Associated Press
Mike Schmidt follows flight of game-winning homer in 10th inning, on May 17, 1979.
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Rich Hofmann: Hard to believe, Harry: Phillies 23, Cubs 22
I HAD FORGOTTEN all about this until seeing the story in Sunday's New York Times on the 30th anniversary of the craziest game in modern major league history: Phillies 23, Cubs 22. With an 18 mph wind blowing straight out at Wrigley Field, it was truly ridiculous: both starting pitchers knocked out in the first inning, the Phils holding a 21-9 lead in the middle of the fifth, the Cubs coming back to make it 22-22 in the eighth, Mike Schmidt winning it with a homer in the 10th, his second home run and the 11th of the day. Dave Kingman had three for the Cubs.
It was a where-were-you moment in my life: I was still in college, at the offices of the Daily Pennsylvanian, listening with some other people on the radio and then standing by the wire machine and waiting in anticipation for it to spit out the box score on a long roll of off-white paper.
Today, you can pay MLB.com a couple of bucks and listen to the Phillies' radio broadcast of the game. Just to hear the voices again yesterday was worth it. It will be my honor to have Harry Kalas, Rich Ashburn and Andy Musser write the rest of the column today - and, yes, there were some outta-heres and oh-brothers and hard-to-believes along the way. In a shocking development, most of the best lines belonged to Whitey.
Andy: "Mike Schmidt got that ball way up into the wind in leftfield and it's a three-run homer . . . "
Rich: "Boy, what an example of what the wind is going to do to the ball. I mean, that looked like a routine fly ball. [Dave] Kingman out there, he thought it was . . . Andy, I'll bet he got another hundred feet out of the wind."
Rich: "I have a feeling this might end up about 19-12 . . . "
Andy: "Good thing we have a late flight tonight."
Rich: "Makes you want to go down there and grab a bat. Never seen so many hard-hit balls early . . . "
Andy: "Long, towering drive to deep leftfield, way, way out of here, a mighty home run by Dave Kingman. There was no doubt about that one . . . "
Rich: "Oh boy, I'm telling you. Still nobody out. That ball almost hit the building across the street, across Waveland Avenue . . . "
Andy: "This has got to be one of those days where no lead is safe . . . "
Rich: "Oh, Andy, get the married men off the field today . . . "
Harry: "Again the 3-2 pitch . . . swing and there she goes if it's fair. It is way out of here, a tremendous home run that hits the building across the street. Kingman's second home run of the ballgame . . . he crushed it."
Rich: "There's a three-story building across the leftfield fence and he hit it up about the third story."
