Bad Blood at The Vet

“Green’s Phillies Win Brawl Game” read one headline.

“Phillies Wrestle First Place Away From Bucs” read another.

On May 26th, 1980, the Pittsburgh Pirates came to Veterans Stadium for an NL East showdown. Philadelphia had won four straight to cut Pittsburgh’s lead in the division to just a half game and the four-game series was a chance for the Phillies to reassert themselves as the class of the NL East. The Pirates were in a foul mood after losing six of their last eight, including a 5-2 loss on “Bat Day” in Pittsburgh on May 25^th. The loss so incensed the Pirate faithful that a few of them took their new bats and smashed the back window of Willie Stargell’s Rolls Royce.

Pittsburgh sent Bert Blyleven to the mound, while the Phillies countered with rookie Bob Walk who was making his major league debut after going 5-1 in AAA Oklahoma City. For Walk, it would be his first time atop a major league pitching mound but not his first time throwing objects at big-leagues. As a teenager, he was once arrested at Dodger Stadium for throwing a tennis ball at Astros outfielder Cesar Cedeno from the bleachers.

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead on Willie Stargell’s first-inning home run. In the bottom of the 3^rd inning, with the Pirates lead standing at 3-1, Blyleven threw inside to Mike Schmidt and Schmidt took exception, heading to the mound to confront the Pirates’ hurler and the benches quickly emptied. Home plate umpire Doug Harvey, who carried the nickname, “God” for the clout he earned among players and other umpires, was able to intercept Schmidt before he reached the mound and order was restored.

Walk lived up to his name in his debut, issuing free passes to five Pirate hitters in two and two-thirds innings before being replaced by Lerrin LeGrow. When Kevin Saucier took over for the Phillies in the 5^th inning he had revenge on his mind. After getting Dave Parker to ground out to Manny Trillo at 2^nd, Saucier plunked Willie Stargell, causing the Pirates dugout to take notice. In the 6^th, Saucier finally got a chance to get even with Blyleven and did so by drilling the Pirates’ starter with a pitch. None too pleased, Blyleven picked the ball up and prepared to throw it back at Saucier.  Harvey was able to stop Blyleven, but he wasn’t able to prevent the swarm of Phillies or Pirates from rushing the field. Someone tackled Saucier and a nearly five-minute brawl ensued. Things were seemingly under control until Pirate outfielder Lee Lacy began hurling insults towards the Phillies.

“I told Lacy to stop trying to instigate things,” Harvey said. “He was cursing and I threw him out of the game. The next thing I knew, (Phillies pitching coach) Herm Starrette was shouting at someone and I told him to stop instigating. He kept yelling and I threw him out of the game.”

But Starrette wasn’t the only Phillies coach causing problems. Bullpen coach Mike Ryan began jawing with several Pittsburgh players and a second brawl broke out, this one bigger than the first. For the Pirates, there was no doubt who was to blame.

“It was Ryan’s fault,” said Lacy. “He ran into a pile of players and started kicking everyone, even his teammates.”

“I didn’t kick anyone,” Ryan said. “As a coach, I was trying to be a peacemaker. Some of the Pirates, two or three of them, started pointing at me. I said, OK, if you want a piece of me, try me.”

The teams finally returned to their dugouts and the Pirates held a 6-5 lead in the 9^th inning with their closer, Kent Tekulve, on the mound. Tekulve faced five batters in the bottom of the 9^th and retired none of them. Larry Bowa’s single to right field scored Bob Boone and the Phillies had a win and sole possession of first place in the NL East.

It was a lead that would bounce back and forth between the Pirates, Phillies and the Montreal Expos for the rest of the summer.