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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
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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
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SportsNoteBook Articles

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1971 NLCS: The Pirates Muscle Past The Giants

The Pittsburgh Pirates were a team with unfinished business, having reached the 1970 NLCS before being swept out of the then best-of-five round in three straight. The San Francisco Giants were making their first appearance in a League Championship Series round that was in just its third year of existence. When the Pirates and Giants […]

1971 Los Angeles Dodgers: A September Drive Comes Up Short

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How The 1971 San Francisco Giants Won The NL West

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How The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates Won The NL East

The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates were coming off a season where they won a division title and reached the National League Championship Series. In this ’71 season, the Pirates were even better—they again reached the postseason. This time, they won the NLCS. And at World Series time, the great Roberto Clemente secured his baseball legacy in […]

1971 ALCS: A Third Straight Sweep For The Orioles

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1971 Cincinnati Reds: An Unexpected Step Back

The 1971 Cincinnati Reds came into the season with high hopes. A core group of young players had won a breakthrough pennant in 1970. From the perspective of history we know that this core group would do great things throughout the coming decade. But 1971 proved to be a year where nothing really clicked. The […]

1971 Oakland A’s: A Breakthrough AL West Title

Success had been a long time coming for the A’s. The franchise’s last pennant had been forty years earlier, in 1931, when they resided in Philadelphia and Connie Mack was the manager. An interim period spent in Kansas City was marked by losing. A subsequent move to Oakland though, saw improvement. The A’s had played […]