| 1980 World Series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Dates | October 14–21 | |||||||||
| Venue(s) | Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia) Royals Stadium (Kansas City) | |||||||||
| MVP | Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Harry Wendelstedt (NL), Bill Kunkel (AL), Paul Pryor (NL), Don Denkinger (AL), Dutch Rennert (NL), Nick Bremigan (AL) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Phillies: Steve Carlton Mike Schmidt Royals: George Brett | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NBC | |||||||||
| TV announcers | Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubek, and Tom Seaver | |||||||||
| Radio | CBS | |||||||||
| Radio announcers | Vin Scully and Sparky Anderson | |||||||||
| Streaming | ||||||||||
| ALCS | Kansas City Royals over New York Yankees (3–0) | |||||||||
| NLCS | Philadelphia Phillies over Houston Astros (3–2) | |||||||||
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The 1980 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1980 season. The 77th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Philadelphia Phillies and the American League (AL) champion Kansas City Royals.[1][2][3] The Phillies defeated the Royals in six games to secure the team's first World Series championship in franchise history.[1][4][5] Third baseman Mike Schmidt was named the World Series MVP.[6]
The series concluded with Game 6 in Philadelphia, which ended with closer Tug McGraw striking out Willie Wilson at 11:29 pm EDT on Tuesday, October 21. Wilson set a World Series record by striking out 12 times in the six-game set (after 230 hits (and 81 strikeouts) in the regular season). Game 6 is also significant because it stands as the most-watched game in World Series history, with a television audience of 54.9 million viewers.[7]
The Kansas City Royals became the second expansion team, and the first from the American League, to appear in the World Series. The AL had to wait until 1985 before one of their expansion teams—the Royals—won a World Series.
This was the first of six World Series played entirely on artificial turf (1985, 1987, 1993, 2020, 2023).
This was also the first World Series since 1920, and the most recent, in which neither team had a previous World Series title. As of 2024, this can only happen again if the Tampa Bay Rays or Seattle Mariners face the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, or Colorado Rockies in a future series.
With their victory, the Phillies became the final team out of the original 16 MLB teams to win a World Series. However, a Philadelphia team had won a World Series before, the last being the Athletics in 1930, exactly a half-century earlier; in a twist of fate, the Athletics played 13 years in Kansas City (1955–1967) before relocating to Oakland.
- ^ a b Feeney, Charley (October 22, 1980). "Phillies win 1st world championship". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 19.
- ^ Fimrite, Ron (October 27, 1980). "One heartstopper after another". Sports Illustrated. p. 24.
- ^ Fimrite, Ron (November 3, 1980). "He kept tugging at the heartstrings". Sports Illustrated. p. 24.
- ^ Tully, Mike (October 22, 1980). "Bubbly flows for the Phils". The Bulletin. (Bend, Oregon). UPI. p. 17.
- ^ Newhan, Ross (October 22, 1980). "Phillies end long drought, begin reign". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). p. 1C.
- ^ "Schmidt's hit earns Series MVP award". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. October 22, 1980. p. 57.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (October 18, 2014). "Baseball World Series: Postseason Vanishing From Broadcast Networks". The New York Times. CLXIV (56, 657): D4. Retrieved October 25, 2014.