1980 World Series | |||||||||||||
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Teams | |||||||||||||
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Dates | October 14–21 | ||||||||||||
MVP | Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) | ||||||||||||
Umpires | Harry Wendelstedt (NL), Don Denkinger (AL), Paul Pryor (NL), Bill Kunkel (AL), Dutch Rennert (NL), Nick Bremigan (AL) | ||||||||||||
Hall of Famers |
Phillies: Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. Royals: John Schuerholz (GM), George Brett. |
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ALCS | Kansas City Royals over New York Yankees (3–0) | ||||||||||||
NLCS | Philadelphia Phillies over Houston Astros (3–2) | ||||||||||||
Broadcast | |||||||||||||
Television | NBC | ||||||||||||
TV announcers | Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubek and Tom Seaver | ||||||||||||
Radio | CBS | ||||||||||||
Radio announcers | Vin Scully and Sparky Anderson | ||||||||||||
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Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
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Philadelphia Phillies (4) | Dallas Green | 91–71, .562, GA: 1 | |
Kansas City Royals (2) | Jim Frey | 97–65, .599, GA: 14 |
The 1980 World Series matched the Philadelphia Phillies against the Kansas City Royals, with the Phillies winning in six games to capture the first of two World Series titles in franchise history to date. The series concluded after Game 6, which ended with Tug McGraw striking out Willie Wilson at 11:29 pm on October 21, 1980. Wilson set a World Series record by striking out twelve times (after getting 230 hits in the regular season) in the six-game set.
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.
The Kansas City Royals became the second expansion team, and the first American League expansion team, to appear in the World Series. The AL would have to wait until 1985 before one of their expansion teams—the Royals themselves—would win a World Series.
This was the first World Series played entirely on artificial turf. This was also the first World Series since 1920, and the last to date, in which neither team had won a World Series before. With their victory, the Phillies became the final team out of the original sixteen MLB teams to win a World Series. However, a Philadelphia team had won a World Series before, the last being the Philadelphia Athletics in 1930, exactly a half-century before this Series; in a twist of fate, the Athletics would play thirteen years in Kansas City before eventually settling in Oakland.
The Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East division by one game over the Montreal Expos then defeated the Houston Astros, three games to two, to win the National League Championship Series. The Kansas City Royals won the American League West division by fourteen games over the Oakland Athletics then swept the New York Yankees for the American League pennant.