Baseball
- September 18 – Outfielder Gary Ward become the sixth Minnesota Twins player to hit for the cycle. The Twins lose 9–8 to the Milwaukee Brewers, wasting Ward's effort. On May 26, 2004 his son, Daryle Ward, will repeat the feat guiding the Pirates' 11–8 victory over the Cardinals. Ward joined his father to become the first father-son combination in major league history to hit for the cycle.
- Rollie Fingers breaks Hoyt Wilhelm's major league record of 250 saves
- 1980 World Series – The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League end 97 years of frustration by defeating the American League champion Kansas City Royals four games to two, for the Phillies' first-ever World Championship.
- Japan's Sadaharu Oh retires from the Yomiuri Giants as the all time professional baseball home run king.
- National Basketball League (Australia) Finals:
- St. Kilda Saints defeated the West Adelaide Bearcats 113–88 in the final.
Read more about this topic: 1980 In Sports
Famous quotes containing the word baseball:
“How, in one short century, has this ersatz sport so strangled the consciousness of the country in the grip of its flabby tentacles that the mention of women’s baseball gets no reaction other than blank amazement?”
—Darlene Mehrer, As quoted in Women in Baseball. Ch. 6, by Gai Ingham Berlage (1994)
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“The talk shows are stuffed full of sufferers who have regained their health—congressmen who suffered through a serious spell of boozing and skirt-chasing, White House aides who were stricken cruelly with overweening ambition, movie stars and baseball players who came down with acute cases of wanting to trash hotel rooms while under the influence of recreational drugs. Most of them have found God, or at least a publisher.”
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)