1980 World Series
From SoSH
Series Information
Kansas City Royals (97-65) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (91-71)
The 1980 World Series presented a match-up between one team that had been in existence for 12 years and another that had been around for ninety-eight. The Kansas City Royals who began play in 1969 had won the AL West three of the previous four years, but each year had failed to advance past the League Championship Series. Finally in 1980 the Royals won the weak American League West by 14 games. The Royals, powered by American League MVP George Brett and his .390 average went on to face off against the New York Yankees in the ALCS. The Royals swept the Yankees in three games and awaited their National League opponent.
The Phillies, who had been playing since 1883, had only made two appearances in the World Series (1915, 1950) in that time period. Coming into 1980, the Phillies, like the Royals, had won their division three of the past four years, but in 1980 it was no sure thing for them to win the division. Trailing the Montreal Expos as late October 1st, the Phillies, powered by their own MVP Mike Schmidt and the Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton, pulled out the NL West and faced off against the Houston Astros in the NLCS. The Phillies won the series three games to two and advance to the World Series.
The 1980 World Series went six games with the Philadelphia Phillies winning their first World Championship and becoming the last of the original sixteen teams to taste World Series victory.
- Managers: Jim Frey (Kansas City) and Dallas Green (Philadelphia)
- Venues: Royals Stadium (Kansas City, MO) and Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia, PA)
- MVP: Mike Schmidt
Box Scores
Game One: Tuesday, October 14, 1980 at Veterans Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 11 | 0 |
| W: Bob Walk (1-0) L: Dennis Leonard (0-1) Sv: Tug McGraw (1) | ||||||||||||
| HR: KC – Amos Otis (1), Willie Aikens 2 (2) PHI – Bake McBride (1) | ||||||||||||
| Attendance: 65,791 | ||||||||||||
Game Two: Wednesday, October 15, 1980 at Veterans Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | X | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| W: Steve Carlton (1-0) L: Dan Quisenberry (0-1) Sv: Ron Reed (1) | ||||||||||||
| HR: KC – None PHI – None | ||||||||||||
| Attendance: 65,775 | ||||||||||||
Game Three: Friday, October 17, 1980 at Royals Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| Kansas City Royals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| W: Dan Quisenberry (1-1) L: Tug McGraw (0-1) Sv: None | |||||||||||||
| HR: KC – George Brett (1), Amos Otis (2) PHI – Mike Schmidt (1) | |||||||||||||
| Attendance: 42,380 | |||||||||||||
Game Four: Saturday, October 18, 1980 at Royals Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| Kansas City Royals | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| W: Dennis Leonard (1-1) L: Larry Christenson (0-1) Sv: Dan Quisenberry (1) | ||||||||||||
| HR: KC – Willie Aikens 2 (4) PHI – None | ||||||||||||
| Attendance: 42,363 | ||||||||||||
Game Five: Sunday, October 19, 1980 at Royals Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Kansas City Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| W: Tug McGraw (1-1) L: Dan Quisenberry (1-2) Sv: None | ||||||||||||
| HR: KC – Amos Otis (3) PHI – Mike Schmidt (2) | ||||||||||||
| Attendance: 42,369 | ||||||||||||
Game Six: Tuesday, October 21, 1980 at Veterans Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Steve Carlton (2-0) L: Rich Gale (0-1) Sv: Tug McGraw (2) | ||||||||||||
| HR: KC – None PHI – None | ||||||||||||
| Attendance: 65,838 | ||||||||||||
Trivia
- The Phillies were making only their third World Series appearance ever and became the last of the original teams to win it all. It took until their 98th year of playing.
- This was the first World Series where all of the games were played on artificial turf.
- Tug McGraw pitched in four of the six games in the Series, including the Series clincher.
- Willie Aiken became the first player ever to have two multiple home run games in the World Series.
- Mike Schmidt won one of the World Series MVP’s, Tug McGraw won the other. Schmidt batted .381 win 2 HR’s and 7 RBI’s. McGraw went 1-1 pitching 7.2 innings striking out 10 and allowing only one run. McGraw also recorded the last out of the Series.
External Links
- 1980 World Series Baseball-Reference.com
- 1980 World Series Overview and Information Baseball-Almanac.com
- 1980 World Series Box Scores and Play-by-Play Retrosheet.org
- 1980 World Series MLB.com
