The Philadelphia Phillies of 1980 were the only team from the City Of Brotherly Love to actually win in the grand finale. Their pals the Flyers and 76ers were not so lucky.
The Flyers, once hockey's bad boys, were one team that did not lose many games. Under the guidance of Pat Quinn in 1979/80, they went from 40 wins in 78/79 to 48 wins in 79/80. They also went from 95 points to 116 points. Did they lose their edge at all? Not quite. 1526 penalty minutes in 1978/79. 1979/80 produced a team total of 1818.
But what they didn't do was lose a game from October 14th, 1979 to January 10th, 1980. A string of 36 games in a row without a loss (26-0-10). When their streak finally ended, Philly went out and went undefeated in the next 11 games (8-0-3). All this continued, it seemed, into the playoffs. The swept past Edmonton in the first round (Some kid named Gretzky got his first postseason action at the NHL level for the Oilers), then needed just five games to finish of the New York Rangers (Finalist in 1979) and the Minnesota North Stars (Finalist in 1981, and having just beaten the Montreal Canadians in seven games). Alas, here's where they had to face the New York Islanders. Right in the Stanley Cup FinalsThe Flyers took this to a game six, but lost it on a Bob Nystrom goal in overtime. New York won the Stanley Cup the next three years as well.
The 76ers had an Eastern Conference Rivals to do battle with. That by the name of the Boston Celtics. They'd added some kid named Bird. Plus another star named Maravich. And the Celtics looked primed to face their old rivals the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980 finals. The Lakers had a kid named Johnson, who was providing Magic to the team. Plus they had Kareem. You know, the guy with the goggles and Skyhook.
There would be no Laker / Celtics finals.
The 76ers, perhaps written off with all the hoopla over the two historic teams, spoiled the party and beat the Celtics in just five games in the conference finals. But on the grand stage, Kareem was raining down skyhook after skyhook. An injury to Kareem in game five seemed to open the door for Philly. But Magic Johnson scored 42 points in game six to clinch it for LA. Like the Islanders, this triggered a dynasty, which the 76ers briefly interrupted in 1983.
The Phillies were the worst of the bunch in terms of past success. Flyers won in '74 and '75. Wilt Chamberlain led the 76ers past a Boston dynasty and to an NBA crown in 1967. The Phillies? Lost in five back in the 1915 World Series. Swept in 1950 by the Yankees. That was it for their Fall Classic appearances. Yes, I know they should have made it in '64.
But Philadelphia, with Mike Schmidt (Hall Of Famer) and Pete Rose (Was a good bet to be a Hall Of Famer until he started betting on baseball) led the Phillies into the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals were not the Islanders or Lakers of baseball. The Phillies weren't going to waste this opportunity for some history.
They only went 91-71 in 1980, but was enough to get them in the playoffs. Then they gave Houston a problem in the NLCS. They had the arms. Lefty Steve Charlton, another Hall-Of-Famer and bullpen ace Tug McGraw gave them the edge.
Charlton won two games, McGraw saved two. Schmidt hit .381 with seven RBIs. And Rose was Rose. He hit just .261. But those head-first-slides, and daring baserunning sure came in handy. The Phillies won in six games to finally win their first World Championship. But it was also long-time coming for the city of Philadelphia to win at least one championship that year, to say the least!
"The information used herein was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by The Hockey Summary Project. For more information about the Hockey Summary Project please visit:
http://hsp.flyershistory.com
or
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/hockey_summary_project/"
References
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 8 August 2015.
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 8 August 2015.
Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 8 August 2015.
Hockey Summary Project. 10 Jan. 2001. Web. 8 August 2015. <http://hsp.flyershistory.com>
The Flyers, once hockey's bad boys, were one team that did not lose many games. Under the guidance of Pat Quinn in 1979/80, they went from 40 wins in 78/79 to 48 wins in 79/80. They also went from 95 points to 116 points. Did they lose their edge at all? Not quite. 1526 penalty minutes in 1978/79. 1979/80 produced a team total of 1818.
But what they didn't do was lose a game from October 14th, 1979 to January 10th, 1980. A string of 36 games in a row without a loss (26-0-10). When their streak finally ended, Philly went out and went undefeated in the next 11 games (8-0-3). All this continued, it seemed, into the playoffs. The swept past Edmonton in the first round (Some kid named Gretzky got his first postseason action at the NHL level for the Oilers), then needed just five games to finish of the New York Rangers (Finalist in 1979) and the Minnesota North Stars (Finalist in 1981, and having just beaten the Montreal Canadians in seven games). Alas, here's where they had to face the New York Islanders. Right in the Stanley Cup FinalsThe Flyers took this to a game six, but lost it on a Bob Nystrom goal in overtime. New York won the Stanley Cup the next three years as well.
The 76ers had an Eastern Conference Rivals to do battle with. That by the name of the Boston Celtics. They'd added some kid named Bird. Plus another star named Maravich. And the Celtics looked primed to face their old rivals the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980 finals. The Lakers had a kid named Johnson, who was providing Magic to the team. Plus they had Kareem. You know, the guy with the goggles and Skyhook.
There would be no Laker / Celtics finals.
The 76ers, perhaps written off with all the hoopla over the two historic teams, spoiled the party and beat the Celtics in just five games in the conference finals. But on the grand stage, Kareem was raining down skyhook after skyhook. An injury to Kareem in game five seemed to open the door for Philly. But Magic Johnson scored 42 points in game six to clinch it for LA. Like the Islanders, this triggered a dynasty, which the 76ers briefly interrupted in 1983.
The Phillies were the worst of the bunch in terms of past success. Flyers won in '74 and '75. Wilt Chamberlain led the 76ers past a Boston dynasty and to an NBA crown in 1967. The Phillies? Lost in five back in the 1915 World Series. Swept in 1950 by the Yankees. That was it for their Fall Classic appearances. Yes, I know they should have made it in '64.
But Philadelphia, with Mike Schmidt (Hall Of Famer) and Pete Rose (Was a good bet to be a Hall Of Famer until he started betting on baseball) led the Phillies into the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals were not the Islanders or Lakers of baseball. The Phillies weren't going to waste this opportunity for some history.
They only went 91-71 in 1980, but was enough to get them in the playoffs. Then they gave Houston a problem in the NLCS. They had the arms. Lefty Steve Charlton, another Hall-Of-Famer and bullpen ace Tug McGraw gave them the edge.
Charlton won two games, McGraw saved two. Schmidt hit .381 with seven RBIs. And Rose was Rose. He hit just .261. But those head-first-slides, and daring baserunning sure came in handy. The Phillies won in six games to finally win their first World Championship. But it was also long-time coming for the city of Philadelphia to win at least one championship that year, to say the least!
"The information used herein was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by The Hockey Summary Project. For more information about the Hockey Summary Project please visit:
http://hsp.flyershistory.com
or
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/hockey_summary_project/"
References
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 8 August 2015.
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 8 August 2015.
Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 8 August 2015.
Hockey Summary Project. 10 Jan. 2001. Web. 8 August 2015. <http://hsp.flyershistory.com>
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