Phillies World Series Teams - 1983

1984 Topps #210 Joe Morgan
1984 Fleer #27 John Denny

When I was a kid I was always fond of the 1983 team - despite having moved on from baseball to other popular teenage pursuits like girls and cars I found time for the 83 Phillies. I grew up in south central Pennsylvania which had divided loyalties in the early 80s. They were the Phillies and the Orioles, in 1983 the two teams met in the I-95 World Series.

The Phils took game one 2-1 behind the 5 hit pitching of the National League Cy Young winner John Denny. The Orioles went on to win the next four games.

The Morgan card is likely one of the few of him in a Phillies uniform. It is pretty representative of the 1983 Wheeze Kids also, they featured seven starting postion players at the age of 30 and over - this year the only starter over 30 for both teams may be Pat Burrell in some games. And Morgan is a former Red as were Pete Rose and Tony Perez who were also on the team.

John Denny was the other pitcher on the team - racking up a 19-6 record and winning the Cy Young while Steve Carlton paced the team in innings with 283 innings.

I am actually a fan of both clubs, primarily the Phillies, but I also follow whats going on down in Baltimore - I try and make it down to Camden Yards a couple of times a year and I like checking in at Orioles Card "O" the day for O's information.

Dodgers vs Phillies: Rewind 1983

1983 Fleer #165 Gary Matthews

It has been 25 years since the Dodgers and Phillies last met in a playoff series. The Phils won the best of 5 series in 4 games behind the strong pitching of Steve Carlton and the offensive heroics of Gary Matthews. "Sarge" Homered in 3 consecutive games knocking in 8 of the Phillies 15 runs during the series and was named the NLCS MVP for his performance. The final game of that series occurred 25 years ago today. Hopefully one of the Phils will come through in this years NLCS they way that Matthews did in 1983.

Go Phillies!