Image credit: Richard Summers

By Ed Cunningham

Ahh, 1980: Bill Green was Mayor of Philadelphia, and a young W. Wilson Goode was his Managing Director. Philadelphia was being referred to as “Filthydelphia,” with people’s and businesses’ penchant for littering the streets with trash. It was the end of the Carter era in Washington—a time of “stagflation,” a particularly nasty brew of high unemployment and high inflation; Ronald Reagan was waiting in the wings.

And the Phillies had not won a pennant since the Whiz Kids of 1950; in fact, the Fightins’ had never won a World Series in their 100-year history.

World Series Ticket from 1980 / Image credit Richard Summers

It was against this backdrop that the most talented squad in Phillies history went on a late-season tear to win the National League East. The Hall of Fame names include Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt, not to mention Rich Ashburn in the broadcast booth. And Pete Rose was giving the team that certain win-or-else attitude they had been lacking. After finally nailing down the Eastern Division crown on a cold evening in Montreal, the Phils took on the Houston Astro’s in an epic five-game series for the pennant, with enough twists and turns to test the blood pressure of even the calmest fan. The Phils finally prevailed in extra innings against, of all pitchers, the great Nolan Ryan, to claim the National League crown.

After all of that drama, the World Series seemed almost an after-thought, that is if you don’t include memorable images like Dickie Noles dusting George Brett, Tug McGraw patting his heart after a long Royals drive that drifted foul, and the Game Six pop up that bounced out of Bob Boone’s glove into the waiting mitt of Pete Rose. And it all culminated into Tug McGraw’s ecstatic leap after striking out Willie Wilson to give the Phillies their first, and so far, only World Series Championship. No Mummers Parade could ever be as joyful as that boisterous Phillies caravan down Broad Street for a rally at the Vet in which Tug McGraw shouted: “The Mets can take this championship and shove it!” Tacky?—maybe; Poetic?— Oh yeah!

By the early 1990’s, the talented World Series Championship team was a sweet memory, replaced with a succession of some truly bad teams that found the Fightins’ in their more familiar haunts at the bottom of the standings. But then 1993 rolled around. Bill Clinton had taken office after 12 years of Republican White House hegemony; a new feeling in City Hall arrived in the person of former DA Ed Rendell who took over as mayor; and the formerly grungy streets of downtown sparkled anew, largely thanks to the efforts of the new Center City District. Just like in 1980, economic conditions were not good, but there was a feeling of renewal in the air.

At Broad and Pattison, a scruffy but loveable cast of oddballs and misfits came together as the cast of the 1993 Phillies. The offense was led by Lenny Dykstra, John Kruk, Darren Daulton, Dave Hollins, and a bunch of mix-and-match role players who were having the year of their lives.

The pitchers: newly-minted starters Curt Schilling and Tommy Greene, along with veterans Terry Mulholland and Danny Jackson. And the closer came right out of central casting, long-haired bad-boy Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, who dispensed fast balls to opposing hitters, and agita to fans as he tightrope-walked his way to 43 saves.

By this time, the road to the National League East title ran through Atlanta, with the Braves’ squad of hard hitters and Hall-of-Fame-caliber pitchers like Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. But that’s what the Phillies did: run through the Braves like a Mack truck, taking the National League East title in six games.

Joe Carter rounds the bases after his three-run homer ended Game 6 of the 1993 World Series / Image credit MLB.com

Unfortunately, Mitch Williams was thoroughly out of gas by the time the World Series against Toronto started, and it was his walk-off home run served up to Joe Carter in Game Six at Toronto that sealed the Phillies Series doom. Williams’ name became mud in Philadelphia for a time, but he has resurrected himself, and is currently a fan favorite as a Phillies broadcast commentator. At least in Philadelphia, there are second acts in American life.

And so we come to 2008, and the sixth National League pennant in the Phillies’ long history. Once again, economic conditions are bad, as bad as we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes. But the Phillies play now in a sparkling baseball-only stadium, and the dubious distinction of 10,000 losses is forgotten, what with names like Rollins, Utley, Victorino, Howard and Hamels promising a new golden age of Phillies baseball.

Image credit: newseum.org

All of this has added up to over 3 million fans going through the turnstiles, pushing the once dominant Eagles to the sidelines of the fans’ imagination.

As I write, the Tampa Bay Rays have finally vanquished the Boston Red Sox and their magical aura. And the citizens of Phillies Nation anxiously await a chance for the first parade down Broad Street in a quarter century.

As a guy I once knew would say: “Everything I’ve got two of, I’ve got crossed…”

Ed Cunningham is a television producer at WHYY. In 2007 he was inducted into Philadelphia’s Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. He also is a contributor to the sports blog Unobstructed View.