We all remember the first time the Yankees and the Phillies met in the World Series don't we? More on that in a moment.
The first World Series I remember watching was the 1979 version between the Pirates and the Orioles. That Series featured "Pops" Stargell and "Family" defeating the Orioles 4-3. I don't think we'll see the Pirates back in the World Series anytime soon.
The first World Series that meant anything to me was the 1980 matchup in which the Phillies took down the Royals 4-2. The only reason that meant anything to me was because I started collecting baseball cards in 1981 and the first player I pulled that I had heard of was Steve Carlton. Mr. Carlton went 2-0 in the 1980 Series with a 2.40 ERA and 17 strikeouts.
Now back to the reason for this post.
The Yankees and Phillies met in the 1950 World Series. You remember that don't you? I'm sure some of your fathers remember. The Yankees swept the Phillies in 4 games. The stats show baseball was a different beast back in those days. The Yankees and Phillies each used only 5 pitchers in the 4 game series. Your winning Yankees pitchers were Tom Ferrick (in relief of Ed Lopat), Whitey Ford, Vic Raschi and Allie Reynolds. The Yankees pitching staff posted a 0.73 ERA with 24 Ks in the 4 wins. The Phillies used Ken Heintzelman, Jim Konstanty, Russ Meyer, Bob Miller and Robin Roberts. They put up an impressive 2.27 ERA with 12 strikeouts in the 4 games.
With such quality pitching, you know the hitting statistics can't be very good. The Yankees hit .222 as a team, with 2 HRs, 11 RUNS and 10 RBIs. Some guys names Dimaggio and Berra hit the homers. As anemic as that sounds, the Phillies offense was worse. They hit .203 as a team, with 0, as in ZERO, HRs, 5 RUNS and 3 RBIs. The Phillies leading hitter was Granny Hamner and I'll tell you right now, if Granny is your leading hitter, you are in TROUBLE!
The 2009 version of the Phillies need a repeat of 2008, not 1950. Jump out to early leads and pray you get the Brad Lidge of last year's World Series and this year's NLCS.
Look for a World Series Contest post later today.
GO PHILLIES!
i would like to see i trade bait post from you, my friend!! See what kind of goodies you have for trade!!
ReplyDeleteI think I might just do that after the World Series is over. Thanks WO!
ReplyDeleteThe first series I watched.... was THIS ONE!!
ReplyDeleteThis was not the first series that I've watched...
ReplyDeleteyeah, that didn't work out then, and this year was even worse. I've said many times, the absolute best pitching in baseball, without any offensive support, means you lose the game 1-0!!
ReplyDelete