New Jersey Newspapers - October 29, 1980
Camden Courier Post
Off field, it’s same old Phillies
By Ray W. Kelly of the Courier-Post
NEW YORK – There was once a time when Dallas Green was a pitcher who stood on the fringes of a Phillies team that continually struggled with the problem of how to survive the individualistic and occasionally outrageous behavior of slugger Dick Allen.
Baseball's evolution solved that problem in a most ironic fashion. Now, the Phillies have a club house filled with ' stars doing their "own thing" with such regularity that Green could probably ask Ol' Crash to stop by once in a while just to set a good example.
Small wonder that whenever the subject of his almost certain return next season as skipper of the world champion Phillies arises, Dallas takes on the look of wagon master who still has the dust of the Oregon Trail in his lungs and just might scream if asked to make one more doggie git along.
Oh, he will reluctantly saddle up one more time because he is fiercely loyal to Owner Ruly Carpenter, General Manager Paul Owens and all the "little people" within the organization. He also knows which way is up.
But, if he had any illusions about success turning his roughriders into the harmonizing Sons of the Pioneers, he only had to look around yesterday afternoon to discover that the gang that gunned down the Astros and Royals and wowed the town of Philly is still slingin' lead.
Third baseman Mike Schmidt and Green didn't come all the way to the Big Apple just to have another member of the team blast a long distance hole into the barroom floor and demand they "dance," a treatment usually reserved for greenhorns, not recipients of the Most Valuable Player Award for the Series.
Yet there, behind the smoking six-shooter, was rightfielder Bake McBride, insisting that someone other than Schmidt was more deserving of the distinction. Perhaps shortstop Larry Bowa or catcher Bob Boone, theorized Bake.
McBride gallantly disqualified himself, an act that wouldn't have smelled like the downwind side of a buffalo hunter if not for the fact that, while his teammates were toasting and bathing in grapes the night of their ultimate victory, Bake was souring the moment by sulking over the MVP award that he thought he should have received.
If Bake's timing in the outfield was on a par with this uncharacteristic attitude, he would surely have the most lumpy head in baseball. Schmidt couldn't care less about an award bestowed upon him by a magazine.
He certainly didn't need to have an occasion, which he obviously planned to use to do some good, interrupted by someone wanting to know if it was true that Mike hadn't invited Bake to his golf tournament in Florida.
"Everyone on the team was invited," said Mike rolling his eyes. "A letter was placed in all the lockers... And Bake doesn't golf, anyway!"
The whole thing was absurd. But then, that's the point.
Green spent an entire summer dealing in what seemed like the ridiculous. It was always high noon. When he wasn't stepping out in the street to slap leather with someone looking to make him a notch on their gun, he was getting caught in the crossfire.
It was a thankless job that Green didn't want. He hasn't changed his thinking. His guts still grind when he thinks of things he could have done differently, like his dugout "blowout" with reliever Ron Reed.
"I didn't handle it professionally," he recalled. "But, I had to nail down the fact that I was the boss."
On the surface, Green tried to be optimistic about the possibility that the players now knew the trail to the top by heart and wouldn't need to be continually rousted.
"We're slow learners, but we learn our lessons well," he said with a wink.
Schmidt was right when he told the media crowd in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, "I'm not so sure, as a team, we knew how good we were."
The question is, when are some of the players going to learn that they also have a far greater capacity to do good off the field than they realize?
Schmidt's representation of himself, his teammates and the people of the Philly area has been no less than outstanding.
Heckled during his early seasons, ridiculed during his "cool" period and rarely given credit for what is almost certain to be a Hall of Fame career, Schmidt parlayed the "healthy season" he wanted so badly into the cornerstone of a world championship.
"It had to be God's will that this was Philly's year," he said. "I guess I prayed almost every inning during those last three weeks. And, all my prayers were answered. For many reasons, this has been an unbelievable year."
Mike admitted that he'd love to win the other MVP award, the one for being the best in the league during 1980, because it represented a 162-game effort as opposed to a performance during a six-game span.
He's got a new book, "Always On Offense," coming out. Plus, he's going to Japan for a tour with Pete Rose and Steve Carlton. Life for Schmidt was at its fullest.
Within a week, the Dallas Green issue would be resolved. Hopefully, the free-agency of Tug McGraw and Larry Christenson would be dealt with quickly. Perhaps next season, the Phils could have a bit more fun along the way.
All nice thoughts. Yet, you had to wonder if there would ever come a time when the Phillies didn't have to circle their wagons.
The Press of Atlantic City
Schmidt Collects His MVP Award
NEW YORK (AP) - The impact of being most valuable player in the World Series is beginning to sink in on Mike Schmidt, slugging third baseman of the world champion Philadelphia Phillies.
"It's awesome," Schmidt said Tuesday. "Everywhere I go, I'm recognized now."
Schmidt had no identification problem Tuesday. He was the guest of honor at the MVP luncheon and picked up his payoff - a $9,000 watch and a $5,000 scholarship for his alma mater, Ohio University - from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
He earned it with a .381 World Series batting average which included two home runs, seven runs batted in and two game-winning hits against Kansas City. Still, Schmidt wasn't sure he'd earned the unanimous MVP vote.
"There had to be eight or 10 guys going into that last game who could have won it," he said. "I guess it was a matter of getting the big hit that night.”
Schmidt's sixth-game contribution was a two-run single in a 4-1 triumph that wrapped up the Series and gave the Phillies their first-ever world championship. It capped a grueling final month in Philadelphia first fought off Montreal to win the National League East title on the final weekend of the regular season, then beat Houston in a memorable five-game playoff, and finally beat the Royals for the title.
"It was an incredible three weeks," Schmidt said. "Every game, every series, made the next one possible. The thing I think I'll remember most about it is we reestablished the concept of a team."
Tom Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, served as master of ceremonies for the luncheon and remembered that, for the last few years, the image of winning baseball teams has been somewhat different than the one the Phillies presented.
"Last year, all I read was about the (Pirates') Fam-il-ee," said Lasorda. "In '77 and '78 all I read about was (Dodger) hugs and kisses. Now, this year, I'm reading about something else."
Schmidt says the Phillies are every bit as much of a team those winners from Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were.
"We have no control about what you feel about us," he said, addressing the Philadelphia players' occasional public relations problems. "People are entitled to their opinions. If there are four players on the team who won't talk to the press, there have got to be four others you wouldn't mind playing golf with."
As for talent, Schmidt said the Phils have had that quality right along.
"I'm not sure, as a team, we knew how good we were, though," he said.
Owens And McGraw Meet To Discuss New Contract
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tug McGraw, whose clutch relief pitching helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the 1980 World Series, talked briefly Monday with personnel director Paul Owens about a new contract.
Both parties described the 45-minute session as preliminary in nature.
"We talked about the perimeters," McGraw said before leaving for Hollywood to tape several television shows. "We didn't get into specifics about money or years."
It is expected that McGraw will meet with Owens again next Monday after Owens returns from a general manager's meeting in Florida.
McGraw, 36, is eligible for •next month's reentry draft. He has until Nov. 10 to add his name to the free agent list. In that event, the Phillies still would have the right to negotiate with him, but with as many as 12 other teams.
McGraw said he wasn't in any rush to go the free agent route, and preferred to use the time talking to the Phillies. He said he felt that Owens wanted him back.
Owens described his talk with McGraw as a good meeting.
McGraw is coming off an excellent season in which he won five games and saved 20 during the Phillies' drive to the National League East title.
He also was prominent in the NL playoff victory over the Houston Astros.
In the Series, McGraw saved the final two games, helping the Phillies to their first world championship in the 98-year history of the franchise.
Also uncertain was the status of Manager Dallas, Green, who has expressed a desire to give up the job' and return to the front office. He was director of the minor league system before becoming interim manager the final month of 1979, and taking the job full time last season.
Green, 25 years in the Phillies' organization, has said, however, he would do whatever Owens and club owner Ruly Carpenter want him to do. It is expected Green will be asked to remain as manager.
Green, in New York Tuesday for the World Series MVP luncheon, said he hoped to meet with Owens on Monday.
He said if he returned as manager he didn't believe that "anything I went through in 1980 would necessarily repeat itself in terms of getting the guys to believe my way was basically right."
"I don't have those qualms anymore because I think they are convinced that it worked for us in 1980," Green added.