Oct 10, 2008; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers celebrates with first base coach Davey Lopes after hitting a single driving in two runs in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game two of the NLCS at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports James Lang-US PRESSWIRE
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies held a moment of silence for Davey Lopes before Friday's game. Lopes was the first-base coach for the Phillies from 2007-2010, a period that saw the team win four consecutive NL East titles, two pennants and a World Series. Lopes was credited with helping to get the most on the bases out of a club that included Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley.
Of course, prior to being a key cog on Charlie Manuel's 2008 coaching staff, Lopes was a villain in Phillies lore.
During the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS between the Dodgers and Phillies — a frame that's since been dubbed "Black Friday" by local fans — Lopes came to the plate with the Phillies leading 5-4, with two outs and a runner on third base. Lopes scalded a ball that skipped off of Mike Schmidt's glove at third base, going perfectly in the direction of shortstop Larry Bowa. As Bowa remembers it, Lopes "hit the shit out of it."
Still, Bowa grabbed it with his bare hand after a friendly bounce on the Veterans Stadium turf, fired to first and seemingly got Lopes. Harry Kalas even initially was ecstatic on the broadcast, thinking Bowa's amazing play had ended the game, giving the Phillies a 2-1 series lead.
Only, first base umpire Bruce Froemming — who Bowa was careful to say he thought was "a very good umpire" — called Lopes safe. Manny Mota scored the tying run, and the Dodgers ultimately won the game 6-5, taking a 2-1 lead in a best-of-five series Los Angeles won in four games.
Bowa fondly recalled his ties to Lopes Friday, two days after the four-time All-Star passed away following a battle with Parkinson's.
"We had that play that existed. He was always a Dodger, I was always a Phillie," Bowa said. "So we switched there. He was an unbelievable competitor, man."
As Bowa noted, he was most associated with the Phillies as a player, while Lopes a Dodger. The two ended up as teammates on the Chicago Cubs for parts of two seasons in 1984 and 1985, late in both their playing careers. They were friends, but neither gave an inch on the play when it came up.
"We talked about it a lot," Bowa acknowledged. "He'd tell me, 'Let it go, I was safe.' I said, 'Yeah, you were safe. If they had replay, you'd have been out.'"
Lopes never caved, even though replay pretty clearly shows that Bowa's throw beat him.
"Til the day I'm sure he passed away, every time somebody would say something, he would say, 'No, I beat it,'" Bowa said with a smile.
Ironically, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the NLCS in 2008 and 2009, Lopes was the first base coach for the Phillies, while Bowa was the third-base coach on Joe Torre's staff.
Bowa never coached on the same staff as Lopes, but was nonetheless impressed by his acumen on baserunning dating back to when they were teammates.
"I thought Davey was a great baserunning coach," Bowa said. "Even when we were together in Chicago, he wasn't playing every day ... he played everywhere. He would sit on the bench and say 'Now, this is what this guy does.' It was amazing, he was right. He had a knack of picking things up, and even then, he could see things that I would say, 'I don't see that, Davey.' But he was good at it, really good."
There is a generation of Phillies fans — even after a World Series title in 1980 — that never got over "Black Friday." But listening to Bowa talk about Lopes nearly half a century later, it's clear how much the two meant in each other's baseball journeys.
