On my way to watching a bit of the Sixers last night, I tuned into MLBN and ended up entranced by Game 20 in the network's countdown of the 20 greatest games in the sport. The game took place May 17, 1979 at Wrigley Field between the Phillies and the Cubs. I've often heard about the game, which featured 45 runs and 50 hits, on a sunny afternoon in Chicago.
Larry Bowa, Phillies' shortstop in the game, provided commentary, along with Bog Costas and Tom Verducci. The in-game play-by-play was supplied, for the most part, by Ed Brickhouse of the Cubs. The Phillies scored seven runs in the first and seemed to be on the way to a laugher, but the Cubs came back with six of their own in the bottom of the inning. Both teams went to relievers in that first inning. With a cushion in the fifth, the Phillies brought in closer Tug McGraw, who promptly gave up seven runs. By the sixth inning the score was 21-19, with the Phillies still on top.
In the eighth, though, Dave Kingman hit his third homer of the game. All were mammoth shots but this one went across Waveland Avenue and bounced off the porch of the third house on a side street. The Cubs ended up tying the game. In the 10th, Mike Schmidt, who had homered in the first, homered again to put the Phillies up 23-22 and that's where the game ended. For the Cubs and their fans, it was, as Brickhouse noted, a 'flat' and 'sad' end to one of the greatest games ever played. Not so much for the Phillies.
Larry Bowa referenced Pete Rose's play in the game again and again. In 1979, Rose was 38 and in his first year with the Phillies. But it's true, as Bowa said, he played with the energy and passion of a 22-year-old, even when the game seemed ludicrously, lopsidedly in favor of the Phillies. No wonder Bowa is often impatient with today's ballplayers.
Cub reliever Willie Hernandez's only at-bat was an ignominious and hysterically funny strike-out. Has to be seen to be believed.
