Rookies Were Unsung Heroes of Phillies 1980 Champions

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Rookie Marty Bystrom's perfect September helped win the NL East in 1980

Much of the credit for the Philadelphia Phillies winning the franchise’s first-ever World Series championship back in 1980 has gone to the core of veteran players.

That title would not have been won without those veterans. Stars such as Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone, Larry Christenson and Dick Ruthven came up through the Phillies farm system.

That homegrown core was supplemented during the 1970s by players brought in through astute trades such as Tug McGraw, Garry Maddox, Manny Trillo, and Bake McBride.

And then, of course, there was the franchise’s first-ever big free agent signing of first baseman Pete Rose prior to the 1979 season.

All of those players, with the exception of Rose, were together and won the NL East Division crown for three consecutive years from 1976-78. However, the team was eliminated in the NLCS each time.

Phillies Fall Classics IV: 1980 World Series Game Five

The Philadelphia Phillies had built an early 2-0 lead in the 1980 World Series over the Kansas City Royals with a pair of victories at Veteran’s Stadium.

The Fall Classic then shifted to Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) for three games over the weekend of October 17th through 19th.

In Game Three on Friday night, the two teams battled into the 10th inning tied at 3-3. 

There in the bottom of the 10th, the host Royals gained life when their offensive star of the series, big 1st baseman Willie Aikens, singled off Tug McGraw to score Willie Wilson with the walkoff run in a 4-3 victory.

Then in Saturday afternoon’s Game Four, Kansas City tied the series thanks to a pair of home runs from Aikens. Those twin blasts had pushed the home side out to an early 5-1 lead after just two innings. 

The Phils fought back with solo runs in both the 7th and 8th innings to make a game of it, but those rallies fell short.