Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 4: A 97-Year Wait

Game 5, 1980 NLCS: Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros

October 12, 1980, Astrodome, Houston, Texas

The 1883 season was the eighth in the history of the National League and the first for the Philadelphia Phillies. Then known as the Quakers, Philadelphia finished 17-81, 46 games behind the first-place Boston Beaneaters and 23 games behind the seventh-place Detroit Wolverines. The next year didn't get much better, or the one after that, or the one after that. In fact, in the first 97 seasons of Philadelphia Quakers/Phillies history, they won the National League pennant exactly twice: In 1915, they were crushed in the World Series by the Red Sox, and in 1950, they were eviscerated by the Yankees. 

Two pennants, and no championships, in 97 seasons is not exactly the definition of success. By this time, 15 of the 16 franchises who existed in 1903, the year of the first World Series, had won it all at least once. The Phillies were the exception. But there were signs of optimism in the 1970s. They won three straight division championships in the mid-70s, and though they failed each time to advance to the World Series, the core of that team was still together in 1980. After another division championship, there was hope that this would finally be the year.

Waiting for the Phillies in the NLCS was the Houston Astros. Houston wasn't nearly as old of a franchise as Philadelphia - the unfortunately named Houston Colt .45s debuted in 1962 - and they weren't quite so bad, either, but 1980 represented their first-ever taste of postseason play. So regardless of who won the 1980 NLCS, somebody's fans were going to celebrate a once-in-a-generation season.

That once-in-a-generation season culminated in a once-in-a-generation series. After a sixth-inning comeback gave the Phillies a Game 1 win, each of the next three games went into extra innings, forcing a deciding Game 5 in Houston. And the fans in a packed Astrodome got to watch a game that was somehow even better than the four that preceded it.

Houston was trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Phillies left fielder Greg Luzinski dropped a fly ball to allow Denny Walling to get to second. Two batters later, Alan Ashby hit a single to score Walling, tie the game, and knock Phillies starter Marty Bystrom out of the game. 

And that's when things really got started.

Houston got a leadoff single from Terry Puhl in the bottom of the 7th, then wasted two outs getting him over to second. After an intentional walk, Walling got involved again, hitting a single to give the Astros a 3-2 lead. After a run-scoring wild pitch and a pitching change, Art Howe gave Houston some breathing room with a triple to make it 5-2.

So Houston was up by three and Nolan Ryan was on the mound. In his first year with his hometown Astros after terrorizing the American League for eight years, Ryan actually had a below-average season in 1980 - below average for him, at least. But there was still no one Houston would rather have on the mound to clinch the pennant.

Except Bowa started the 8th with a single to center. Bob Boone then singled off Ryan's glove, and Greg Gross singled when Ryan fielded his sacrifice attempt and found no one to throw the ball to. And so in the span of five pitches, the Phillies loaded the bases with nobody on, and Pete Rose was coming to the plate.

In retrospect, it's really an incredible at bat. At the plate was Rose, baseball's future all-time hits leader. On the mound was Ryan, baseball's future strikeout king. And the bases were loaded in an elimination game. Anticlimactically, Rose drew a walk, though doing so did bring in a run and knock Ryan out of the game. 

Keith Moreland then grounded into a force play to bring home the second run of the inning. Future Hall-of-Famer Mike Schmidt was up next, but he struck out looking, leaving it up to pinch-hitter Del Unser. Unser singled to tie the game, and then Manny Trillo delivered what looked like the fatal blow, a two-run triple that put the Phillies six outs from the pennant.

Closer Tug McGraw came in for the 8th for Philadelphia, and he alternated between giving up singles and getting strike outs for the first four batters. Rafael Landestoy continued the pattern with a single to make it a one-run game, and if the pattern had continued, Jose Cruz would have then struck out. Cruz, though, apparently hates patterns, and he instead singled to tie the game again.

To no one's surprise, the game went into extra innings again. Because with this series, extra innings seemed predestined. And maybe it was destiny that gave the Phillies two 10th-inning doubles, the second by Garry Maddox to give them an 8-7 lead. 

Garry Maddox got the game-winning hit, and he
caught the series-ending out.

Perhaps thinking that Phillies fans had suffered enough, the baseball gods decided to let the Phillies have a clean 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th, with the final two outs ending up in Maddox's glove in center field. For the third time in 97 years, the Phillies were the National League champions.

Nine days later, the 97-year wait was over. The team formerly known as the Quakers had done what had seemed impossible, winning the World Series with a Game 6 win over the Royals. Finally, all 16 original teams had won a title.

Game 5, 1980 NLCS Overall Rank: 4 Top 10 Swing: 243 Top play: Manny Trillo's go-ahead triple in the 8th (WPA of 40% for Philadelphia) Loser's largest WE: 95 End of the 7th, Houston up 5-2 Average LI: 1.88 Highest leverage moment: 5.38 (T8, 0 outs, bases loaded, Houston up 5-3, Keith Moreland up for Philadelphia)