Wilmington Morning News - October 24, 1980
Philly farewell?
Tugger still undecided about free-agent status
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Tug McGraw, whose steadfast and emotional pitching performances helped the Phillies win their first World Series in 98 years of trying, says he still has not made up his mind about testing the free agent market.
"I have two weeks from the end of the season to officially declare myself a free agent and I've got a meeting scheduled with the Philadelphia people on Monday," McGraw explained yesterday. "But this is a poor time because there's the general managers' meeting and my schedule is suddenly filling up.”
McGraw, who saved two World Series games and won another, added, "After the strength I showed them in the last month-and-a-half of the season and the playoffs and the World Series, they can't have any doubts about my ability to help them."'
Twenty-eight players have opted for free agent status in the first two days of the two-week period.
McGraw, 36, was in New York to tape an appearance on NBC's Tomorrow Snow.
He was met by a small whirlwind of controversy stirred up when, in the throes of a euphoric embrace by virtually the entire city of Philadelphia, he made a remark about New York City, his former home, that angered many of his onetime fans.
McGraw and his Phillies teammates were paraded through the streets of the City of Brotherly Love on Wednesday, the day after they had wrapped up their triumph over the Kansas City Royals. Then, before 85,000 persons in JFK Stadium, McGraw said, "All through baseball history, Philadelphia has had to take a back seat to New York City, but New York City can take this world championship and stick it."
Yesterday, in the city where he once played a major role in the Mets winning a world championship, he explained the remark. "The idea was that some of the writers down there covering the Series gave us the idea it was a boring job for them because the New York Yankees weren't in it," McGraw said. "Oh, they expect the Mets to pop in there with a championship once in a while."
McGraw, who earlier in the day had his trademark long hair cut and styled, added, "Another thing that influenced me is that I'm aware of baseball fans' feelings. I know how the fans felt in New York when we won and I know how the Philadelphia fans felt.
"The fans of Sew York are wonderful and I haven't forgotten anything they've given me," McGraw added. "But I must make everybody understand the context and the emotion it (the world championship) represents in Philadelphia.
"It's a history thing. Philadelphia has had the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell. Baseball is the national pastime and now we have everything that is America in Philadelphia."
Phillies’ trophies will be displayed
PHILADELPHIA - The Phillies' World Series and National League Championship Trophies will be on display at the Girard Bank Main Office at Broad and Chestnut Streets starting tomorrow.
The hours for tomorrow and next Saturday will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fans should use the Chestnut Street entrance on the two Saturdays as the main bank offices will not be open on those days.
Hours next week will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The last day the trophies will be displayed will be Nov. 1.
Sports briefs (excerpt)
Compiled from dispatches
World Series record
NBC's telecast of Game Six Tuesday night, the final game of the 1980 World Series between Philadelphia and Kansas City, was the highest rated Series broadcast of all time, according to figures released by Nielsen yesterday.
Philadelphia's 4-1 victory over Kansas City drew a rating of 40.0, meaning 40 percent of the nation's sets were tuned in. The telecast received a 60 share, which means 60 percent of the audience watching TV during the time period Tuesday night saw the World Series.
The seventh game of the 1975 Series between Boston and Cincinnati now drops to the second-highest rating.
More households saw Game Six than any other Series contest – 31,120,000 – beating the 28,150,000 homes for Game Seven of the 1979 Series between Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
For the six games, the Series ratings averaged a 32.5, falling short of the 32.8 picked up by the 1978 Series between Los Angeles and the Yankees. That Series went seven games, five of them in prime time. Four of the six games for 1980 were in prime time, when audience levels are much higher than in the afternoon.
NBC research estimated yesterday that a record total of 140 million viewers saw some portion of the six-game series and a record 81 million saw some of Game Six.