History of the World Series – 1983

The 1983 Phillies featured such oldsters as Pete Rose, 42; Joe Morgan, 40; Tony Perez, 41; Steve Carlton, 38; and Ron Reed, 40. Mike Schmldt (34), Garry Maddox (34) and Gary Matthews (33) weren’t fuzzy-cheeked youngsters, either. But just as youth had served the ’50 team well, age was a positive factor for the ’83 club.

One of Philadelphia’s younger standouts, 30-year-old John Denny, was Manager Paul Owens’ pitching choice for Game 1 of the World Series at Baltimore. The Orioles’ Joe Altobelli opted for Scott McGregor. The Orioles jumped in front when their second batter, Jim Dwyer, hit a home run. Sparkplug Morgan then tied the rainswept game with a two-out homer in the Phils’ sixth.

The game was still 1-1 when McGregor went out to the mound for the top of the eighth. It was about five minutes, though, before the lefthander was able to deliver a pitch. President Ronald Reagan, on hand for the Series opener, was interviewed for about three minutes on television and the game was held up. After a commercial, McGregor finally got to deliver his first pitch of the inning and Maddox hit a home run.

While there was considerable speculation about the impact of the delay on McGregor, the Baltimore pitcher merely accepted his fate, which turned out to be a 2-1 loss at the hands of Denny and reliever Al Holland.

Baltimore won the battle of rookie pitchers in Game 2, with Mike Boddicker throwing a three-hitter. Philadelphia’s Charles Hudson pitched scoreless ball through the fourth but allowed three fifth-inning runs as John Lowenstein homered, Rick Dempsey tapped a run-scoring double and Boddicker delivered a sacrifice fly. The Orioles prevailed, 4-1.

Unhappy with his offense as the Series moved to Philadelphia, Owens shook things up and shook up first baseman Rose in the process. He sat down the 3,990-hit man (for one game) and replaced him with Perez.

With the Phillies ahead, 2-1, and threatening in the sixth inning of the third game, Owens reentered the spotlight when he went out and talked with Carlton in the on-deck circle.

Carlton indicated he was strong enough to continue pitching, so Owens — not wanting to dip into his bullpen quite yet — let him bat in a key situation. With two on and two out, Carlton struck out. The 300-game winner then went out and retired the first two Baltimore batters in the seventh, but Dempsey doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch and Benny Ayala followed with a pinch single to tie the score.

At this point, Holland was summoned. After a single by John Shelby, Phils shortstop Ivan DeJesus booted Dan Ford’s grounder and Ayala scored. The Orioles had the lead, 3-2, and they kept it.

Baltimore’s Rich Dauer cracked three hits and knocked in three runs in Game 4 as the Orioles made it three straight victories. Altobelli sent up four consecutive pinch-hitters in the sixth, an inning in which Baltimore overcame a 3-2 deficit on the way to a 5-4 triumph. Ken Singleton, the second pinch batsman, drew a game-tying, bases-loaded walk and Shelby, pinch-hitter No. 3, delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

While power hitters Cal Ripken of Baltimore and Schmidt of Philadelphia never did get going — Ripken went 3-for-18 and Schmidt was 1-for-20 — the third noted slugger on hand, the Orioles’ Eddie Murray, broke loose in Game 5. Showing only two hits in 16 at-bats through four games with no RBIs, Murray crashed two homers good for three RBIs. And with McGregor pitching a five-hitter, the Orioles rolled to a 5-0 victory and their third championship.