The Philadelphia Story: The 1980 Phillies & Flyers, Sixers, Eagles
No city has ever won the Grand Slam of Professional Sports—that is to win the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, and World Series & Super Bowl in the same year. But the city of Philadelphia made a spirited run at it in 1980, putting a team into the championship round in all four sports, and for none was the success longer in coming than for the 1980 Phillies.
GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today.
The Flyers were the most recent champion, having won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974-75 and they made it back to the Finals before losing to the New York Islanders. Hockey was just part of the excitement of spring in Philly—the 76ers made the NBA Finals for the second time in four years, though they too came up short of a title.
Fortunately, by the time that game was played, the good people of Philadelphia knew they would have at least one championship in the bag. The Phillies had not won the World Series since 1915 and had recent frustration, in the form of National League Championship Series each year from 1976-78.
The 1980 Phils didn’t always make it look easy—in fact they never did—but they only added to the charm and the legend as they won arguably greatest League Championship Series ever played against the Houston Astros and then dispatched the Kansas City Royals to finally get the long-sought World Series ring and ensure that 1980 in Philadelphia sports wouldn’t be remembered for an 0-for-4 in championship rounds, but for being one of the great displays any city has ever put on.
Read more about the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies
Read more about the 1980 Philadelphia Flyers
Read more about the 1980 Philadelphia 76ers
Read more about the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles
SportsNotebook Featured Products
View Our Complete Catalog
TheSportsNotebook.com is home to an extensive archive of sports history articles along with blog posts on contemporary sports.
SportsNoteBook Articles
- Blog
- College Basketball History Articles
- College Football History Articles
- MLB History
- NBA History Articles
- NFL History Articles
- Sports History Articles
- Stanley Cup History
- Uncategorized
1973 Baltimore Orioles: A Bounceback AL East Title
Baltimore was the American League’s dominant team from 1969 through 1971. Each year, they blew away the AL East and swept through the American League Championship Series. In 1970, they won the World Series. By those lofty standards, 1972 was a disappointment. The Orioles failed to win the AL East, even in a year when […]
How The 1973 Cincinnati Reds Won The NL West
The 1973 Cincinnati Reds were looking to take that final step. In both 1970 and 1972 they had reached the World Series, only to come up short—by a single run in ’72. In 1973, the Reds won a hot race to return to the postseason, before again just missing out on October glory. This era […]
1972 World Series: Oakland Survives Cincinnati In 7
The 1972 postseason had already given baseball fans plenty of drama. Both League Championship Series rounds had gone the distance and were marked by individual games that were tensely fought. The 1972 World Series was more of the same. The Oakland A’s and Cincinnati Reds took the full seven games, with six decided by one […]
1972 ALCS: The A’s & Tigers Fight To The Finish
The early years of the American League Championship Series had been somewhat anticlimactic. A playoff round that was founded in 1969 as a best-of-five series, the first three editions had seen the Baltimore Orioles blow through with sweeps each time. The 1972 ALCS was different. The Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers provided heart-stopping excitement throughout, […]
The Epic Reds-Pirates Battle In The 1972 NLCS
The battles between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates defined the National League Championship Series in the 1970s, especially in the decade’s early part. Four times, these teams played for the pennant. And their battles were never better than in the 1972 NLCS, a series that was decided on its final pitch, with the Reds […]
A Bounceback Year For The 1972 Cincinnati Reds
The 1972 Cincinnati Reds came into the season looking for a comeback. When the Reds won the National League pennant in 1970, with a core group of talented young players, they appeared poised to dominate for years to come. But a surprise collapse to a sub-.500 finish in 1971 had tempered those hopes. As it […]
How The 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates Won The NL East
The Pirates were riding high, having won a dramatic World Series in 1971. Pittsburgh had won the NL East each of the last two years. Even with a managerial change—Bill Virdon took over for Danny Murtaugh, who retired upstairs to the front office–the 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates were more of the same. They ran away with […]
How The 1972 Detroit Tigers Won The AL East
After winning the World Series in 1968, the Tigers had slipped under .500 by 1970. A year later, they hired Billy Martin. With the feisty Martin in the dugout, Detroit rose to 91 wins and a second-place finish in 1971. And the 1972 Detroit Tigers took the next step, captured the old AL East and […]