1977 Phillies

A friend of Pat Mulhern, aka “Parachute Man”, recently (October, 2020) had Pat’s 16 mm film version of this program transferred to an mp4. I posted the 3 minute 35 second introduction and a Phillies fan asked me to post the entire NFL Films program. That Phillies team was one for the ages.

[@surfshack2]

The first game i ever went to was in the summer of '76, I snuck down to the picnic area and watched Jay Johnston in right field warming up with Gary Maddox before the start of the 1st inning. I kept yelling "Hey Jay" and JJ never looked my way and then he caught the ball from Maddox as the inning was about to start and JJ ran over to me and personally handed me the ball and said "here ya go kid". It was the coolest thing ever. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Amazing time, those days were awesome....going to a baseball game back then for a kid was the ultimate. It would make your whole summer. All us kids back then not only knew every Phillie but just about every player from every other team too.

[@donwert5039]

I'm watching anything that John Facenda calls

[@jaycompany4886]

Nobody did it like him

[@paulks2339]

John Facenda is a legend. What a voice.

[@mptr1783]

and Steve Sabol produced it...........awesome

[@brianarbenz1329]

I never knew NFL films branched out into baseball. John Facenda’s voice works in it too.

[@anthonywhiteman4488]

​@brianarbenz1329 neither did I.

[@gumper1967]

I never thought I’d see this video from ‘77 again. I remember loving these videos during rain delays. Thank you very much for posting it. The best memories.

[@Landrew1208]

Yes thank you! My fave mlb moment was Larry Bowa's grand slam at The Vet.

[@BruceLeigh-eu3wm]

I was 14, living in Germantown. My dad did not like sports so I listened on a small transistor radio. Not complaining, made me have to use my imagination. Of course having Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn doing the play by play was a big plus.

[@rickobrien1583]

Yup my dad hated sports and I was on the hammock listening to the phils all summer. Watched this team religiously, Hell of a group.

[@Rockhound6165]

12:50 I was there for this game. I was 12 sitting in the 600 level(orange seats in the old Vet) down the first base line. If you liked HR's you saw a lot of them that night. 8 hit that night 5 by the Phils(Schmidt had 2) and 3 by the Reds but the shocking one was Bowa who hit a grand slam in the 7th. The Reds had walked Seizmore to get to Bowa who was 3 for 3 at the time and his homer wasn't a cheap just cleared the fence homer either. It was a line shot to the right of the Reds bullpen. Man we had a ball that night. I didn't know it then but what legends we saw that night. George Foster, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Dan Dreissen(who used to kill the Phillies). The Big Red Machine. God baseball was so fun back then.

[@matthewobrien534]

It's really amazing how loaded The Phillies were in the mid to late 70's. They finally harnessed all of that talent in 80'. It was long overdue for such a superb collection of talent. And I'm a NY fan.

[@Rockhound6165]

If there were competent umpires in game 3 of the NLCS that season it would have been the Phils and the Yankees in the World Series but they blew a call at home(as the video says, 45 years later and Garvey still hasn't touched home plate) then Froemming blew the call that should have ended the game in the 9th. Then they wouldn't postpone game 4 which was played in a steady rain.

[@Jiltedin2007]

Picking up Pete Rose from Free Agency after 1978 was the greatest move the Phillies ever made!

[@rumarspencer7302]

​@@Jiltedin2007Took them two yrs to win it with Pete, missed the playoffs in 79, then finally won it all the following year.

[@Jiltedin2007]

@@rumarspencer7302 And Pete Rose was the key!

[@rumarspencer7302]

@@Jiltedin2007 Gave them championship experience, no doubt though had a bumpy road, of coming from 2-1 down to beat Houston, to avoid elimination in the NLCS 1980.

[@Bob-di8cz]

We as Philadelphia sports fans suffer so much but despite this we will always love our teams. Always.

[@Marcuswelby-nx2te]

Phillies are meat.

[@garyfaught3769]

Did boo Santa Claus once though. LOL

[@paulshrager8311]

I remember watching this during a rain delay in 1990. I always wanted to see this again. Thanks for posting.

[@kevinevans5921]

Began following baseball this year. I lived in MD, the Orioles were my favorite team, the Phillies were my favorite NL team. Went to a couple of games in 77’ Tim McCarver hit a grand slam in my very first Phillies game against the Mets.

[@mr.bloodvessel260]

This absolutely needs a restoration! Because this is such a gem!

[@charliegagliardi7414]

Thank you so much for uploading this. I used to have all of these Phillies team films as a youngster from 1976-1993. To see this again brought me to tears. Thank you for the great memory

[@seanhanley9942]

1977 Phillies great team! Classy players humbly answering reporters' questions; accepting disappointing playoff loss minus excuses.

[@brodocbetty4856]

IMO The most talented Phillies team ever 1977.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@brodocbetty4856 the 76 team was better I think. Just didn't have the pitching.

[@Rockhound6165]

@Christopher Hagee but these defeats led to the greatest NLCS of all time vs Houston in 1980.

[@kevinevans5921]

Went to Phillies games as a kid/teenager in the 70’s and 80’s, they still have the same PA announcer wow!

[@gophils234]

Thank you so much for the video . Only John Facenda can make getting called for jury duty exciting only three more years that we will have a championship

[@vicepresidentmikepence889]

You should try punctuation.

[@davidbranin969]

I'm watching this til the playoffs start. Can't bear watching that blown game to the Dodgers.

[@steveinphilly]

Awesome-thanks for posting this! What a pleasure to watch. Thanks to the Sabols for making it in the first place and to John Facenda for narrating. We are so lucky to be across the river from NFL Films. No other baseball team was putting together highlights films anything like this in 1977!

[@ccth22]

Very true as a North Jersey raised Yankee fan(Philly born) no other team had this type of of stuff like the Phillies…

[@davedocherty7189]

That’s when baseball was baseball. No it’s just a watered down version of what it was

[@swschmidt51]

Someone has to have the 1979 Phillies season film. I would be grateful if you posted it to KZbin ❤❤❤

[@louis2092]

This is great. Hadn't seen this film in years. If you have other films please upload

[@jabello]

Game 3 still makes me mad all these years later.

[@markkrull556]

Me too I remember watching my little black and white TV in the kitchen of our house. It was so shocking and sad.

[@johnmoreno3891]

This the 1st time I see footage of a baseball team other then an NFL Team shot by NFL Films and is Nararated by John Fasenda

[@gaherbie8386]

Thanks for posting this!! For a Phillies fan - so tough to watch... but the Sabols and Facenda did a spectacular job on it... so incredibly good... brings a tear to my eye... 77 Phillies... by far my favorite team... immensely talented but star-crossed. Kind of the '64 Phillies of my generation. I was 12 when Black Friday happened. Remember going up in my room after they lost and I wouldn't come out. Cried for an hour. My dad thought I was nuts... after all he'd been a Phils fan since the 30's. This was nothing for him. It's why never needed Novacaine when he went to the dentist's office! Phillies made him numb to pain!

[@RobCrimmins]

You're welcome. I've been a Phillies fan since 1967 so I was happy to post it. It's been in the form of a 16mm film since Pat Mulhern (Parachute Man) got it from the producer in the Seventies. A friend of Pat's had it digitized in 2021.

[@Rockhound6165]

I was 12 myself.

[@robertkeefer1552]

I'm glad the film mentions Jim Lonborg who pitched a one hit shutout against the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series.

[@paganjew0108]

So far, the only internet video that shows me Mike Schmidt (10 gold gloves) making actual defensive plays (Six).

[@jonnydanger7181]

Steve Carlton now lives in Durango Colorado

[@joeb3658]

This was great, thanks! Loved watching these during rain delays when I was a kid. There was one I still haven’t seen on here yet that I remember, it featured Blondie singing “One Way”. Don’t remember which one it was.

[@stephendday]

I think that was the '79 film?

[@rafaelramirez1507]

By Gosh , do I admire that parachute jumper 👌🏻

[@riptheripper9060]

With instant replay would have been a Phillies NLCS victory party.

[@millypoo7713]

Not necessarily! They lost game 4 so it would have been 2 games each. It's ridiculous to just assume they would have won game 5. Dodgers could have won game 5 as well.

[@jonnydanger7181]

24:40 Luzinski kicked back with bottle of beer, Love it!! 🤠

[@briandelmore7188]

I grew up in the Boston Mass area, and this for some reason became the year I started following the Phillies. I have never been to go with the trend or what the majority wants, would also explain why i became a Browns fan back in the 80's, but I truly loved this team back then and have many fond memories. thank you for uploading

[@antonchigurh7820]

1977 was the BEST Phillies team ever...

[@Rockhound6165]

As a Phillies fan since the early 70's the best team IMO was the 2008 team.

[@outtaherephils]

2011 is right up there too. Shame neither went the distance

[@Rockhound6165]

@@outtaherephils they couldn't hit in 2011. They needed Werth more than they needed Cliff Lee.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

A subtle dig at Bruce Froemming at 7:40-"were villains plotting against the team?". it was Froemming who made the infamous safe call on Davey Lopes in NLCS Game 3.

[@gmaqwert]

He was out!

[@Jiltedin2007]

That Philadelphia Phillies team had host of All-Stars with Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone and “The Sarge”(Gary Maddox) along with A Deadly Closer named Gene Garber. The way they overcame the Chicago Cubs for the N.L. East Division was phenomenal. The Cubs actually dominated the East Division for most of 1977.

[@eaglesfan21964]

Garry Maddox wasn't the sarge, Garry Matthews was, he didn't join the Phillies until 1981.

[@robertsprouse9282]

​@@eaglesfan21964, MATTHEWS not Matthew's..

[@Marcuswelby-nx2te]

Bake mcbridge

[@eaglesfan21964]

I have no idea what you're talking about, the Cubs finished in 4th place in 1977, 20 games behind. How can you say they dominated most of the year??

[@Jiltedin2007]

@@eaglesfan21964 Were you alive in 1977? For a good part of the 1977 Season, the Chicago Cubs were in First Place for most of the season during the Summer before they faltered. I believe it was somewhere in August was when the Cubs started sinking.

[@glenn3914]

i remember alot of this when i was still in school, great to see these old highlights,... this team would still be great even in todays baseball, .. could you imagine how much it would cost for schmidt or carlton today??? it would have to be 300 million a piece

[@williamblackfyre4866]

Cool video....never saw it or knew much about them. I was born in '86, so '93 was my first real run with the team. The 1st play with Boone watching him chase down a runner between 2nd and 3rd from home plate is pretty wild to see. I want to know the context of that play.

[@richarddambrosio3602]

If ever a team deserved to win a pennant, it was the 1977 Phillies.

[@stephendambrosio7270]

Thank God for 1980. Without that, 1977 would have even been more painful but it is painful to a certain degree still.

[@rumarspencer7302]

The adversities in 1977 and 78, helped them in 80.

[@jamesjackson6606]

94 expos

[@DM-iw2qt]

Anyone wonder what would have been if the Phillies had kept. Cash at second ???? Dodgers were the better team. Just like we were in. 2008. 2009.

[@southphillybombers]

Thank you Rob for the upload!

[@robertjohns1675]

Anything with John Facenda doing the voicework is the best

[@johncook8720]

Bowa has said a number of times "yeah we won in 1980, but the 1977 team was better"..and I agree, they were a powerhouse. You just couldnt write a script like Black Friday, it all came apart. I they had won that, i truly believe they win Game 4 and go onto play the Yanks...it wasnt meant to be.

[@MrEvolution513]

Phillies finished 1st place in 76-77-78 but lost in playoffs Royals finished 1st place in 76-77-78 but lost in playoffs Finally in 1980, Philly vs KC in the World Series (two greatest 3B ever)

[@Landrew1208]

12:50 Larry Bowa's grand slam! My fave baseball moment ever.

[@ZZSmithReal]

John Facenda could've narrated an accountant preparing tax returns and made it sound heroic and mythical.

[@charlessmith263]

There was a big, big, post-game fireworks finale-spectacular (albeit brief) a year prior to 1977 after the "Bicentennial All-Star Game" of 1976 at Veterans. The fireworks were celebrated because the National League (which included the Phillies) won that All-Star Game on that mid-summer classic.

[@brandonmorris92]

I want to see a video of that! 😃

[@jamescurran9002]

Was this an experiment by Sabol and NFL Films? I know Steve Sabol was a Philadelphia native.

[@steveswangler6373]

i would guess either Ed Sabol had the idea, possibly Steve, but in 1977 Ed was still the top man. or the Phillies had the idea and approached NFL Films.

[@jamescurran9002]

You're right, Ed Sabol had to be making the call.. My thinking is, that NFL Films was such a success, why not try Baseball? Of course, they would have needed MLB and Phillies permission. But if I remember correctly, that's how they got started in the NFL...They asked permission to film the Packers Giants Championship game in 1964? But they just went out and did it ad hoc.

[@pangaea6united]

Who's watching this after Phillies first ever game 7 10/24/23

[@trickolas78]

Beautiful

[@romelovesdan]

So disappointing more MLB teams did not make season highlight films like these....

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

And one wonders how the NFL surpassed baseball.

[@romelovesdan]

@@mikedemenchuk7717 A big reason, losing the further promotion of the game..... along with lessening of attention spans.

[@ugiswrong]

This hits like Disney

[@Nolan33177]

So glad this team won the World Series because all these division titles and pennants from 76-83 and to not win at least one would have been terrible. They could have won 3

[@ClassicPhilliesTV]

Hi Rob, This is such a cool film. Do you mind if I share it and upload it to the Classic Phillies page that I started? Thanks - Mike

[@RobCrimmins]

Sorry I didn't answer sooner. It's owned by NFL Films and KZbin hasn't notified me of a copyright violation. I don't mind if you post it and I don't think anyone else will either.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@RobCrimmins ClassicPhilliesTV is great in their own right.

[@anthonybrooks5040]

3:53 "The Bull" ready to launch!

[@quincee3376]

The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners first season. Time flies.

[@edx21x]

Tim McCarver getting the opening day start over Boone because Carlton was pitching.

[@jaycompany4886]

Great intro with the sky diver.

[@Rockhound6165]

14:40 the girl wearing #00 was left field ball girl Mary Sue Styles. Man she was a hottie. She had the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle even before Farrah was famous. I really miss these days. And Bill Giles might have been a horrible owner but he was a damned good showman when it came to the goofy gimmicks from this video. He even had the late great Carl Wallenda walk across the Vet one year. 21:15 Black Friday. Ugh

[@smartluck100]

If Bill Mazeroski got into Cooperstown based on his defense, then Larry Bowa should too!

[@jimmuth1297]

Very cool. Disappointing ending to an otherwise great season.

[@kmac1766]

The late 1970’s NL Beast…World Champs w/ 1979 Pirates &1980 Phillies 😎😎😎😎😎

[@sampsellmark]

I hate when they say grown men playing a kids game. the game was invented for men to play 😮

[@thomaswolf723]

Why would the yearly rundown of a Major League baseball team be done by NFL Films? Isn’t this one of the many reasons the popularity of baseball was surpassed by the NFL during this period of time?

[@thomassheaffer830]

Do you have 1978 & 1979 Phillies highlights?

[@smartluck100]

Still waiting for my jet pack…

[@rainstorm2466]

Just wanted to be the "77th" comment for the 77 Phillies 😁

[@jeffteyrosado9966]

Glory years

[@chrispomaylivewithcdpsport5517]

Like seeing this with the Voice of God.

[@thomas1630]

It's ironic at 4:15 Dusty Baker is thrown out at home and today he retires from baseball.

[@rumarspencer7302]

But in the game he was thrown out at, they won, and as manager he went out having already won his 1st World Series as manager the yr before.

[@RazorsEdge1810]

Steve Sabol at 2:50 and 26:50!

[@SteveAustin.]

The only voice other than John Facenda's that is Golden is the Lord's

[@tatesinclair6837]

Why did NFL productions produce a Phillies film?

[@Nolan33177]

Anyone else find yourself just laughing??

[@creates100]

The story is they collapsed against LA . Losing 3 games to one in the nlcs.

[@SamFergusonNE]

How is it that NFL Films did these films?

[@jonnydanger7181]

The play at 23:30 the first basemen at fault for not stretching for that throw.

[@steveswangler6373]

@Johnny Danger congratulations on the dumbest comment on the thread. how can the first baseman be at fault when the umpire missed the call. Davey Lopes was out and the umpire missed the call. blaming a missed call on the first baseman is making excuses for a bad umpire call.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@steveswangler6373 to be fair to Froemming it was a bang bang play because with that missed call Froemming still runs circles around today's umpires. Those men back then were professionals.

[@kurtperleberg8669]

Wait....NFL Films made this documentary? I thought they made only NFL documentaries

[@RazorsEdge1810]

Not only that, Steve Sabol at 2:50!

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

In those days, NFL Films was a quasi-independent company working out of metropolitan Philly (Ed Sabol was the owner) and they were allowed to take on other projects aside from the league's stuff. This was before baseball had MLB Productions so teams were on their own to produce highlight reels. Because the Phillies used NFL Films there's was one of the few that felt like sports highlights and not an industrial film.

[@williamdunphy352]

Narrated by John Facenda

[@frankpalancio8471]

Dodgers clearly the better team. But phils had them beat and choked it away in 77. I was there on black Friday which is a cautionary tale about how important it is to have a manager that can make the proper decisions in crunch time.

[@smartluck100]

Clearly the better team!? Yeah, right… They were evenly matched

[@Rockhound6165]

If they had replay back then the Phils win that game no matter what. For starters, Garvey never scored, #2, Lopes was out.

[@frankpalancio8471]

@@smartluck100 Sizemore equal to lopes? Hebner equal to Garvey? Lonborg equal to Tommy John? (2nd starter) Christensen equal to hooten or Rhoden? (3rd starter) Every other position was even, except I give Reggie Smith the edge over Bake, and I'll give carlton the edge over Sutton. Don't even try to say that playoff choker Schmidt was better than Cey. Career wise yes, but not in this series. Phillies had the better bullpen, but that didn't work out too well in game 3 did it? Also, LA had a much better manager.

[@frankpalancio8471]

@@Rockhound6165 no question. But you are about 35 years too early for that wish

[@Rockhound6165]

@@frankpalancio8471 LOL, Carlton an edge over Sutton? LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Carlton is unquestionably a top 10 all time pitcher. Sutton, not so much. Edge. LOL

[@daveleslie787]

Strange to notice a sexual assault occuring in a video from 46 years ago. Wow.

[@jwbogacki]

Nfl films? The phillies were mlb, not nfl.

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

MLB didn't have a production arm in those days and the NFL used to let NFL Films take on outside clients. NFL Films is based in New Jersey right across the bridge from Philly.

[@millypoo7713]

The only thing not appealing about 1970's baseball was that awful artificial surface.

[@therichness1968]

Why does this look like a news reel from the 40S? 77 wasn't that long ago

[@Nolan33177]

The champagne was chateau deerpathe? Unfit for drinking bud good for anything else? 😂😂😂

[@davecostello3095]

He was out. Terrible call. Should never have gotten to that. The Bull should have been pulled for defense, in the 9th

[@geoflilgestudio]

Did somebody drag this filmstock behind their car for a few miles? lol

[@Marcuswelby-nx2te]

Ump don't chew gum

[@qmcsing]

City of losers, choked away this game…