-summer, but his recent performances have been erratic.

Phillies Manager Dallas Green tapped Walk for the opening game because the team's' other starting pitchers were used up in the playoff series against the Houston Astros.

Kansas City, champions of the American League, wil counter with Dennis Leonard, a righthander who won 20 games and lost 11 during the regular season.

The weather for tonight's World Series game – the first in Philadelphia in 30 years is expected to be chilly, with temperatures dropping into the 40s. No rain is anticipated.

The game will be televised by the NBC network (Channels 3, 8, 11 and 16) and by WPHL-TV (Channel 17). Area radio stations carrying the game include WDEL, WILM, WCAU, KYW, WBOC and WAFL-FM. Most pre-game shows will begin at 8 p.m.

By mid-afternoon yesterday, close to 10,000 fans were in the immediate vicinity of Veterans Stadium, causing massive traffic jams.

But if they wanted tickets, they were just about out of luck. None were left yesterday afternoon except for a possible seventh game next week.

B&B Tickettown in Wilmington has no more tickets available.

Daffiness will win the World Series

By Al Cartwright

EVERYONE IS SAYING the World' Series is going to be anticlimactlc for My Beloved Phillies and also for the fans after what they all went through in the unbearably daffy playoff with the Houston Astros.

What they went through was sheer, almost shattering torture. The Phillies, lashed to the, rails, it seemed, by mysterious happenings inning after inning and game after game, finally came spilling out of the University of Adversity, wild-eyed and jibbering, brandishing their first league championship in 30 jeered years.

It was a playoff it seemed the Phillies were destined – again – not to survive. Weird plays, weird base-running, weird coaching, weird umpiring.

Thus, the feeling is that they how are going, deservedly so, into a cozy World Series with the Kansas City Royals in which Phillies will do nothing but hit, field and run in book fashion and umpires will see and think like major-league umpires, and nobody will be snake-bitten or jinxed or cursed by the gods.

Don't believe it. You haven't seen anything yet. If you think nothing now can happen to the Red Hats but pure, uncomplicated win-or-lose baseball after the science fiction of the ; Houston series, well, you are wrong, 0 Dugout Breath. The faint of heart are advised to do anything but watch while the Phils are going after the world title. I have it on the greatest authority, from my good friend Oscar the Occult, bastard son of The Amazing Kreskin, that the World Series is going to make the National League playoffs appear prosaic.

Here are some of the nifty things Oscar predicts will transpire. Trust him:

Game 1 – The Phillies, trailing 3-0, load the bases' with two out on a hit batsman, catcher's interference and a single that caroms off and splits the pitcher's rosin bag. Rosin flies all over the infield. Time is called, and so is a Zamboni. The machine takes 37 minutes to suck up the rosin. Play is resumed and Veterans Stadium is in such a bedlam, the fans sensing the kill, that you can hardly think. That is exactly what happens to the Phillies. They bat out of turn and the rally is over.

Game 2 – Larry Bowa, representing the winning run, attempts to steal second base just as the lighting system mysteriously dims. Misjudging the distance because of poor visibility, Bowa begins his slide too soon and causes a 7-foot tear in the AstroTurf. The rip is quickly patched with tape, but has to be repatched after the Kansas City second baseman complains the area is lumpy. The lump turns out to be Bowa, who is rescued and saved from asphyxiation in the nick of time when George Gobel, who had thrown out the first ball and who is a CPR expert, gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. As soon as Bowa revives, he is tagged out.

Game 3 – Dallas Green permits Bake McBride to bat against a left-handed pitcher with the tying run on third base and two out in the eighth. Before he goes to home plate, McBride telephones upstairs that in appreciation of Green's gesture, he will donate his share of the players' pool to the Conrad High School Athletic Association. The message is flashed on the bulletin board. The crowd, touched, stands and roars. McBride pops up to the third baseman on the first pitch. Green comes out to tell McBride what he can do with the donation. A spirited argument develops. Both men are ejected. The Conrad High School Alumni Association does not suffer, however; the Kansas City pitcher promises to send them his share.

Game 4 – In an afternoon game in Kansas City on a brilliant Indian summer day, a ball is skied to center field with two Royals on. Garry Maddox gracefully drifts back to the warning track, sets, reaches, for the ball – and misses it. Everybody scores. Maddox, who during the stretch drive of the season twice hurt the Phillies by neglecting to wear sunglasses, has no such excuse this time. He has a better one. He neglected to wear his glove.

Game 5. – Steve Carlton has a no-hitter going for seven and two-thirds innings. The umpire suddenly calls time and summons both managers into conference. There is a 25-minute delay, which Carlton spends warming up. Visibly spent, Carlton serves up his first pitch after the interruption and it is hit over the fence. The umpire explains later that he was forced to call time. "Andy Musser requested it in the TV booth. He lost the list of the names of the people who would be involved in the Daily News Home Run Payoff in the bottom of the inning. Can I help it if it took him that long to find it?"

Game 6 – In the top of the 21st inning in the longest World Series game in history. Tug McGraw, the only Phillie available, is sent out to play left field. With three on and the Phillies ahead by one run, McGraw makes a miraculous catch against the fence for what in his mind is the game-ending out Beating his glove against his thigh, he unleashes a victory scream and throws the ball to the fans in the picnic area. The picnic area throws the ball back at him, and also many tables and benches. It seems there was only one out at the time of his brilliant snare.

Game 7 - Strapped for pitching, Dallas Green starts the Phillie Phanatic. The Phanatic responds with a one-hitter and smites an inside-the-park homer for the only run of the game as the ball caroms off all three outfielders. At game's end, the K.C. manager protests the eligibility of the Phanatic. "Gotcha," the Phanatic yells as he waddles off the mound. He unzips his costume – and out steps John Vukovich.

The Phillies win the World Series. Dallas Green weeps, hangs up his uniform and, before the stadium is empty, hangs Tug McGraw.

Series pressure won’t bother Rose, Brett

By Ray Finocchiaro, Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA – World Series pressure? Not for Pete Rose, who ' has been there four times before, or George Brett, who will be making his Series debut tonight when the Phillies and Kansas City Royals square off at 8:15 in Game One of the 78th World Series.

"I've always said there's no pressure in the World Series," Rose said again before yesterday's Veterans Stadium workout for the Phillies' return tp the fall classic after a 30-year absence. "The pressure is in the playoffs, where it's three-of-five games against people you played against all summer. That makes it a pressure-packed series. Anybody can get their act together in four-of-seven games."

The Royals' Brett had his act IMS) together all year, batting .390 to make him the favorite for the Most Valuable Player Award in the American League. The National League MVP figures to be another third baseman, a guy named Mike Schmidt, who will see duty for the Phillies in this nationally televised spectacle.

Naturally, somebody asked Rose to compare Brett and Schmidt and, just as quickly, Rose begged off.

"You really can't compare the two," Rose said diplomatically. "One is a home-run hitter (Schmidt's 48 homers and 121 RBI led the majors) and the other is a great hitter who also hits home runs. Mike is a great fielder and George is an underrated fielder.”

But there was something about Brett that Rose liked about the man he calls the premium hitter in baseball.

"I saw that commercial he's in and he slides head first," smiled Rose. "I gotta like him."

The affable Brett said he isn't worried about any pressure tonight.

"There was a lot of pressure put on me to hit .400," he said. "That was more nerve-wracking than trying to play the Yankees in the (AL) playoffs. They say all the pressure is in the playoffs, not the world Series. Whatever, I think all my pressure is over now.

"I don't think pressure from the media got to me; I think the pressure I put on myself got to me. When you talk about something (hitting .400) for 2½ months, you've got to want it so badly. I think I nailed the final nails in my coffin myself. But there's no coffin in this (World Series). This is fun."

He is a man after Rose's heart. Brett feels the World Series will be a "showcase for the Kansas City Royals ballclub and for the city of Kansas City. As far as the city is concerned, we've already won the World Series, beating the Yankees."

It took Kansas City four tries to do it. The Phillies, too, got to the World Series in their fourth shot in the last five years. Manager Dallas Green has nominated rookie right-hander Bob Walk to start for the Phillies, while KC's Jim Frey has tabbed right-hander Dennis Leonard.

Starting Walk raised a few eyebrows, but Green had little choice, using the rest of his staff in the wild Astrodome set with the Houston Astros that got the Phillies here.

"I have no qualms about using Bobby Walk," Green said yesterday, shortly after the Phillies deplaned from Houston before 5,000 cheering fans. "Bobby did the job when we needed it. He had a little slip for awhile with his control and poise, but he's OK now."

Walk admitted he was "a bit surprised and real excited" about pitching the Phils' first World Series game since 1950.

"I don't think the (12-day) layoff will hurt me," he said. "The excitement of pitching in the Series should take care of being rusty."

Leonard, meanwhile, says all he knows about the Phillies is what he saw on TV.

"They're a power team," he said, "but they only hit one home run in the playoffs (Greg Luzinski's game-winner in the opener)."

Frey said he doesn't plan to do anything different against the Phillies.

"My strategy is going to be the same," he said. "We'll do the things the Royals can do. There'll be no tricks, no magic, no surprises. We're a good offensive club and we'll do some stealing, some running and some hit-and-runs, too. We can do it against anybody if we get the hits."

Frey isn't expecting a return of the Phillies' longball heroics, despite Schmidt's guarantee that he would hit better than he did in an forgettable (for him) playoffs.

"We play in a tough park to hit home runs," Frey said. "The first few months of the season, the ball doesn't carry well, then the winds become a factor. The ball flies out of here (Veterans Stadium) a lot easier than, in Royals Stadium and we have a few people who can hit home runs."

This year's World Series will include the designated hitter, an American League preserve that gets Series exposure every other year.

Frey will use Hal McRae as the Royals' DH, which is no surprise.

"Hal McRae is an important part of my ballclub," Frey said, happy that he has a DH to play with in his first Series.

Green's adamant opposition to the NL's adoption of the designated hitter won't prevent him from using one tonight. He wouldn't name his candidate at yesterday's workout, though Luzinski seems the obvious choice. That would allow a left-handed hitter like Del Unser or Greg Gross to play in left field against right-handers and rookie Lonnie Smith to reclaim the leadoff spot from Rose against lefthanders, like KC's Larry Gura tomorrow night.

Green feels the series with the Astros will give the Phillies the 6 roper momentum to challenge the Royals.

"The Astros will never be completely behind us," said Green. "That had to rank with the greatest series of all time. You don't forget them, but you do have to come down off the cloud and get ready for the next one."

Rose feels the Phils are ready to do just that.

"I think our team is loose," he said. "I really can sense and believe that in the last six-to-eight weeks the ballclub really grew up and learned a lot about winning and losing.

"This club had so much talent and now they're National League champions. They feel they've cheated themselves from the world championship and now we've got the chance to do it."

But the Royals aren't about to roll over under Rose's verbiage or Schmidt's guarantees.

"The three-day layoff (since ousting the Yankees) will have no effect," said Frey. "All it does is set up my pitching. (Gura and Rich Gale will follow Leonard). In terms of psychology, I expect both teams to fight until the last out. Both teams will have the same emotion when they walk onto the field."

Brett agreed. "We had a three-week layoff at the end of the season (because the Royals clinched the AL West title so early) and it didn't bother us," he joked.

No one will be joking tonight, though the team that gets a fast start could have the last laugh when it's all over.

Rose, Sparky recall the ‘good old days’

By Will Grimsley, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – It was a warm reunion, almost like a father greeting a long-lost son when silver-haired Sparky Anderson strode into the Phillies' locker room yesterday and threw his arms over the brawny shoulders of Pete Rose.

"Congratulations, kid, a fine series. You were as great as ever," said Sparky to the 39-year-old first baseman of the National League champions. The previous night Philadelphia had clawed its way into the World Series in a cliff-hanging playoff game against Houston.

"Thanks, Skip," replied Rose, his face breaking into a wide grin. "It felt like the good old days."

Then the pair went to a private corner to reminisce about their four World Series together when Sparky was the pilot and Rose the main sparkplug of the "Big Red Machine," the Cincinnati Reds.

From Cincinnati they separated and took different forks in the road, Anderson to become manager of a developing Detroit Tigers team and Rose to Philadelphia to resuscitate a team pennantless for the last 30 years.

"What an amazing guy." Sparky said to newsmen later when Rose went out to first base at Veterans Stadium to prepare for tonight's World Series opener against the Kansas City Royals.

"There never has been – and never will be – a man who gave more to the game than Pete Rose. I am not talking about what he has done. There have been many guys with greater skills who have never made it.

"I am taking about the intangibles – the effort and enthusiasm he puts into every game. He loves it. He never thinks of his million-dollar salary. Put a glove and a bat in his hand and he's like a little kid again.

"I've often said that if Pete committed a murder and was arrested, he would tell the cops: 'Give me 2½ hours. I've got a game to play. Then I’ll be back in."

Undoubtably this stubby brawler from the toughest playgrounds of Cincinnati is the catalyst of the 1980 Phillies. He is the man the poised-and-rested Royals must subdue if they are to prevail.

A competitive flame shoots from every pore of his leathery skin. He itches to play and battles to win. His intensity both In the field and at bat seeps through the television tubes and becomes obvious to the millions watching from the comfort of their sitting rooms.

Standing a few feet off first base, he tugs at his belt. He slaps his glove. He bends. He fidgets. He can't keep still. He dares the batter to hit the ball in his direction.

At bat, he crouches over the plate like a jungle cat ready to spring. His crouch seems to get -lower and ' lower with the years, but never the menacing power of his bat.

"Every time I looked at TV there was Pete Rose at bat and getting on base," one viewer commented.

But it wasn't just at bat that Rose made his impact. He made backhanded, run-saving stabs of the ball. He made quick snap decisions and errorless throws. Once he almost demolished a Houston catcher while driving for home plate. And finally, he won an eye-for-eye duel with fire-balling Nolan Ryan for a walk that forced in the first run of a five-run rally in the decisive game.

Rose, a .400 hitter in the playoffs, has already erased hitting records of such immortals as Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. He admits that baseball is an elixir to his soul.

"Baseball is my life," he said. "I'm trying to give something back. When I'm out there, it's like being in some sort of isolation booth. Nothing distracts me and my concentration is good.

"My four World Series in Cincinnati were very satisfying. But this one is more satisfying to me because the people of Philadelphia have put so much faith in me and the other guys and haven't won in such a long time."

Phils to fulfill their Series dreams

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – When the Phillies last went to a World Series 30 years ago, 14 players on the current team weren't even born.

But they have been dreaming about what they have been missing.

"It will be the biggest thrill of my life," said Ramon Aviles, 28, who grew up in Puerto Rico and whose Series images revolve around Roberto Clemente in 1971, when Pittsburgh played Baltimore.

"I always dreamed of signing a professional baseball contract, of playing in the major leagues, of playing in a championship series and then the World Series. All my dreams have come true," said Aviles, a utility infielder.

Rookie pitcher Marty Bystrom, 1 22, grew up in Miami and hadn't even seen a. regular-season major league game until the Phillies brought him up from the minor leagues to finish out the season.

"I used to dream about pitching in it (the Series)," said Bystrom, who went 5-0 and made the postseason roster because of the shoulder problems of Nino Espinosa. "I could picture myself pitching in it and winning a ballgame."

Larry Bowa, 34, the man ahead of Aviles in the lineup at shortstop, has been a Phillie since 1970. He was just a tot in 1950 and seems like a little boy still as he discusses his dream with sparkling eyes.

"It's probably the ultimate, every ballplayer's dream. That's what it's all about," Bowa said.

"I always watched them (Series games) even if it meant staying home from school," he said. "I used to love the Yankees all the time. I loved the Yankees."

Not all the Phillies, however, are youngsters.

Pete Rose, now 39 and the oldest player on the roster, won a World Series ring when the Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Red Sox in 1975. The following year, the Reds beat the Yankees and now Rose will be starting in his fourth World Series.

Not many of his teammates have shared the experience. Relief pitcher Tug McGraw made it in 1973 when he went with the New York Mets, who lost to Oakland. He also was on the 1969 Mets, who won the world championship, but he did not see any action.

Ace starting pitcher Steve Carlton played in two Series with the St, Louis Cardinals. The Cards won in 1967 against Boston, but lost to Detroit in 1968.

Phillies broadcaster Tim McCarver, a temporary Phillie when he was activated in September to play in his fourth decade, played in the 1964, 1967 and 1968 World Series with the Cardinals.

"It's the General Motors of your career," McCarver said in summing up the culmination of the baseball player's dreams.

Wendelstedt to call balls, strikes

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – The names of the six umpires who will officiate the 1980 World Series were announced yesterday by the office of Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Representing the National League will be Paul Pryor, Harry Wendelstedt and Dutch Rennert.

Bill Kunkel, Don Denkinger and Nick Bremigan were selected from the American League.

In the opening game tonight, Wendelstedt will be behind the plate, Kunkel at first, Pryor at second, Denkinger at third, Rennert on the left-field foul line and Bremigan on the right-field line.

The practice of using six umpires, including one on each foul line in the outfield, began with the World Series of 1947.

Pryor will be working his third World Series. He had previously been assigned to the 1967 Series between Boston and St. Louis and with Wendelstedt worked the 1973 Series between Oakland and the New York Mets.

Both Kunkel and Denkinger worked in the 1974 Series between Oakland and Los Angeles.

This will be the first Series assignment for Rennert and Bremigan, although both worked the 4979 All-Star Game and in their respective league championship series in 1977.

Kunkel, a former pitcher, was a member of the 1963 American League champion New York Yankees, but he did not appear in the Series.

Official scorers for the Series also were announced. The three-member crew will consist of Phil Collier of the San Diego Union, president of the Baseball Writers Association of America; Bob Kenney of the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post; and Don Pfannenstiel of the Independence (Mo.) Examiner.

Superscrubs

Is there another ‘Nippy’ Jones waiting to shine in the 1980 World Series?

By Dennis D’Agostino, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – It's that time again.

October madness, the fall classic. Or, in more fundamental terms, the World Series.

Time for Brett, Leonard, Schmidt, Carlton and company to Join the Brocks and Stargells and Garveys and Koufaxes and Reggies Of the baseball world and shine like polished diamonds before a worldwide audience of worshipers.

Time, too, for the likes of Ginger Beaumont. Nippy Jones, Hal Smith, Clyde McCullough and Harry Bright, players who would otherwise exist only as small entries in the Baseball Encyclopedia, to step up and play a major part in baseball lore.

That's one of the beauties about the Scries. Be you superstar or superscrub, there's no escaping that spotlight.

Take Ginger Beaumont.

Ginger who?

Clarence "Ginger'.' Beaumont hit .311 over a 12-year major league career. But nobody remembers him for that. What's important is that the very first batter in the very first World Series game in history was none other than Ginger Beaumont.

It was Oct. 1, 1903, and Beaumont's Pittsburgh Pirates teammates were taking on the American League champion Boston Pilgrims (now the Red Sox). Beaumont strode up to the plate, faced Boston's immortal Cy Young and flied out to center fielder Chick Stahl to officially inaugurate the Series.

See what we mean? Your last name doesn't have to be Jackson in order to make news in October.

It could be Jones. As in Vernal "Nippy" Jones, a journeyman first baseman who learned the true value of a freshly shined pair of shoes.

The New York Yankees had taken two of the first three games in 1957 from the Milwaukee Braves. Now, Jones led off the bottom of the 10th inning of the fourth game for the Braves after the Yankees had taken a 5-4 lead and stood only three outs away from leading the Series, three games to one.

A Tommy Byrne pitch made Jones skip rope. Nippy argued that the ball hit him, but home plate umpire Augie Donatelli said no... until Jones produced the baseball, complete with a fresh smudge of black shoe polish. Donatelli waved Jones to first. Three batters later, Eddie Mathews smashed a home run for a 7-5 Milwaukee victory. Jones' shoe polish play was the turning point of the Series. The Braves won it in seven games.

The I960 classic was another seven-game set, won by the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's Series-ending home run. But Hal Smith, who would not hit higher than .241 in his remaining four years in the majors, struck his own resounding blow just one inning before Mazeroski's.

The Pirates were trailing the Yankees 7-4 in the eighth inning of the deciding game. Singles by Dick Groat and Roberto Clemente each brought home one run, then came Smith's golden moment: a monstrous three-run homer-off Jim Coates that put the Pirates in front 9-7 and sent old Forbes Field into a frenzy. The Yankees tied the score in the ninth, setting up Mazeroski's homer. But had it not been for Hal Smith, the New Yorkers would have been popping the champagne in a winner's clubhouse.

Clyde McCullough was a winner of a different kind. A Chicago Cubs catcher of the early 1940s, McCullough missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons while in the service. He returned home in the fall of 1945. just as his teammates were wrapping up the National League pennant.

In a unique footnote to that final wartime season, McCullough sought, and received, permission to play in the World Series against Detroit. When he struck out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of the seventh game (won by the Tigers 9-3), McCullough became the first and only man to appear in a World Series game without having played in a single regular-season game.

Infielder Harry Bright found his way to five major league teams in an eight-year career, compiling a lifetime batting average of .255. He amassed a career-total 841 at-bats, but one stands out far ahead of all the others.

Facing the Yankees in the first game of the 1963 classic, Los Angeles Dodgers fireballer Sandy Koufax needed just one more strikeout to break Carl Erskine's Series mark of 14. With two out in the ninth, up came Harry Bright to pinch hit for pitcher Steve Hamilton. Seconds later, Bright trudged back to the dugout, bat in hand. Koufax had his 15th strikeout (a record that would be broken by Bob Gibson) and a 5-2 victory, setting the tone for a four-game Dodger sweep.

Several players have become baseball legends simply because of their domination of an entire Series, or even of one particular moment. Among them are Al Gionfriddo, Sandy Amoros, Dale Mitchell (the last out in Don Larsen's perfect game), Floyd Bevens, Al Weis and Dusty Rhodes. Others are simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Consider the plight of Pete Kitduff, Otto Miller and Clarence Mitchell, a trio of Brooklyn Dodgers who found themselves the victims of the most devastating fielding play In Series' history.

In the fifth game of the 1920 classic against Cleveland, Kilduff opened the fifth inning with a single and went to second on a single by Miller. Up stepped Mitchell, the Dodger pitcher, with an opportunity to pick up a few runs for his own cause.

With the runners moving, Mitchell hit a screaming liner to the right side. Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss made a one-hand grab, stepped on second to double off Kilduff, then turned and saw the befuddled Miller standing just a few away. "Wamby" trotted over and tagged Miller out, completing the first and only unassisted triple play in World Series history.

Thus inspired, the Indians went on to win the Series. It's in all the record books, along with the Brocks and Stargells and Garveys... and Otto Millers.

Computer picks Kansas City in six

Associated Press

BALTIMORE – The computer firm which correctly forecast last year's league playoffs and world championship predicts Kansas City will be the team to beat in this year's World Series.

And Baltimore's David Cwi and Associates said its computer projection also has some advice for the Philadelphia Phillies, who meet the Royals in the best-of-seven series opening tonight.

According to the computer, Oakland and Minnesota had good success against the Royals by scratching for runs – bunting, squeezing and sacrificing runners across.

If both teams rise equally to the occasion, then the computer expects it to be "Kansas City in six." But it has a further word for baseball fans: In a short series anything can happen, so don't bet on it.