The Fall of the 1977 Phillies: How a Baseball Team's Collapse Sank a City's Spirit (review)

Until recent years, most baseball fans associated postseason futility with the likes of the long-suffering Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs. Perhaps due to the Cubs' longstanding-and well publicized-postseason ineptitude, many of the game's observers forget that another National League team has had little to cheer about in October: the Philadelphia Phillies. Dating to the early 1880s, the team has collected only six pennants (2008, 1993, 1983, 1980, 1950, and 1915) and two World Series titles (2008 and 1980).

In The Fall of the 1977 Phillies, Mitchell Nathanson, associate professor of legal writing at Villanova University School of Law, reminds us of the team's woes by examining the Phillies' startling collapse in the 1977 National League playoffs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the series knotted at one game a piece, the Phillies, who enjoyed a 5-3 lead going into the ninth inning, appeared poised to take the third game in front of a boisterous Veterans Stadium crowd, until the team stunningly surrendering 3 runs with 2 outs in the final frame. The Dodgers immediately recorded 3 outs in the bottom half of the ninth to snatch the win. After the loss, Nathanson contends, a malaise fell over the team and the entire city. Demoralized, the Phillies could not rebound in the fourth game, losing the contest-and the pennant-by a 4-1 score.

Nathanson's book is more than the story of the meltdown of the 1977 Phillies. It also represents a slice of the social history of Philadelphia told through the history of its baseball franchises. Nathanson contends that the City of Brotherly Love has long suffered from an inferiority complex. During the Revolutionary War era, the city was the population and commercial center of the United States. Following the creation of the Republic, it became the nation's banking center. But New York soon outstripped Philadelphia in terms of population and commerce, and Philadelphia's status as the nation's banking hub ended with the death of the Bank of the United States as engineered by President Andrew Jackson. According to Nathanson, Philadelphians reacted to these changes with growing cynicism and negativity.

Nathanson maintains that the Phillies' lackluster performance for much of the franchise's existence has reinforced the city's low self-esteem and "aroused the citizens' ire" (44). Between 1918 and 1948, the team finished higher than sixth only once and lost over 100 games 12 times. By contrast, Philadelphians fell in love with the Athletics, led by the affable Connie Mack. While the Phillies endured one miserable year after another, the Athletics captured five World Series crowns from 1910 to 1930. The Athletics' aura of greatness faded during the late 1930s, the 1940s, and early 1950s as the team finished last several times. Even so, many Philadelphians believed the wrong team left town when the Athletics moved to Kansas City after 1954.

Despite losing the Athletics, Nathanson maintains that Philadelphia began to shed its sense of inferiority in the 1950s. During the decade, a group of political leaders, called the "Young Turks," gained control of city hall and initiated efforts to revitalize the city's center. This revitalization rejuvenated the city's spirits. By the time Shibe Park was leveled, most baseball fans accepted the departure of the Athletics and began to cheer for the Phillies. In 1976, the team helped reinforce the new, positive climate that had settled over the city. The team won its division, and despite losing to the Reds in three straight in the National League Championship Series, expectations ran high for 1977. In fact, managers Chuck Tanner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Sparky Anderson of the Cincinnati Reds both commented that the Phillies were the best team in the league.

During the regular season, the Phillies won 101 games and captured the East Division crown, 5...