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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 30^th, 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.

              

            The top performing teams in each league for pitching were:        

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 200^th 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:

Player	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:

Pitcher	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:

Danny Jackson	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