Longtime Philly Bobby Wine sees similarities to the 1980 World Series legends

WEST NORRITON — Philly will be watching this week’s World Series from his West Norriton home for the rest of his life, and he says he sees many similarities to the legendary teams he played for and coached.

Bobby Wine, the Gold Glove shortstop and then longtime Phillies coach, says this year’s stunning entry onto baseball’s biggest stage has few parallels with the group that won it all in 1980.

“It brings back a lot of memories. We were in the playoffs that year, in Houston, and we had to beat them. We were behind there, but we came back and won, so history can come back and repeat itself,” he said.

“Everyone is excited here. They might have more Phillies fans in Houston than Houston fans.”

Wynne made his major league debut for the Phillies. in 1960then played mostly shortstop for the team until 1968 before joining the Montreal Expos after that team’s 1969 draft. After four seasons of Wine returned to Phillis in the summer of 1972, coached the club through three playoff runs in 1976-78, then in that breakthrough season of 1980, a group he reconnected with this summer as the Phillies celebrated 40 plus years since their first title.

“We went to a reunion of the 80s team. They did a great job, they really did. The new owner has done a great job with everything: I have seen them employee compensation to go all the way to Houston and put them there, which is great,” he said.

It was his only trip to the stadium this season; Vine, now 84, watches every game from home “with a TV and a fireplace; too much traffic,” he said Friday, taking a break from his Halloween decorations to talk about his favorite team.

“They were the hottest team ever. They have these big left-handed bats and the pitch is kind of built for those guys and they didn’t waste it,” he said.

His biggest concern? The week between the Phillies’ win over San Diego on Sunday and the first game of the World Series in Houston on Friday night.

“The only thing that scares me is these big layoffs. You’re used to being on the court every day, you get one day off, maybe somewhere along the line, and then you come back and play again and it becomes routine,” he said.

“Then suddenly you get five days off. You practice and you do all the things you need to do: you practice the cuts, you practice the relays, it’s not the same as the game, but you practice all of that. And it’s both teams, so it’s fair,” Vine said.

He saw firsthand the dangers of a long layoff: In 1976, when Wynne was the bench coach, the Phillies headed their department for most of the season, finishing a nine game lead over the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates before losing in the league championship series to the Cincinnati Reds.

“We won the division easily and then we had four or five days off. We’ve been going to practice but the guys get bored, it’s not the same and we didn’t do very well in those playoffs,” he said.

During Alumni Weekend, he was excited to meet members of the ’80 team and chat with Phillies manager Rob Thomson.

“I just told him, ‘You’re leading them in the right direction. Keep them going and he did. Now they’re in the World Series, so he’s done a good job along the way,” Vine said.

“When he came in, he just had a calming effect on the team. Unless you’re at the club you don’t know, but he must have had a good feel for all the lads and they’ve responded well to him,” he said.

He’s also familiar with Dusty Baker, the longtime player who led the Astros to their third pennant in four seasons: “He’s a quiet guy, he likes to eat toothpicks, but he knows how to handle players. He’s a really nice guy, he doesn’t try to push himself, he’s steady and he knows how to deal with people.”

And what about the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, which many believe tarnished their 2017 title? “This is history. It happened, and they paid for it. It backfired for a while, but this is a new group: they got paid, guys were fired, traded, fined and all that. It’s all done, it’s a different team.”

The Phillies’ slight blackout in late September this year brought back memories of two of the team’s worst moments: 1964 fall from an almost exact trip to the World Series, and Black Friday playoff loss. to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977.

“We went through a few of them: one in 1964, then we got beat by the Dodgers and we should have won this one, we thought, and then finally in 1980 it all worked out,” he said.

“We had to beat Montreal, we had to beat Houston, and then when we played Kansas City, it was like a relief because the pressure was on to get there and get to the World Series. We’ve had some ups and downs, but the ’80s is where it all started,” Vine said.

With just hours to go before the first game of the 2022 series, Vine said he didn’t want to make an official prediction but was hoping for clean ball games.

“You just hope that no matter which team wins or loses, it’s not some freak play or bad decision or something like that that changes everything. You just want to solve it on the field, with base hits and strikeouts,” he said.

“If you win or lose like that, you can walk away okay. You don’t like to lose, but if you’re playing as well as you can at the time and the other team is a little bit better than you, then there’s nothing you can do about it.”