1988, pitching prowess, trades and upsets…
The 1988 season ended with a
huge surprise, as the Los Angeles Dodgers bested the Oakland A’s in the World
Series, winning it in five games. Tommy Lasorda’s crew beat the New York Mets
in a seven game League Championship Series, despite losing ten of eleven games
to the Mets during the regular season.
The
A’s, who had won one hundred four games in the regular season, had steamrolled
the Boston Red Sox in a four-game sweep, setting up the improbable Series.
Both
the Mets and A’s were set up to be dominant teams of the late eighties, but it
didn’t work out for either. After winning the World Series in 1986, the Mets
made the playoffs in 1988, but didn’t see the post-season again until 1999. And
Oakland fared a little better, making the World Series in three straight
seasons, but only winning once. The two losses (in 1988 and 1990) were both
considered to be upsets.
In
December on 1987, the Mets, A’s and Dodgers took part in a three-team trade,
unknowingly affecting the 1988 pennant chase. The Mets sent reliever Jesse
Orosco to the A’s, who then sent Orosco, pitcher Jay Howell and infielder
Alfredo Griffin to the Dodgers. The A’s received pitchers Bob Welch, Jack
Savage and Matt Young, sending Savage to the Mets along with pitchers Kevin
Tapani and Wally Whitehurst.
That
these teams were three of the four post-season teams was very interesting.
Orosco for the Dodgers, and Welch for the A’s played big roles during the
season for their teams, while the Mets would eventually package two of the
three pitchers to the Twins for Frank Viola, at the trade deadline in 1989.
Baseball
Commissioner Peter Ueberroth announced that he would allow his contract to
expire, without seeking an extension. He was selected commissioner in 1984,
after serving as the organizer of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Viewed
as the most successful Olympics at the time, Ueberroth used private financing,
by way of commercial endorsement deals, to actually close the Games with a cash
surplus of over two-hundred million dollars.
Baseball’s
owners, who had ushered former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn out the door, began
licking their chops at the thought of a marketing strategist taking over the
reins of Major League Baseball.
Image
was important to Ueberroth, as much as the product on the field was. One of his
first acts was to re-instate Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, two of the games
legendary figures, each of which had been banned for being employees of
casinos.
He was
quick to fine and suspend the players involved in the cocaine use, as revealed
in the trials in Pittsburgh. And was instrumental in convincing the Chicago
Cubs to install lights for night games at Wrigley Field, in lieu of the Cubs
having to pay the other teams in the league for lost revenues during day game
television and radio broadcasts.
He was,
also, complicit in the collusion cases brought by Free Agents who were not
getting any offers for their services. One of the pieces of evidence used
during the arbitration hearing was Ueberroth’s saying that team owners were,
“damn dumb”, to spend money on players just to win a World Series. He later
said that it was ‘not smart’ to sign any players to long term contracts.
Financial records brought forward before the 1987 season claimed that 25 of
the26 teams showed an operational loss, and that was the reasoning used for the
lack of free agency spending.
What
Ueberroth did do, and do well, was generate income for baseball. He negotiated a
1.8 billion-dollar television deal with the CBS network. He expanded the League
Championship Series from best of five to best of seven, generating more TV
revenue.
He
added national sponsorships, built on the existing infra-structure for mass
communications, and was able to show the league a profitable season in 1987,
the first league profit since 1973.
Interesting
to note that Ueberroth initiated an investigation into the gambling habits of
Pete Rose in 1985.
In
1987, the amount of home runs made a big leap. Huge leap, in fact. As I
mentioned in an earlier article, the homer total was 4,458 which was 645 more
than were hit in 1986. But the talk of the ’rabbit ball’ or the ‘juiced ball’
made good highlights, as did the video clips on the sports highlight programs
each night.
Well,
building off that, somehow the rabbit disappeared, and the home run totals fell
by 1,278 in 1988. Every National
League team scored less runs than they did in the previous season. While the
‘baseball establishment’ claimed there was no difference in the baseball, the
assumption must be that the pitchers learned how to get hitters out, and they
also figured out how to keep the ball in the park.
The
pitching was vastly improved, with eight near no-hitters thrown, including
back-to-back no-hit bids by Toronto’s Dave Steib that were both broken up in
the ninth inning.
Cincinnati’s
Tom Browning did pitch the first National League perfect game since Jim Bunning
in 1964. Browning was just the second southpaw to pitch a perfect game in the
National League (Koufax was the first), and the first to pitch a perfecto
against the eventual World Series champions.
Whether
the balls were changed is a question no one can or will answer. But the facts
remain that there was a monumental change in the statistics that swung in the
pitching favor. It should be considered that television gains revenue, and as
the rating cropped up, the more appealing a national television deal became.
And then as the ink was drying, the game settled back into a spot to appease
the purists. Somewhat, anyway.
Going back to the Commissioner
spot. League owners looked for a replacement and found him in the National
League. As in National League President A. Bartlett Giamatti.
Giamatti,
a well-known Red Sox fan, and former president of Yale University. He was a
professor of English Renaissance literature and had written many works of
baseball inspired prose. One of my favorite pieces, from “Take Time for
Paradise: Americans and their Games”, includes:
“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break
your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again,
and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as
soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all
alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the
memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all
twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
Giamatti
was named National League President in 1986, and would serve through October of
1988, to take over as Commissioner in October of that year.
But for
Giamatti, it wasn’t an easy time.
He had
the distinction of handing down of of the harshest penalties in many years. And
two other player suspensions. Interestingly, both involved the New York Mets.
The
first was doled out to Pedro Guerrero of the Dodgers, who was hit by a pitch
thrown by David Cone. In retaliation, Guerrero flung his bat at Cone…and
missed. Guerrero was fined a thousand dollars and suspended for four games.
Then
later in the year, during the post-season, he had Dodger pitcher Jay Howell ejected and
suspended him for three games (later reduced to two) when his glove was
discovered to have pine tar on it, during Game Three of the series against the
Mets. (as a big aside here, if you can ever find the clip of the game, and
Giamatti’s actions, it is worth noting that Giamatti’s son, award-winning actor
Paul Giamatti, can be seen with his father in the commissioner’s box)
But
Giamatti’s biggest disciplinary action involved Red player/manager Pete Rose.
On
April 30th, in the ninth inning of a tied game, the Mets had Howard
Johnson on second base, as Mookie Wilson hit a grounder to shortstop Barry
Larkin, whose throw appeared to pull Reds first baseman Nick Esasky off of
first. Umpire Dave Pallone hesitated before calling speedster Wilson safe, and
as the Reds began to challenge the call, Johnson scored.
Rose
rushed out of the dugout to argue, and in the ensuing verbal fisticuffs, pushed
Pallone twice. Rose claimed that Pallone poke Rose in the face while gesturing.
Rose was ejected, and the Riverfront faithful began showering the field with
trash to show their displeasure at the call.
The
umpires all left the field whole the grounds crew cleaned up the mess. Upon
their return to the field, the shower of debris began again, and Umpire Crew
Chief John Kibler, instructed Pallone to leave the field for his own safety,
which he did. The game resumed with three umpires, and the Mets gaining the
win, their second in what would be a three-game sweep of the Reds.
Giamatti
find Rose ten thousand dollars, and suspended him for thirty days, the longest
suspension since Happy Chandler suspended Leo “The Lip” Durocher for the entirety
of the 1947 season, for consorting with known gamblers, among other things.
The
thirty days was the longest ever assessed for an on-field incident.
Rose appealed and lost. However,
coming off knee surgery, the suspension was allowed to coincide and run
concurrent with the time Rose spent away from the team for recovery.
Yet it would be another suspension
of Rose by Giamatti that is widely remembered.
1998 also marked the last
appearance in the Major Leagues for California Angel pitcher Donnie Moore.
Moore came to the Angels as a Free
Agent signee before the 1985 season. He had been with the Cubs and the Braves
previously. He had gone 6-8 in 90 games the previous two seasons, saving
twenty-two games and a respectable 3.32 Earned Run Average.
He did well with the Angels in
1985, saving a career best 31 games, while going 8-8 with a solid 1.92 ERA. In
1986 he saved 21 games for the pennant winning Angels but was known for his
loss in Game Five of what could have been the series clincher.
Instead, he got roughed up by Dave
Henderson of the Red Sox, who homered against his in the ninth inning, with a
runner on, to give the Sox the lead, 6-5.
Incredibly, the Angels were able to
tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, to send the game to extra innings.
Moore pitched into the eleventh, when he loaded the bases. He then gave up a
sacrifice fly to…Dave Henderson to score the go ahead run for the Sox.
After the game, Moore told
reporters,” I blew it today…I’ll think about [that pitch] until the day I die.”
The Angels didn’t recover I that
game, or in the Series. The Sox won the next two games, setting up their
fateful match-up against the Mets.
Moore never really recovered
either.
He pitched in just fourteen games
for the Angels in 1987, winning two and saving five. He began developing arm
problems and had an operation to remove a one spur on his spine. He did win
five games in 1988, with five saves, but an ERA that was growing as the season
went on. Angel fans booed his every appearance and team management was less
than enthusiastic about his performance.
He was released by the Angels in
late August.
He did sign a minor league contract
for 1989 with the Omaha Royals, appearing in seven games, with an ERA of 6.39.
He was out of baseball by July, 1989.
After some domestic issues, Donnie
and his wife Tonya had separated, and she had moved into an apartment with
their children.
In late July, with their house for
sale, Donnie and his estranged wife met to show the house to a prospective
buyer, who never showed. The couple spent the morning arguing with each other.
At one-point Donnie left Tonya in the kitchen and returned with a gun.
Donnie shot Tonya, the bullet going
through her neck. She ran into the laundry room, with Donnie firing more shots
at her, hitting her in the chest twice. She managed to make it into their
garage, and into their car, where their teenaged daughter was able to race her
to the nearest hospital. Amazingly, she survived her injuries.
Donnie returned to the kitchen, and
turned the gun on himself, a tragic act witnessed by his own son.
But back to the games on the field:
The
1988 season began badly for two teams, the Atlanta Braves lost their first ten
games en-route to a 54-106 season.
But in
Baltimore, it took twenty-two games (and two managers) before the won a game.
They lost their first twenty-one, costing Cal Ripken Sr. his job after the
sixth loss, and then Frank Robinson lost another fifteen before the O’s
squeaked by the White Sox by a 9-0 score. The Orioles finished with a 54-107
record.
American League
|
National League
|
A’s
|
Mets
|
Brewers
|
Dodgers
|
Twins
|
Reds
|
And in hitting, we have:
Red Sox
|
Mets
|
A’s
|
Giants
|
Yankees
|
Pirates
|
Then the overall team top five rankings were:
A’s
|
American League Champions
|
Mets
|
NL East Champions
|
Dodgers
|
World Series Champions
|
Red Sox
|
AL East Champions
|
Twins
|
2nd in NL West, 91 wins
|
The
lights were turned on fat Wrigley Field for the first time, kinda. Cubs owner
Phillip Wrigley initially purchased the materials to wire the stadium for night
baseball in 1942 but decided to donate the steel and other items to the war
effort.
There
were several exhibition type games and events where temporary lights were
installed for, but never for the Cubs. There were several lawsuits put in place
to stop the progress, some from the local neighborhood, some from baseball purists.
But, as
mentioned above, the deal was set, and the schedule was made for the Phillies
to be the visiting team for the historic event. With many celebrities and
dignitaries in attendance, the light switch was thrown by ninety-one-year-old
Cubs fan Harry Grossman, who attended his first Cubs game in 1906.
Cubs
legends Billy Williams and Ernie Banks threw out the honorary first pitches,
and the game began. 39,008 fans crammed into the stadium, as WGN-TV broadcast
the game, which was distributed across the country by various cable television
providers.
Phillies
outfielder Phil Bradley hit the third pitch thrown over the left-field wall for
the first night time homer hit at Wrigley. In the bottom of the inning, Cubs
second baseman Ryne Sandberg tagged a Kevin Gross offering over the fence for a two-run
homer.
The
Cubs scored again, and carried a 3-1 lead into the fourth inning, but then
lightning and heavy rain caused a stoppage of play. After a two-hour and
ten-minute wait, the game was called, and those records were erased.
The
next night, the visiting Mets were the next to play the Cubs under the lights,
and the weather cooperated. Lenny Dykstra of the Mets hit the first official night time homer at Wrigley,
but the Cubs edged the Mets out 6-4 to win the opener at the night-time
friendly confines.
Yankees
pitcher Rick Rhoden became the first pitcher, since the inception of the
designated hitter rule, to be in the lineup as a designated hitter.
In
Houston, third-baseman Buddy Bell hit his 200th home run, becoming a
part of the first father/son duo to each hit 200 homers in their career.
In
Minnesota, reliever Jeff Reardon saved forty-two games, making him the first to
save forty in each league. He had saved forty-one with Montreal in 1985.
And
teammate Allan Anderson became the first Twins hurler to lead the league in
ERA.
St. Louis Cardinal lefty Joe
Magrane led the National League in ERA but won only five games, which is the
fewest wins by an ERA leader. He finished 5-9.
There was some controversy, as both
pitchers skipped their last start of the season, preserving their ERA leads.
Padres legend Tony Gwynn won the
batting title, hitting .313, the lowest average to lead the National League.
And pitcher Dave Eiland homered in
his first major league at-bat, and never hit another in his ten-year career. Of
course, his ten-year career amounted to twenty-seven plate appearances.
Boston hitting machine Wade Boggs
became the first player in the twentieth century to get two hundred hits in six
straight seasons.
And the Red Sox won twenty-three
consecutive home games.
Phillies pitcher Kent Tekulve
appeared in his one thousandth game, become just the second pitcher to reach
that milestone.
San Francisco Giants infielder
Harry Spillman hit his first career triple, after ten and a half years. It took
five hundred six games for him to accomplish his feat.
The Giants have a history that
includes some of the greatest sluggers in the history of the game. From Mel Ott
to Willie Mays, to Willie McCovey, to Barry Bonds. Yet it was light hitting
infielder Earnest Riles who hit the ten thousandth home run in Giants history
in 1988.
Toronto slugger George Bell became
the first to hit three homers on opening day, while the Mets became the first
team to hit six in their opener.
The Mets became the first team to
have three players with twenty homers and twenty steals. (Howard Johnson, Kevin
McReynolds and Daryl Strawberry)
Kevin McReynolds set the record for
the most stolen bases without getting caught through the entire season, with
twenty-one.
Pitcher David Cone finished with a
20-3 record, for a .87 winning percentage.
Mets skipper Davey Johnson became
the first manager to win ninety or more games in each of his first five
seasons.
Oakland A’s outfielder Jose Canseco
became the first player to reach forty homers and stolen bases during the same
season. He was the first Oakland A’s player to lead the AL in runs batted in,
and the first player to hit thirty or more homers in his first three seasons.
The A’s and the Mets were both
primed to be dynasty teams in each league, but it wasn’t meant to be. For one
reason or another, some of their own doing, some not, neither one of those
teams lived up to their potential. The Mets, with those five straight
ninety-plus win seasons, only made the playoffs twice, and the Series once.
Oakland did make the Series three
straight years but only have the 1989 Championship to show for it.
1998 belonged to the Dodgers. Not
only did they surprise the Mets in the National League Championship Series, but
they also upset the heavily favored A’s in the Series. From the superb pitching
of eventual Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser, to the injured Kirk Gibson
limping to the plate to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth to hit a
game-winning homer off relief ace Dennis Eckersley, in what was Gibson’s only
appearance in the series, to Gibson’s replacement Mickey Hatcher hitting
.368…it was destiny for the Dodgers to win it all.
Hershiser set a record by pitching
fifty-nine consecutive scoreless innings towards the end of the season to
shepherd the Dodgers into the post season. But the luck of the Dodgers didn’t
end there.
During the free agent draft, as
legend goes, doing manager Tommy Lasorda a favor, the drafted his nephew, a
catcher out of Miami Dade Junior College named Michael Piazza. He was drafted
in the sixty-second round, the one thousand, three hundred ninetieth player
chosen, out of one thousand four hundred thirty-three.
Not
a single player drafted after him made it to the major leagues…but Mike did.
Going back to the season at hand,
we will begin our analysis with the National League batters. Our initial top
ten list is as follows:
Team
|
HR
|
RBI
|
AVG
|
RC/G
|
|
Will
Clark
|
Giants
|
29
|
109
|
.282
|
1.12
|
Andy
Van Slyke
|
Pirates
|
25
|
100
|
.288
|
1.14
|
Daryl
Strawberry
|
Mets
|
39
|
101
|
.269
|
1.07
|
Eric
Davis
|
Reds
|
26
|
93
|
.273
|
1.10
|
Andres
Galarraga
|
Expos
|
29
|
92
|
.302
|
1.03
|
Kirk
Gibson
|
Dodgers
|
25
|
76
|
.290
|
1.05
|
Bobby
Bonilla
|
Pirates
|
24
|
100
|
.274
|
1.03
|
Kevin
McReynolds
|
Mets
|
27
|
99
|
.288
|
1.05
|
Kal
Daniels
|
Reds
|
18
|
64
|
.291
|
1.01
|
Glenn
Davis
|
Astros
|
30
|
99
|
.271
|
0.97
|
Now looking how they performed
against their team averages, we get this list:
Andres Galarraga
|
Above
|
||||
Eric Davis
|
Above
|
||||
Will Clark
|
Above
|
||||
Kirk Gibson
|
Above
|
||||
Andy Van Slyke
|
Above
|
||||
Kal Daniels
|
Above
|
||||
Gerald Perry
|
Braves
|
8
|
74
|
.300
|
0.90
|
Tony Gwynn
|
Padres
|
7
|
70
|
.313
|
0.95
|
So, that brings our overall ranking
to this:
Will Clark
|
5th in MVP
|
Andy Van Slyke
|
4th in MVP
|
Eric Davis
|
13th in MVP
|
Daryl Strawberry
|
2nd in MVP
|
Andres Galarraga
|
7th in MVP
|
Kirk Gibson
|
NL MVP
|
Kal Daniels
|
No votes
|
Bobby Bonilla
|
14th in MVP
|
Kevin McReynolds
|
3rd in MVP
|
Tony Gwynn
|
11th in MVP
|
Looking at the American League, whose
offensive performance outpaced the National League batters by 9.9%, our initial
ranking is:
Jose Canseco
|
A’s
|
42
|
124
|
.307
|
1.28
|
Kirby Puckett
|
Twins
|
24
|
121
|
.356
|
1.30
|
Dave Winfield
|
Yankees
|
25
|
107
|
.322
|
1.19
|
Mike Greenwell
|
Red Sox
|
22
|
119
|
.325
|
1.16
|
Dwight Evans
|
Red Sox
|
21
|
111
|
.293
|
1.25
|
Wade Boggs
|
Red Sox
|
5
|
52
|
.366
|
1.13
|
Dave Henderson
|
A’s
|
24
|
94
|
.304
|
1.16
|
Ellis Burks
|
Red Sox
|
18
|
92
|
.294
|
1.16
|
George Brett
|
Royals
|
24
|
103
|
.306
|
1.08
|
Don Mattingly
|
Yankees
|
18
|
88
|
.311
|
1.14
|
And now comparing to their teams,
we get:
Cal Ripken
|
Orioles
|
23
|
81
|
.264
|
0.90
|
Eddie Murray
|
Orioles
|
28
|
84
|
.284
|
0.81
|
Kirby Puckett
|
Above
|
||||
Jose Canseco
|
Above
|
||||
Dave Winfield
|
Above
|
||||
George Brett
|
Above
|
||||
Robin Yount
|
Brewers
|
13
|
91
|
.306
|
1.05
|
Paul Molitor
|
Brewers
|
13
|
60
|
.312
|
1.05
|
Danny Tartabull
|
Royals
|
26
|
102
|
.274
|
1.07
|
Alan Trammell
|
Tigers
|
15
|
69
|
.311
|
0.99
|
That makes our overall American
League top ten batters as:
Kirby Puckett
|
3rd in MVP
|
`Jose Canseco
|
AL MVP
|
Dave Winfield
|
4th in MVP
|
Mike Greenwell
|
2nd in MVP
|
Dwight Evans
|
9th in MVP
|
Wade Boggs
|
6th in MVP
|
Dave Henderson
|
13th in MVP
|
George Brett
|
12th in MVP
|
Danny Tartabull
|
No votes
|
Ellis Burks
|
No votes
|
Over to the pitching side, beginning
with the National League, who had a similar 9.9% advantage over the American
League pitchers, we get this initial top ten list:
Team
|
W-L
|
ERA
|
Sv
|
|
Orel
Hershiser
|
Dodgers
|
23-8
|
2.26
|
1
|
Danny
Jackson
|
Reds
|
23-8
|
2.73
|
0
|
David
Cone
|
Mets
|
20-3
|
2.22
|
0
|
Pascual
Perez
|
Expos
|
12-8
|
2.44
|
0
|
John
Franco
|
Reds
|
6-6
|
1.57
|
39
|
Randy
Myers
|
Mets
|
7-3
|
1.72
|
26
|
Rick
Reuschel
|
Giants
|
19-11
|
3.12
|
0
|
Tim
Leary
|
Dodgers
|
17-11
|
2.91
|
0
|
Dwight
Gooden
|
Mets
|
18-9
|
3.11
|
0
|
Dennis
Martinez
|
Expos
|
15-13
|
2.72
|
0
|
And then as compared to their
teams, we get this list:
Danny Jackson
|
Above
|
|||
Greg Maddux
|
Cubs
|
18-8
|
3.18
|
0
|
Orel Hershiser
|
Above
|
|||
Pascual Perez
|
Above
|
|||
John Franco
|
Above
|
|||
Kevin Gross
|
Phillies
|
12-14
|
3.69
|
0
|
David Cone
|
Above
|
|||
Bob Knepper
|
Astros
|
14-5
|
3.14
|
0
|
Mike Scott
|
Astros
|
14-8
|
2.92
|
0
|
Eric Show
|
Padres
|
16-11
|
3.26
|
0
|
That
brings our final NL pitcher rankings to this:
2nd
in Cy Young, 9th in MVP
|
|
Orel
Hershiser
|
Cy
Young Award, 6th in MVP
|
David
Cone
|
3rd
in Cy Young, 10th in MVP
|
Pascual
Perez
|
No
votes
|
John
Franco
|
No
votes
|
Greg
Maddux
|
No
votes
|
Randy
Myers
|
16th
in MVP
|
Bob
Knepper
|
No
votes
|
Dennis
Martinez
|
No
votes
|
Mike
Scott
|
No
votes
|
Turning
to the American League, we offer up this initial top ten list:
Frank Viola
|
Twins
|
24-7
|
2.64
|
0
|
Teddy Higuera
|
Brewers
|
16-9
|
2.45
|
0
|
Allan Anderson
|
Twins
|
16-9
|
2.45
|
0
|
Mark Gubicza
|
Royals
|
20-8
|
2.70
|
0
|
Jeff Robinson
|
Tigers
|
13-6
|
2.98
|
0
|
Roger Clemens
|
Red Sox
|
18-12
|
2.93
|
0
|
Dave Stewart
|
A’s
|
21-12
|
3.23
|
0
|
Greg Swindell
|
Indians
|
18-14
|
3.20
|
0
|
Dennis Eckersley
|
A’s
|
4-2
|
2.35
|
45
|
Dave Steib
|
Blue Jays
|
16-8
|
3.04
|
0
|
No, that wasn’t a typo. Allan Anderson
and Teddy Higuera finished with the same record and ERA, but Anderson was a few
decimal points better than Higuera.
Now, as compared to their teams, we
get this list:
Frank Viola
|
Above
|
|||
Greg Swindell
|
Above
|
|||
Mark Gubicza
|
Above
|
|||
Doug Jones
|
Indians
|
3-4
|
2.27
|
37
|
Allan Anderson
|
Above
|
|||
Mark Langston
|
Mariners
|
15-11
|
3.34
|
0
|
John Candelaria
|
Yankees
|
13-7
|
3.38
|
1
|
Charlie Hough
|
Rangers
|
15-16
|
3.32
|
0
|
Jeff Robinson
|
Above
|
|||
Mike Boddicker
|
Orioles/Red Sox
|
13-15
|
3.39
|
0
|
A quick
note here, at the trading deadline, Mike Boddicker was traded from the Orioles
to the Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Brady Anderson, and pitcher Curt
Schilling.
The
finalized top ten ranking for American League pitchers is as such:
Frank Viola
|
Cy Young Winner, 10th in MVP
|
Mark Gubicza
|
3rd in Cy Young
|
Allan Anderson
|
No votes
|
Teddy Higuera
|
No votes
|
Greg Swindell
|
No votes
|
Jeff Robinson
|
No votes
|
Doug Jones
|
15th in MVP (tied)
|
John Candelaria
|
No votes
|
Dave Steib
|
No votes
|
Dave Stewart
|
2nd in Cy Young, 22nd
in MVP (tied)
|
This
season review was a slight surprise, to be honest. The post season awards
voting was far off from where my hypothetical vote would have been. Of the four
major awards, I only agreed with one, the American League Cy Young vote, which
was won by Frank “Sweet Music” Viola.
Offensively,
Jose Canseco was the American League MVP, but looking at the numbers, I had
Kirby Puckett being the most productive player in the league. And yes, I know
that black and white numbers don’t account for the intangibles, like
leadership, or the ‘eye test’. But Puckett had a great season, and more importantly,
led the league in runs created per game.
In the
National League, the MVP was Kirk Gibson. Once again, the ‘intangibles’ come
into play on this selection. He didn’t make my top five hypothetical votes. Not
casting doubt on Gibson’s intensity and leadership abilities, but Gibson did
get a lot of press throughout the year. As did his teammate Orel Hershiser, who
was the Cy Young Award winner.
Gibson had
the World Series heroics, although the MVP vote had already taken place before
the post season. And Hershiser had that impressive scoreless streak towards the
end of the regular season. Again, while great performers during the season, my
vote would have been different.
How
different? Well, both post season awards would have been won by pitchers. Here
is my imagined top five post season vote for each league:
National League:
Danny Jackson
Cy Young Award Winner
Most Valuable Player
Orel Hershiser
Will Clark
Offensive Player of the
Year
Andy Van Slyke
David Cone
American League:
Frank Viola
Cy Young Award Winner
Most Valuable Player
Kirby Puckett
Offensive Player of
the Year
Mark Gubicza
Jose Canseco
Allan Anderson