1989…An
Earthquake, A Pick-six, Pete and Bart
1989
was a very tumultuous year. Events, both natural and man-made, caused
disruptions throughout the season, and into the post-season. The ripple effects
are somewhat still being felt today.
Pete
Rose dominated the baseball headlines throughout the season, overshadowing most
of the headlines. It started in February, as baseball was beginning Spring
Training. Pete was called on to appear in New York and was informally
questioned by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and National League President Bart
Giamatti, about Pete’s involvement with gambling issues. Rose vehemently denied
these accusations.
Ueberroth
had decided to vacate the office of Commissioner, and the owners had voted to
install Giamatti as seventh commissioner. The former Yale University President
was a well-known Boston Red Sox fan and had been the National League President
in 1986. He had said previously that his dream job was to become the American
League President. Giamatti became the commissioner on April 1st,
1989.
The April 3rd issue of Sports
Illustrated featured a cover story on Pete Rose, with their findings on
investigating the allegations of Pete’s gambling on baseball. On April 4th,
Giamatti hired John M. Dowd, an attorney, to lead the MLB investigation into
the allegations.
On April 6th, there was
a winning pari-mutuel ticket sold at Turfway park for a Pick-Six, winning close
to $48,000. Pete was alleged to be a half-owner of said ticket. With the
winning ticket being as large as it was, the winner needed to identify himself,
and be held responsible for any taxes due on those winnings.
Pete Roses’s friend, Tommy Gioiosa claimed
the winning ticket as his own...well to the authorities at least. He was heard
bragging that day and afterwards who ticket belonged to. This, along with other
information made for an easy charge that Rose was placing bets using a middleman,
like Gioiosa.
When the accusations became public,
Pete stated that he did not know Gioiosa, and that there was a vast conspiracy
against him. When news came of Rose leaving tickets for Gioiosa at Riverfront
Stadium, Rose then remembered that he did in fact know Gioiosa.
I won’t delve into all the
allegations against Rose, or his denials, then acknowledgements of his wrongdoings.
I touched on them in this article:
Going back to the 1989 season, and
Pete’s involvement…
In August, Pete Rose was relieved
of his duties as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, and was replaced by Tommy
Helms. The Reds were in fourth place at the time.
Pete met with Commissioner Giamatti
and on August 24th, signed an agreement that accepted Pete’s
banishment from baseball for life, with a codicil that stated that Pete could
be eligible for reinstatement after one year.
There is no acceptance of guilt on
the claim of gambling on baseball, nor is there any formal finding on the
results of the investigation. Giamatti said,” There is absolutely no deal for
reinstatement. This is exactly what we did not agree to in terms of a fixed
number of years.”
Rose, later that same monumental
evening, appeared on a cable television shopping channel to sell his
autographed items, bats, balls, jerseys, etc.
Rose signed the agreement
essentially banning himself from baseball, then immediately began to back pedal
away from it, saying that Giamatti changed the agreement. But Pete and his
lawyer read the statement before they signed. Or at least, they should have.
Eight days after he became the
first commissioner to permanently ban a player for life since Commissioner
Landis, Bart Giamatti would die of a heart attack while on vacation on Martha’
Vineyard. His passing loomed very large over the last month of the season, and
into the very memorable post season.
Giamatti was replaced by his deputy
commissioner, Francis (Fay) Vincent, who was appointed on September 13th,
1989. Vincent would serve in that role for three years.
Vastly overshadowed by the Rose and
Giamatti situation, was the August 31st ruling by arbitrator Thomas
Roberts, finding Major League owners guilty of collusion involving the 1986
class of Free Agents. Already been found guilty, in this penalty phase, Roberts
ordered owners to pay a total over $10 million to the 139 players that were
negatively impacted by the collected effort by the owners to not sign free
agents.
Despite the collusion findings, the
owners were still doling out serious money to the players. 1989 marked the
first time that each of the twenty-six teams had at least one player earning $1
million or more on their rosters. History allows us to look back at the class
of $2 million per year earners and find that of the twenty-one players over that
threshold, only nine of those earned Hall of Fame inductions.
(Because you were going to ask Cal
Ripken, Jim Rice, Kirby Puckett, Rickey Henderson, Andre Dawson, Eddie Murray
Gary Carter and Ozzie Smith)
In 1988, Giants pitcher Dave
Dravecky struggled to a 2-2 mark after seven games. He was placed on the
disabled list. Examinations discovered a cancerous tumor in his left bicep.
That tumor was in his deltoid muscle and had attached itself to the bone. The mass,
along with about half of the deltoid muscle. was removed in October 1988. During
the procedure, the surgeons had applied a ‘freezing agent’ to the bone.
With an aggressive and rigorous rehabilitation schedule, doctors advised him to look towards a return to major-league level abilities in time for the 1990 season. But determined to prove them wrong, Dravecky worked harder, and was able to return to the Giants in August.
With an aggressive and rigorous rehabilitation schedule, doctors advised him to look towards a return to major-league level abilities in time for the 1990 season. But determined to prove them wrong, Dravecky worked harder, and was able to return to the Giants in August.
In a highly publicized, and very
emotional return, he pitched eight innings against the Reds, earning the win
4-3.
His next start, in Montreal stopped
his storybook comeback.
In the bottom of the sixth, Expos
shortstop Damaso Garcia homered, and first-baseman Andres Galarraga was hit by
a pitch. With the runner on first, and Tim Raines at the plate, Dravecky
attempted to throw the first pitch, but his humerus bone snapped, and Dravecky
went down “Like he was shot”.
Expos third baseman Hubie Brooks,
who was in the on-deck circle, said “It sounded like a firecracker”.
Both dugouts emptied rushed to the
mound as Dravecky writhed in pain. He was removed to a local hospital and was
found to have suffered a stress fracture of the humerus.
As misfortune happens, running on
the field in October, as the Giants defeated the Chicago Cubs in the National
League Championship Series, Dravecky was bumped from behind, and suffered a
hairline fracture of that same arm.
After the season, another lump was
found in his arm, and he was forced to retire from the game. He would
eventually have his left arm and shoulder amputated.
Dravecky was awarded the “Hutch
Award” in 1989, which is given annually to a major league player who ‘best
exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire’ of its namesake, Fred
Hutchinson. The award is presented by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer research
Center in Seattle. As of this writing, fourteen of the honorees are members of
the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Fred Hutchinson was a major league
player, and manager. He was born and raised in Seattle. He became a
professional baseball player in 1938, pitching for the non-affiliated Seattle
Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League.
He was signed by the Detroit
Tigers, and pitched well, but lost five years of playing time to World War II.
He joined the U.S. Navy and served from 1942-1945. He achieved the rank of
Lieutenant Commander.
He returned to baseball, and
compiled a respectable career, finishing with ninety-five wins, all with
Detroit. His competitive nature, and his leadership skills led him into the
managerial reins. He managed the Tigers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the
Cincinnati Reds. Over a span of thirteen years, he won a little over
eight-hundred games.
After the 1963 season, at the helm
of the Reds, he discovered a lump in his neck, was diagnosed with a very
aggressive strain of lung cancer. He had malignant tumors in his lungs, chest
and neck. He began treatment, but still felt strong enough to remain in charge
of the Reds. He fell ill in July, which required a brief hospital stay, but
returned to the dugout for a brief run.
First base coach Dick Sisler assumed the interim-manager spot in the beginning of April, and the Reds went on a tear, finishing the season in a second-place tie with the Phillies, one game behind the Cardinals.
First base coach Dick Sisler assumed the interim-manager spot in the beginning of April, and the Reds went on a tear, finishing the season in a second-place tie with the Phillies, one game behind the Cardinals.
Fred Hutchinson succumbed to the
cancer on November 12th, 1964. He was forty-five years old.
SPORT magazine named Hutch
its “Man of the Year” as a tribute to his courage in battling his illness, and
his leadership of his team, as both parties realized he was getting ‘closer to
death’s door’ with each passing day.
North of the border, in Toronto,
the crown jewel stadium of the American League opened in mid-season. The Sky
Dome became the new home of the Toronto Blue Jays on June 5th. It
was the first major league stadium to feature a fully retractable roof. The
stadium also featured an on-site hotel, with seventy rooms which overlooked the
playing field.
The Blue Jays played their final
game at Exhibition Stadium against the Chicago White Sox on May 28th.
That game featured a walk-off home run hit by George Bell. In the eighth inning
of the inaugural game at the Sky Dome against the Milwaukee Brewers, George
Bell homered, becoming the first player to homer in both a stadium’s last game,
and first game during the same season.
But all was not perfect in Toronto.
A sudden rainstorm hit the area during a game, and while the retractable roof
did its job, it slowed down greatly before finally closing. The result was a
small rain delay, as the exposed area was around home plate. The rest of the
field was in dryness, but the batter, catcher and umpire were inundated for
rain for several minutes.
In Philadelphia, the Pirates took a
huge lead over the Phillies, on a ten-run first inning outburst. Pirates
announcer Jim Rooker stated that if the Bucs somehow blew a ten-run lead to the
rival Phillies, he would walk home to Pittsburgh. They did. The Phillies won a
barn burner by a score of 15-11 Rooker, true to his word, walked the three hundred
fifteen miles. He raised over $80,000 for a local children’s hospital in the
process.
And speaking of that game, Phillies
shortstop Steve Jeltz, who would finish his career with five homers, hit two of
them in this game. Jeltz, incredibly becomes the first switch-hitter in the
one-hundred year plus history of the Phillies to homer from each side of the
plate in the same game.
The Cincinnati Reds recorded a
record twelve singes in the first inning in a game against the Houston Astros.
San Diego pitcher Bruce Hurst
became the first pitcher in history to earn a win over the reigning Cy Young
Award winners in one season. He beat Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers and Frank
Viola of the Mets, who had been traded from the Minnesota Twins in July.
The Montreal Expos lost a twenty-two-inning
game to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a solo homerun by thirty-nine-year-old
Dodgers catcher Rick Dempsey, who replaced starter Mike Scioscia in the eighth
inning. The game is notable for at least three reasons. It was the longest game
in Montreal Expo history. There was not a single base on balls, which remains a
record for the longest game without a non-intentional walk issued. And it was a
game where Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda had Expos mascot Youppi ejected from
the game for jumping on and thumping on the Dodgers dugout in the eleventh inning
of the game.
Youppi recovered and will be
inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2020, the first Canadian based mascot
to receive such an honor.
Really.
Youppi joins, among others, Mr.
Met, The Phillie Phanatic, the San Diego Chicken, Tommy Hawk (Blackhawks),
Smokey (University of Tennessee), Brutus Buckeye (Ohio State University) and KC
Wolf (Kansas City Chiefs) enshrined at the Hall in Whiting, Indiana.
Really.
Texas Rangers ace Nolan Ryan
strikes out future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, the five thousandth
strikeout of Ryan’s career. Ryan remains the only pitcher to have reached five
thousand strikeouts and will probably be the only one to do so.
The Oakland A’s were in dynasty
mode or should have been. They were the most dominant team in 1989, the middle
of their three year stretch as American League champions. But 1989 was their
only World Series championship do that time.
They had dominant pitching, the
lowest ERA in the league and three pitchers with nineteen or more wins. They
had the best reliever in either league, Dennis Eckersley, who didn’t allow a
walk from August 17 until June 10th of next season, forty-one
straight regular season appearances. Eck walked just three batters in fifty-one
appearances, earning thirty-three saves and four wins.
They reacquired Rickey Henderson
from the Yankees to jump-start a sputtering offense, which finished fourth in
the league in runs scored, en-route to a ninety-nine-win season.
They did it without the services of
the AL reigning Most Valuable Player, Jose Canseco, who was dealing with a
litany of issues. First, he was arrested for reckless driving and leading
police on a fifteen-mile, high speed chase. Then he was hit on the wrist during
a Spring Training game, breaking a bone and sidelining him. Then, while at a
doctor’s appointment, someone observed a handgun in Canseco’s car, and he was
charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm. Altogether, Jose missed
ninety-seven games. But, his popularity with the fans allowed him to be voted
as a starting outfielder for the All-Star Game.
Around this time, however,
suspicions began to arise about supposed steroid use by Canseco. Baseball
columnist Thomas Boswell said that Canseco was “the most conspicuous example of
a player who made himself great with steroids.” Canseco, at the time, denied
any involvement with any drugs, and threatened to sue Boswell. Some
reporters, though, began referring to steroids in baseball as “Canseco Shakes”.
An in 1990, Sports Illustrated reported that while Canseco was with
someone who “…had been detained at various times for carrying steroids”, there
was no proof at the time that Canseco was doing anything illicit.
Then came his book.
In 2005, after his big-league
career ended, Canseco published a book called “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant
‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big”. In this book, co-written by
Jorge Delgado, Damaso Moreno and Manuel Collado, Canseco estimated that up to
85% of major league players had used steroids at some time, and for some time.
He also called out several former teammates on their steroid use, even
describing them giving injection to each other.
But back to 1989, when this issue
wasn’t much more than a speck on a rising superstar career,
Jose, and his twin brother Ozzie
became a part of a curious medical study, which had very little to do with
baseball. In the minor leagues, Ozzie Canseco was struck on the wrist, and
suffered a bone fracture. Jose fractured the same wrist in the same way in the
spring of 1989. The similarities and coincidences of twins having broken the
same bone in different incidents was a medical anomaly. I don’t honestly know
the results of those tests or studies…just throwing it out there.
The A’s steamrolled their way into
the World Series in 1989, taking four of five games from the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the National League, the Chicago
Cubs outlasted the Mets to win the National League East title by six games.
Their opponents would be the San Francisco Giants, who finished three ahead of
the San Diego Padres.
After
waiting thirty-five years for a post-season appearance in 1984, the Cubs were
now in their second playoff series in six years. The Giants had won just their
third divisional title, previously in 1971 and 1987.
Cubs first-baseman mark Grace hit
.647 for the Series but was edged out by Giants first-baseman Will Clark, who
hit .650. The Giants handily beat the Cubs four games to one, to advance to the
first ever Bay Are World Series.
The Series began in Oakland, and
behind the Bash Brother’s offense, and the pitching of Dave Stewart and Mike
Moore, the A’s were heading to a Game Three showdown in San Francisco’s
Candlestick Park.
The "Battle by the Bay" or the BART Series (for Bay Area Rapid Transit) highlighted Northern California, and the region was more than happy to share it's resources with the national audience.
Fate stepped in, as minutes before
the first pitch, the ground began to shake. There was an earthquake which was
centered approximately sixty miles south of the Stadium and registered at 6.9
on the Richter scale. Television and radio coverage of the game was
interrupted, some momentarily, some for longer, as technicians worked to
restore power to the broadcasts. The game was secondary, this was now a major
news story.
The initial thought was to postpone
the game for the night, and try Game Three on the following night, to let
everyone calm down and settle nerves. But that was the thought from the
stadium, which performed remarkably well during the event.
As the reports began coming in from
around the area, the realization that this was a very catastrophic natural
disaster began to take hold. Baseball and the World Series were not just taken
from the sports page, they weren’t even an afterthought, as the community was
reporting its losses.
Dozens of people were killed,
thousands more injured and displaced. Over five billion dollars of property
losses were assessed. The Fall Classic could wait, which it did.
The decision to resume the Series
on October 24th was made, then changed. The Series resumed on
October 27th. The Giants returned with Scott Garrelts on the mound,
who was tagged with the loss on Game One, to face Dave Stewart, repeating his
Game One start. The A’s one.
Game Four featured Don Robinson of
the Giants, in his only series start, challenging Mike Moore of the A’s. Same
result. The A’s won that game and swept the Series. Oakland became the third team
to never be behind in a single inning of a World Series.
During the off-season, on Christmas
Day, former big-league manager Billy Martin would die in a car accident. Billy
was mainly associated with the Yankees throughout his professional career, was
returning from an event near his home in upstate, New York. His truck hit a
patch of ice, and he slipped down a culvert approximately 200 or so feet.
The
picture of the wrecked truck made the front pages in the New York papers the
flowing day, with his license plate clearly visible. In an unprecedented move
later the following day, the New York State Lottery commission suspended play
of the four-digit number (3569 in case you were wondering) due to its
overwhelming play.
(The number didn’t win)
Other things of note from the
summer of 1989 revolves around the major league draft. There were quite a few
names that would loom into the nineties and beyond selected that year.
Including:
Ben McDonald Orioles
Frank Thomas* White Sox
Mo Vaughn Red Sox
Chuck Knoblauch Twins
Todd Jones Astros
Tim Salmon Angels
John Olerud Blue Jays
Jeff Bagwell* Red Sox
Trevor Hoffman * Reds
(as a shortstop)
Jim Thome* Indians
Jeff Kent Blue Jays
*Hall
of Fame inductees
And some who were drafted but
didn’t sign were Charles Johnson, Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi.
Now on to the season’s statistical
results, beginning with pitching. The top three teams in each league were:
American
League
|
National
League
|
Oakland
|
San
Francisco
|
California
|
Chicago
|
Kansas
City
|
San
Diego
|
And team offense brought us this
list
Boston
|
Chicago
|
Minnesota
|
San Francisco
|
Toronto
|
New York
|
Bringing the overall team top team
averages to this:
Oakland A’s
|
World Champions
|
Chicago Cubs
|
NL East Champion
|
San Francisco Giants
|
National League Champion
|
Kansas City Royals
|
2nd place in AL West
|
Toronto Blue Jays
|
AL East Champion
|
Looking more in-depth at the
pitching, we’ll look at the National League first, where the pitcher held a
7.4% statistical advantage over the AL hurlers. Our initial top ten list is:
Pitcher
|
Team
|
W-L
|
ERA
|
Svs
|
Mike
Scott
|
Astros
|
20-10
|
3.10
|
0
|
Scott
Garrelts
|
Giants
|
14-5
|
2.28
|
0
|
Mark
Langston
|
Expos
|
12-9
|
2.39
|
0
|
Eddie
Whitson
|
Padres
|
16-11
|
2.66
|
0
|
Roger
McDowell
|
Phillies
|
3-3
|
1.11
|
19
|
Rick
Reuschel
|
Giants
|
17-8
|
2.94
|
0
|
Greg
Maddux
|
Cubs
|
19-12
|
2.95
|
0
|
Orel
Hershiser
|
Dodgers
|
15-15
|
2.31
|
0
|
Jay
Howell
|
Dodgers
|
5-3
|
1.58
|
28
|
Joe
Magrane
|
Cardinals
|
18-9
|
2.91
|
0
|
Two players to note from this list,
Mark Langston and Roger McDowell. Both were acquired in mid-season trades, so
these performances are with their new teams. Ad both were involved in
controversial/blockbuster deals as well.
In May, Langston, went from Seattle
to the Expos in exchange for pitchers Greg Harris, Brian Holman and Randy
Johnson. The gamble failed to pay off for Montreal, as the stumbled towards the
end of the season, and eventually lost Langston as a free agent to the Angels.
McDowell, along with Lenny Dykstra
and a player to be named later (Tom Edens), was sent from the Mets to Philadelphia
in exchange for Juan Samuel on June 18th.
There was another blockbuster deal
late in the season, in which the Twins sent pitcher Frank Viola to the Mets in
exchange for Rick Aguilera and David West, with three other players to be named
later (Tim Drummond, Jack Savage and Kevin Tapani) on July 31st.
Moving on to how the National
League pitchers performed against their team averages, we get this list:
Roger McDowell
|
Above
|
|||
Mike Scott
|
Above
|
|||
John Smoltz
|
Braves
|
12-11
|
2.94
|
0
|
Mark Langston
|
Above
|
|||
John Smiley
|
Pirates
|
12-8
|
2.81
|
0
|
Tom Glavine
|
Braves
|
14-8
|
3.68
|
0
|
Bill Landrum
|
Pirates
|
2-3
|
1.67
|
26
|
Doug Drabek
|
Pirates
|
14-12
|
2.80
|
0
|
Ken Howell
|
Phillies
|
12-12
|
3.44
|
0
|
Joe Magrane
|
Above
|
Combining and analyzing, we get
this top ten overall performers, with any post season voting results:
Mike Scott
|
2nd in Cy Young, 15th
in MVP
|
Roger McDowell
|
No votes
|
Mark Langston
|
No votes
|
Ed Whitson
|
No votes
|
Orel Hershiser
|
4th in Cy Young (tie)
|
Joe Magrane
|
4th in Cy Young (tie)
|
Jay Howell
|
No votes
|
Greg Maddux
|
3rd in Cy Young
|
John Smiley
|
No votes
|
Scott Garrelts
|
6th in Cy Young (tie), 20th
in MVP
|
The National League Cy Young Award
winner was reliever Mark Davis of the Padres. He went 4-3 with a 1.85 ERA and
44 saves in 92 and 2/3rd innings over 70 games. Based on my
statistical formula, he was the third best pitcher on his team.
To the American League, our initial
top ten list is:
Bret Saberhagen
|
Royals
|
23-6
|
2.16
|
0
|
Dennis Eckersley
|
A’s
|
4-0
|
1.56
|
33
|
Mike Moore
|
A’s
|
19-11
|
2.61
|
0
|
Chuck Finley
|
Angels
|
16-9
|
2.57
|
0
|
Bert Blyleven
|
Angels
|
17-5
|
2.73
|
0
|
Dave Stewart
|
A’s
|
21-9
|
3.32
|
0
|
Jeff Montgomery
|
Royals
|
7-3
|
1.37
|
18
|
Bob Welch
|
A’s
|
17-8
|
3.00
|
0
|
Jeff Russell
|
Rangers
|
6-4
|
1.98
|
38
|
Nolan Ryan
|
Rangers
|
16-10
|
3.20
|
0
|
A note about Nolan Ryan. He
finished the season with 301 strikeouts. This would be the sixth and last time
that he would strike out 300 or more in a season, and his tenth time leading
the league in that category. He would do it an eleventh time in 1990.
Oh, and he was forty-one years old
this season.
Now, as compared to their team performances,
we get this list:
Bret Saberhagen
|
Above
|
|||
Erik Hanson
|
Mariners
|
9-5
|
3.18
|
0
|
Frank Tanana
|
Tigers
|
10-14
|
3.58
|
0
|
Jeff Russell
|
Above
|
|||
Nolan Ryan
|
Above
|
|||
Doug Jones
|
Indians
|
7-10
|
2.34
|
32
|
Allan Anderson
|
Twins
|
17-10
|
3.80
|
3
|
Chris Bosio
|
Brewers
|
15-10
|
2.95
|
0
|
Scott Bankhead
|
Mariners
|
14-6
|
3.34
|
0
|
Gregg Olson
|
Orioles
|
5-2
|
1.69
|
27
|
Bringing our top ten overall AL
pitchers to this:
Bret Saberhagen
|
Cy Young Award, 8th in MVP
|
Dennis Eckersley
|
6th in Cy Young (tie), 5th
in MVP
|
Erik Hanson
|
No votes
|
Mike Moore
|
3rd in Cy Young, 20th
in MVP
|
Jeff Russell
|
9th in Cy Young
|
Jeff Montgomery
|
No votes
|
Nolan Ryan
|
5th in Cy Young, 23rd
in MVP
|
Chris Bosio
|
No votes
|
Doug Jones
|
No votes
|
Dave Stewart
|
14th in MVP
|
Now switching to the offense, our
initial top ten National League hitters were:
Hitter
|
Team
|
HR
|
RBI
|
AVG
|
RCG
|
Kevin Mitchell
|
Giants
|
47
|
125
|
.291
|
1.16
|
Will Clark
|
Giants
|
23
|
111
|
.333
|
1.21
|
Lonnie Smith
|
Braves
|
21
|
79
|
.315
|
1.10
|
Eric Davis
|
Reds
|
34
|
101
|
.281
|
1.08
|
Howard Johnson
|
Mets
|
36
|
101
|
.287
|
1.10
|
Jack Clark
|
Padres
|
26
|
94
|
.242
|
1.01
|
Pedro Guerrero
|
Cardinals
|
17
|
117
|
.311
|
0.99
|
Mark Grace
|
Cubs
|
13
|
79
|
.314
|
0.99
|
Bobby Bonilla
|
Pirates
|
24
|
86
|
.281
|
0.97
|
Andre Dawson
|
Cubs
|
22
|
77
|
.252
|
1.00
|
Then, as compared to their team
averages, a few changes. That ranking is:
Lonnie Smith
|
Above
|
||||
Eric Davis
|
Above
|
||||
Kevin Mitchell
|
Above
|
||||
Will Clark
|
Above
|
||||
Howard Johnson
|
Above
|
||||
Jack Clark
|
Above
|
||||
Pedro Guerrero
|
Above
|
||||
Bobby Bonilla
|
Above
|
||||
Von Hayes
|
Phillies
|
26
|
78
|
.259
|
0.94
|
Eddie Murray
|
Dodgers
|
20
|
88
|
.247
|
0.84
|
This gets us to our ultimate top
ten NL hitters, along with their post-season votes:
Kevin Mitchell
|
NL
MVP
|
Will
Clark
|
2nd
in MVP
|
Lonnie
Smith
|
11th
in MVP
|
Eric
Davis
|
9th
in MVP
|
Howard
Johnson
|
5th
in MVP
|
Jack
Clark
|
12th
in MVP
|
Bobby
Bonilla
|
16th
in MVP
|
Mark
Grace
|
14th
in MVP
|
Von
Hayes
|
No
votes
|
Eddie
Murray
|
No
votes
|
Over to the American League, where
the hitters held an 8,8% statistical advantage over the National Leaguers, our
initial top ten list is:
Ruben Sierra
|
Rangers
|
29
|
119
|
.306
|
1.18
|
Ellis Burks
|
Red Sox
|
12
|
61
|
.303
|
1.26
|
Robin Yount
|
Brewers
|
21
|
103
|
.318
|
1.14
|
Alvin Davis
|
Mariners
|
21
|
95
|
.305
|
1.11
|
Mickey Tettleton
|
Orioles
|
26
|
65
|
.258
|
0.95
|
Carlton Fisk
|
White Sox
|
13
|
68
|
.392
|
0.99
|
Bo Jackson
|
Royals
|
32
|
105
|
.256
|
1.18
|
Dwight Evans
|
Red Sox
|
20
|
100
|
.285
|
1.11
|
Mike Greenwell
|
Red Sox
|
14
|
95
|
.308
|
1.16
|
Kent Hrbek
|
Twins
|
25
|
84
|
.272
|
1.08
|
And against their teams, the top
performers were:
Ruben Sierra
|
Above
|
||||
Alvin Davis
|
Above
|
||||
Robin Yount
|
Above
|
||||
Mickey Tettleton
|
Above
|
||||
Joe Carter
|
Indians
|
35
|
105
|
.243
|
0.95
|
Lou Whitaker
|
Tigers
|
28
|
85
|
.251
|
0.91
|
Chili Davis
|
Angels
|
22
|
90
|
.271
|
0.97
|
Bo Jackson
|
Above
|
||||
Carlton Fisk
|
Above
|
||||
George Bell
|
Blue Jays
|
18
|
104
|
.297
|
1.14
|
And our final AL top ten ranking in
offense would be:
Ruben Sierra
|
2nd in MVP
|
Alvin Davis
|
23rd in MVP (tied)
|
Robin Yount
|
AL MVP
|
Ellis Burks
|
No votes
|
Mickey Tettleton
|
No votes
|
Carlton Fisk
|
No votes
|
Bo Jackson
|
10th in MVP
|
Kent Hrbek
|
No votes
|
George Bell
|
4th in MVP
|
Dwight Evans
|
No votes
|
While Robin Yount of the Brewers
was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player, using these findings, he was not
the best player in the AL. The voters and I agree on two of the four award
winners for the 1989 season.
My top five overall rankings in
each league would then be:
National
League
Player
of the Year
Will
Clark
Lonnie
Smith
Eric
Davis
Mike
Scott
Pitcher
of the Year
American
League
Bret
Saberhagen
Player
of the Year
Ruben
Sierra
Offensive
Player of the Year
Dennis
Eckersley
Erik
Hanson
Alvin
Davis
