Major League Baseball

Philly-Frisco: The beginning of a beautiful rivalry

Published Oct. 13, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

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One hundred and five years after their New York predecessors came to Philadelphia for this city's first modern postseason experience, the Giants are back.

That 1905 World Series, in which John McGraw's New Yorkers defeated Connie Mack's A's, touched off a fierce and often bitter rivalry between this city's two baseball teams and the feisty Giants manager.

The feud, like the fortunes of the two Philadelphia teams, eventually faded and by the late-1950s both the A's and Giants had relocated westward - the A's to Kansas City in 1954 (and later to Oakland), the Giants to San Francisco in 1958.

Though the 2010 National League Championship Series starting here Saturday will be the first postseason baseball meeting between Philadelphia and San Francisco, there have been several notable and interesting clashes between the sporting representatives of those cities.

Here are a few:

Wilt wins the West, April 14-24, 1967. Wilt Chamberlain used to say that the 1966-67 76ers were not only the best team he ever played on but the best he ever saw. With Chamberlain, Luke Jackson, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, Wali Jones, and Billy Cunningham, they won 45 of their first 49 games and finished with a then-NBA record 68-13 mark.

After ending the hated Celtics' run of eight straight NBA Eastern Conference titles, the 76ers' appearance in the Finals seemed almost anticlimactic, in Philly at least.

But the Warriors, despite their 44-37 regular-season record, were loaded with talent. San Francisco had Nate Thurmond, Jeff Mullins, and a youthful second-year shooting machine named Rick Barry.

Barry averaged an astounding 41 points a game in the championship series. "In my opinion," Chamberlain wrote in his 1991 book, A View From Above, "Rick was as good a forward as ever played basketball."

But Chamberlain outplayed Thurmond, one of the few centers who could physically match up with him. He averaged 17.7 points and 28.7 rebounds in winning the championship the Philadelphia native had coveted since entering the league in 1959.

Late on April 24, a night after they'd lost Game 5 in Philadelphia, 3,000 miles away, with 4,000 watching the sold-out Cow Palace matchup on closed-circuit TV in a San Francisco theater, the Sixers rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes to win the title.

Wet and wild card, Dec. 29, 1996. In what would be the Eagles' final postseason appearance for four years, their NFC wild-card game with the Niners, in wet, windy conditions at 3Com Park, was as sloppy as the weather.

The Eagles outgained the 49ers, but lost, 14-0, in large part because of a pair of Ty Detmer interceptions inside the San Francisco 10 - by cornerback Marquez Pope and defensive end Roy Barker.

Steve Young's 9-yard touchdown run in the second quarter opened the scoring. In the second half, he hit Jerry Rice on a short TD pass to close it.

The only other serious opportunity for Ray Rhodes' Eagles came when Gary Anderson missed a 40-yard field goal try in the opening period.

A week later, the 49ers would be thumped by Bret Favre's Green Bay Packers. The Eagles, 10-6 in '96, would slump to 6-9-1 in '97 and wouldn't be back in postseason play until Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid got them there in 2000.

One inning, two broken hands, May 2, 1970. The Giants, with Gaylord Perry pitching, were up, 3-0, in the bottom of the sixth when Willie Mays fouled off a 2-1 pitch from Chris Short. The ball caromed off catcher Tim McCarver's bare right hand, breaking it instantly.

Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi brought in backup Mike Ryan. Two batters later, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Willie McCovey tried to score, his spikes colliding with the new catcher's right hand. McCovey was out, and Ryan stayed in the game till inning's end.

But the pain was too intense, and the grimacing catcher was taken for X-rays. The Phils had to use reserve infielder Jim Hutto behind the plate for the final three innings of San Francisco's 7-1 win.

Desperate for catching help, the Phils called up two minor-leaguers, Del Bates and Mike Compton, but eventually Doc Edwards, who had been their bullpen coach and hadn't played since 1965, did most of the catching until McCarver returned in July.

Bay Area brawl, Oct. 25, 1974. The California Golden Seals played in Oakland but would have moved into a new San Francisco arena if they hadn't gone broke and been relocated to Cleveland in 1976.

In a game with the defending champion Flyers, a dustup between Seals defenseman Mike Christie and center Orest Kindrachuk of the Broad Street Bullies escalated into an ugly 40-minute brawl that eventually involved several fans and nearly became a full-blown riot.

The Flyers had taken offense because, while both Kindrachuk and Christie received majors, only Kindrachuk got a minor, too. After several minutes of angry jawing, Kindrachuk, Don Saleski, and Bob Kelly converged on the lone Seal in the penalty box.

The ensuing brawl spilled over onto the ice and a few fans tried to get involved. Before it and the game were through, referee Bryan Lewis had handed out an NHL-record 232 minutes in penalties, 144 of them to the Flyers.

The Seals won, 4-1, but the skirmish embarrassed the NHL - which suspended Kelly and Saleski indefinitely (six games as it turned out) - and infuriated Seals owner Munson Campbell.

"We'll bring up the butchers," said Campbell. "We'll meet them in the alley or on the ice. . . . It's up to [Commissioner Clarence] Campbell whether we play hockey or Philadelphia-style shinny."

Flyers defenseman Tom Bladon said the matter could have been resolved more quickly "if some of the Seals would have come to help [Christie] out."

No-nos at the Vet, Aug. 15, 1990, and April 27, 2003. The only two no-hitters in the 32-year history of Veterans Stadium came against the Giants.

On Aug. 15, 1990, lefthander Terry Mulholland, who had been acquired from San Francisco midway through the previous season, faced just 27 batters in a 6-0 Phils triumph.

The only base runner reached on a seventh-inning error by third-baseman Charlie Hayes, who atoned for that by making a spectacular leaping grab of Gary Carter's liner with two outs in the ninth.

Then on April 27, 2003, Kevin Millwood matched the feat, walking three in a 1-0 victory over San Francisco.

Phils centerfielder Ricky Ledee saved the no-no with a sensational running catch of a line drive by Marquis Grissom. Ledee's first-inning homer was the game's only run.

Contact staff writer Frank Fitzpatrick at 215-854-5068 or at ffitzpatrick@phillynews.com.

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