The Main Event
- July 5, 1976 – In the first ABC Monday night game broadcast from the Vet, the Phillies got shut out by the Dodgers, 6-0. Steve Garvey was the star, going 4-for-5 with a home run.
It was 50 years ago tonight, during the nation’s Bicentennial, that ABC’s Monday Night Baseball cameras beamed a Phillies game nationally from Veterans Stadium. The game showcased a first-place club in the middle of its finest season in franchise history. Instead of celebrating in front of a national audience, the Phillies were shut out 6-0, with Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey delivering a signature performance that stole the spotlight.
The Roots of Monday Night Baseball
Prime-time baseball on network television didn’t begin with ABC. NBC had launched Monday Night Baseball back in 1966, giving the sport a regular weeknight home years before Monday Night Football became a cultural phenomenon on the same network. For nearly a decade, NBC carried the Monday package, and its final Monday Night Baseball telecast came on September 1, 1975, when the Montreal Expos beat the host Phillies at the Vet.
That handoff set the stage for a new era. The 1976 season marked the first year of MLB’s new national television rights agreements with ABC and NBC, with ABC winning the rights to Monday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, and both League Championship Series in even-numbered years, while NBC retained the weekend Game of the Week and All-Star Game and League Championship Series duties in odd-numbered years. Bringing the Monday night package to ABC was no accident. The network, led by sports chief Roone Arledge, wanted to replicate the entertainment-driven formula that had turned Monday Night Football into appointment viewing.
Building a Broadcast Booth Built for Entertainment
ABC didn’t just borrow the Monday night time slot from its football coverage — it borrowed the format, too. Just as it had done with Monday Night Football, ABC introduced a three-man broadcast booth for baseball, originally featuring Bob Prince, Bob Uecker, and Warner Wolf as the primary crew. Arledge was blunt about wanting personality-driven baseball, reportedly believing a livelier broadcast style — anchored by Uecker’s humor — would keep viewers from tuning out during lulls in the action.
The early lineup shuffled quickly. Bob Prince was gone from the broadcast team by the fall of 1976, replaced for that year’s American League Championship Series by Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell, with Reggie Jackson serving as a guest analyst. Prince, a longtime Pittsburgh radio voice, later admitted he never felt at home on the network stage, reportedly saying he hated the assignment in Houston and felt ABC never let him simply be himself on air.
Also entering the fold that first year was a young broadcaster who would eventually become the face of ABC’s baseball coverage. Al Michaels, then the radio voice of the San Francisco Giants, joined ABC as a backup announcer for Monday Night Baseball in 1976, working alongside Bob Gibson and Norm Cash, and that same year he called two no-hitters — one for ABC and one on Giants radio. Michaels would go on to anchor ABC’s baseball coverage for over a decade, eventually pairing with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver in the primary booth by the mid-1980s.
Few figures embodied the new, entertainment-first approach better than Bob Uecker. While continuing his radio work with the Milwaukee Brewers throughout the 1970s, Uecker also went national, helping call play-by-play for ABC’s Monday Night Baseball from 1976 through 1982. His self-deprecating wit — later immortalized in beer commercials and the film “Major League” — made him a natural foil for the more serious Howard Cosell, who reportedly praised Uecker as the one broadcaster whose reputation was actually enhanced by the assignment.
Historic Moments Under the ABC Monday Night Umbrella
The broadcast quickly found itself attached to some of the sport’s biggest moments. Detroit’s Mark “The Bird” Fidrych became a national sensation during his rookie debut season in 1976, drawing outsized ratings whenever he pitched on Monday nights. In the years that followed, ABC’s baseball postseason windows delivered other unforgettable scenes, including Chris Chambliss‘ pennant-clinching home run in the 1976 ALCS and Reggie Jackson’s three-home-run performance in the 1977 World Series.
A Fitting Bicentennial Backdrop
The date carried extra symbolism. Just a day after the nation’s 200th birthday, and a little more than a week before Veterans Stadium would host the 1976 All-Star Game as part of Philadelphia’s Bicentennial festivities, the Phillies’ first taste of ABC’s new Monday night showcase ended in a lopsided defeat. Still, the loss did nothing to derail Philadelphia’s historic season — the club would finish the year with 101 wins and its first National League East title, even though a National League Championship Series sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds awaited that October.
Fifty years later, that July night stands as a small but telling footnote in two intertwining histories: the rise of ABC’s Monday Night Baseball as appointment viewing, and the ascension of a Phillies team that was finally shedding its long championship drought — one nationally televised setback at a time.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for July 5
- July 5, 1904 – The Phils beat the NY Giants 6-5 in 10 innings, to end the Giants’ 18-game winning streak.
- July 5, 1915 – Grover Alexander threw a one-hitter against New York – his second of three that season. Fred Merkle‘s second inning double was the only hit. Alexander fanned six without walking a batter.
- July 5, 1923 – Acquired two seasons earlier in the deal that sent Casey Stengel to the New York Giants, Goldie Rapp was traded to Detroit in a cash deal.
- July 5, 1940 – Center fielder Wally Berger requested and was given his release by the Phillies. Berger was slowed by an earlier shoulder injury and frustrated by a reduced role with the Phillies. The release ended Berger’s MLB career.
- July 5, 1979 – In his major-league debut, Dickie Noles gets a start against the Mets. He gives up a home run to Joel Youngblood, the first batter he faces, and takes the loss in a 3-2 contest.
- July 5, 1989 – With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, Steve Jeltz scores on a passed ball by Steve Reed to beat the Reds 3-2.
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Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for July 5
- Beals Becker (born 1886) – Played 338 games with the Phillies in 1913-1915, hitting .301/.350/.461/.811.
- Gary Matthews (born 1950) – After five seasons with San Francisco and four seasons in Atlanta, Matthews was traded to Philadelphia for pitcher Bob Walk. Matthews would spend three seasons with the Phillies and later become a broadcaster with the team following his playing career.
- Tim Worrell (born 1967) – A right-handed reliever who signed with the Phillies following the 2003 season. Worrell made 97 relief appearances with the Phillies in 2004 and 2005 before being dealt to Arizona during the 2004 season.
- Austin Hays (born 1985) – Acquired during the 2024 season, Hays played in 22 games with the Phillies and hit .256. After the season, Hays became a free agent and signed with Cincinnati. The outfielder is currently on the 60-day IL with the Chicago White Sox.
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