Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: 1991 Season in review

1991…Bottom to Top

The most noteworthy thing about the 1991 baseball season will be the post season. Or rather, who was still playing at the end.

In 1990, the Minnesota Twins finished last in the American League West, with a 74-88 record, fourteen games below .500, and twenty-nine games behind the pennant winning Oakland A’s. The Atlanta Braves went 65-97, thirty-two games below .500, and thirty games behind the pennant winning Cincinnati Reds.

Therefore, if you were to suggest that before the 1991 season began, that these two teams would meet in the World Series, you would have been laughed at.

But that is what happened.

Let’s look at team performances before we delve into the season particulars. The league pitching performances were:

National League	American League
Dodgers	Blue Jays
Pirates	Twins
Braves	White Sox

And the hitting performances:

Pirates	Brewers
Braves	Rangers
Cubs	Tigers

So overall ‘power rankings' were:

Pirates	1^st in NL East
Twins	World Champions
Braves	National League Champions
Dodgers	2^nd in NL West
Brewers	2^nd in AL East (tied)

The Braves, buoyed by three strong young starting pitchers, with an offense led by NL Most Valuable Player Terry Pendleton, outlasted the Dodgers, claiming the pennant on the nest to last day of the season. And the Twins, led by rookie Chuck Knoblauch and the addition of pitcher Jack Morris sailed to an easy seven game cushion over the Chicago White Sox.

The Twins split the first two playoff games at home against the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that had begun amassing talent from the previous off-season. They brought in Devon White, Joe Carter, and Roberto Alomar in the winter, and added knuckleballer Tom Candiotti during the season.

Minnesota relied on their home-grown talented lineup, featuring Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, and the aforementioned Knoblauch to lead their offense. The Twins lead the majors in batting average (.280) and On Base Percentage (.344) and was second lowest in the AL in ERA. Only Toronto had a lower team ERA, and while the Blue Jays won their division easily, scoring runs was a challenge for them. They finished tenth in the AL with an average of 4.23 runs scored per game.

In the Twins most recent post-season appearance, they relied on their home field advantage at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to win each of their games. They won each of their home games in the 1987 playoffs and World Series. This year, they did win their first game at the “Homerdome” 5-4, but the Blue Jays did respond with a 5-2 victory the next night.

The next three games were in Toronto, at the magnificent Skydome. The Twins made quick work of their trip to Toronto, sweeping the Jays in their ballpark. It would not be the last visit to the post season for the Blue Jays, as they would win the World Series in the next two seasons.

Kirby Puckett would be named the Series MVP.

The Braves, playing in their first National League Championship Series since 1982, faced the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were playing in their second of three consecutive NLCS. The Pirates had amassed the best batting average, on base percentage. They had the second-best team ERA in the National League, while also leading the league in runs scored. The Braves held their ground on the offensive side, and the third best ERA behind the Dodgers and the Pirates.

The Pirates won the first game in Pittsburgh, beating Tom Glavine 5-1, then were shutout the next game 1-0 by Steve Avery. Returning to Atlanta, the Braves romped 10-3, then lost the next night in extra-innings 3-2. Game Five had Zane Smith and Roger Mason shutout the Braves 1-0.

Game Six, in Pittsburgh had Steve Avery and Alejandro Pena combine for a four-hit shutout, 1-0, to force a Game Seven. In that game, the Braves put up three runs in the top of the first, knocking John Smiley out of the game before he could finish the inning. The Braves, behind John Smoltz’s six-hitter, claimed the National League Championship.

Steve Avery would win the Series MVP award.

The 1991 Series was probably the best that I have seen. It was very pitching dominant, with the exception of Game Five. And five of the seven games were decided by one run, four of those in extra innings, including the memorable Game Seven.

Following the teams, the Twins won the first two games at home, 5-2 and 3-2.

Then the Series moved to Atlanta, which hosted its first ever World Series game. Former President Jimmy Carter threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and the crowd settled in for a gem. The Braves scratched out a run in the bottom of the twelfth off of the Twins’ Rick Aguilera, who actually entered the game as a pinch-hitter. The Braves won 5-4.

Game Four was another one-run game, with the Braves scoring in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 victory. It would be the second of four World Series games ended in a team’s last at-bat.

Game Five would be a ‘laugher,’ as the Braves got four runs off of starter Kevin Tapani, and then exploded for ten more off of the Twins’ bullpen, winning 14-5. Then they returned to Minnesota.

Game Six, with the Twins’ back against the wall, saw Braves starter Steve Avery get tagged for three runs in six innings, and the Twins starter Scott Erickson meet the same fate. With the score tied at three going into the bottom of the twelfth, Kirby Puckett hit a Charlie Leibrandt pitch over the wall in left field to force Game Seven.

Game Seven would be one for the ages. The Twins would be sending Jack Morris, a native of St. Paul, and a graduate of Highland Park His. The Braves would be countering with twenty-four-year-old John Smoltz, making his second start. Smoltz, who grew up in Detroit, was a fan of Morris, who helped pitch the Tigers to their last World Series win in 1984.

The two would match zeroes through seven and a third, when Smoltz was lifted for Mike Stanton, who finished the eighth. Alejandro Pena took over in the ninth and held the Twins scoreless.

For the top of the tenth, Jack Morris came out to pitch to a huge ovation from his hometown crowd. He did not disappoint, retiring the side easily. The Twins, in the bottom of the tenth. Dan Gladden doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice by Chuck Knoblauch. The braves decided to walk Kirby Puckett and then Kent Hrbek to load the bases for the five spot, which was Jarvis Brown, who had replaced Chili Davis as a pinch-runner in the previous inning. The Twins pinch-hit Gene Larkin a switch hitting first-baseman/outfielder.

Larkin, from New York, was drafted out of Columbia University, where he was the first Lion to make the major leagues since Lou Gehrig.

Larkin hit a lazy fly ball that landed past the drawn in outfield of the Braves, scoring Gladden with the winning run in the bottom of the tenth. The ’single’ by Larkin did break a lot of hearts in Atlanta that night.

With two wins in three sarts, and a 1.17 ERA, including his ten-inning shoutout in the clincher, Jack Morris would be named World Series MVP.

There were other items of note from the 1991 season.

The National League voted to expand for the first time since the 1969 season, adding new franchises in Denver and Miami, and bringing the number of teams in each league to fourteen. (The American League expanded in 1977 with Seattle and Toronto) Both teams would begin play in 1993.

Montreal Expos ace Dennis Martinez pitched a perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28^th. It was the first perfect game in the majors since Len Barker’s in 1981. Ron Hassey was Martinez’ catcher, and Barker’s catcher, becoming the first catcher to call two perfect games.

Astro’s pitcher Darryl Kile went hitless for the season. He had thirty-eight official at-bats without a hit, the fourth longest in history.

Braves third baseman (and NL MVP winner) Terry Pendleton won the National League batting title batting .319. It was the second lowest average to win the title in NL history. Tony Gwynn batted .309 in 1988.

Braves teammate Ron Gant became the fourth player in major league history to gather 30 homers and 30 steals.

Brewers designated hitter Paul Molitor established DH records for runs scored (133) and triples (13).

The ageless Nolan Ryan threw his record seventh no-hitter while pitching for the Rangers on May 1st. It was his first no-hitter in Arlington, TX, and took place on Arlington Appreciation Night.

On the year, Ryan struck out 203 batters, and allowed 193 baserunners at forty-four years of age.

May 1^st also had Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s steal third base in a game against the Yankees, surpassing Lou Brock’s all-time stolen base record. Brock had 938 steals, and this was Rickey’s 939^th, on Rickey’s way to stealing an almost insurmountable record of 1,406, or 49.9% higher than the previous record. In the history of baseball, only nine other players have stolen 700 or more bases.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Wilson Alvarez pitched a no-hitter, becoming the second youngest to do so. Only Vida Blue in 1970 was younger.

The St. Louis Cardinals team hit 68 homers in 1991, Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire hit 70 himself in 1998.

Pittsburgh Pirates established a record by allowing 5 runs to the Chicago Cubs in the top of the 11^th inning, only to score 6 runs in the bottom of the 11^th to win the game.

Former San Diego Padre and Baltimore Oriole Alan Wiggins became the first acknowledged major league player to die from AIDS.

Andre Dawson of the Cubs stole his 300^th career base, becoming just the third player to the 300 homer/300 stolen base club. He joined Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds.

The major league draft for 1991 had some players of note…

The first rounders of note include Manny Ramirez (Indians #13), Cliff Floyd (Expos #14), Shawn Green (Blue Jays #16...compensation for Giants signing Bud Black), Aaron Sele (Red Sox #23)

Scott Hatteberg went to the Red Sox in the second round (#43), Nomar Garciaparra went to the Brewers in the fifth round (#130, did not sign), Mike Cameron went to the White Sox in the 18^th round (#488), Aaron Boone to the Angels in the 43^rd round (#1127, did not sign)

Future NFL Quarterbacks Steve McNair (Seattle 35^thrd, #916) and Browning Nagle (Angels 51^st rd., #1514) Neither did sign.

With the pick of Brien Taylor, the major-league draft entered new and uncomfortable ground. High school players who were drafted held out the option of attending College and passing on the draft. The draftees could conceivably leverage this threat as a bargaining tool against the clubs.

The teams had until the first day of college classes to sign their draftees, or risk losing their claim to them. For collegiate players, the same rule applied. In fact, there were two first round picks that passed on their contract offers to return to school.

The Brewers drafted pitcher Kenny Henderson from Ringgold HS in Ringgold, Georgia in the fifth spot. He allegedly wanted a $1 million offer, but Milwaukee would not budge beyond $500,000, so Henderson enrolled at the University of Miami. He would later be drafted by the Expos in the second round in the 1994 draft, and finally by the Padres in the fifth round of the 1995 draft. He pitched for three seasons in the low minor leagues.

With the sixth pick, the Astros drafted pitcher John Burke from the University of Florida. Burke had been drafted by the Orioles in the thirty-fourth round of the 1989 draft, out of Cherry Creek High School in Glenwood Village, Colorado. Burke asked the Astros for the same $500,000 that the Brewers offered Henderson, but the Astros declined, owing in part to the club being up for sale. Burke returned to the Gators and was drafted the following year by the Colorado Rockies with the twenty-seventh pick in the first round, where he signed for a reported $336,000 bonus.

Taylor and his family were adamant about the signing bonus. They wanted a package similar to Todd Van Poppel’s deal the prior year with the A’s, where he received a $500,000 bonus, along with a $1.2 million deal guaranteed over three years. As a part of that deal, Van Poppel had to be placed on the A’s forty-man roster.

With Taylor, the issue was that major league contract. Had the Yankees offered him a major-league contract, they would have had to ‘protect him’ in the upcoming expansion draft, so any bonus would have been a straight, pure bonus.

The Yankees and the Taylors negotiated on and off through the summer, with intense arguments and accusations of racism and bullying being thrown about in the press. Even Yankee’s owner George Steinbrenner, unsurprisingly, weighed in on the situation, saying it would be an embarrassment if the Yankees lost out on this budding star.

Taylor’s numbers in his senior year at East Carteret High School, in Beaufort, NC were phenomenal. In 13 games, he finished with an ERA of 0.86. Somehow lost two games while winning eight and struck out 203 batter in just 84 innings (an average of 2.42/9 innings, or 21.7 per nine inning game), allowing just eighteen hits over that timeframe.

Then literally the day before Taylor was to enroll and begin taking classes at Louisburg Junior College, he came to an agreement with the Yankees, which was a standard minor league deal, and a record setting $1.55 million signing bonus.

As a result of the delay, Taylor did not pitch in 1991. He began his professional career in 1992 at Fort Lauderdale of the Florida State League. He struck out 187 in 161 innings. He was voted the number two prospect in the league, behind Dunedin’s Carlos Delgado.

He was promoted to the Albany-Colonie Yankees, the AA affiliate in the Eastern League, and Taylor continued to flourish. The lefthander went 13-7 and was living up to expectations. He was voted the number four prospect in the Eastern League, behind Cliff Floyd, Manny Ramirez, and Rondell White.

Then he had a fight.

By all accounts, the fight was in a bar and involved Taylor, his brother and another friend. During the scuffle, Brien damaged his left shoulder and needed surgery. That incident cost him the 1994 season.

He returned to the Yankees farm system in 1995, but never progressed beyond A ball. He went a combined 3-15 over the next four seasons, with an ERA of 10.75. He was out of baseball in 1999, but appeared for the Columbus Redstixx of the Sally League, an Indians affiliate. In five games there, he had no record, and an ERA of 27.00.

The minor leagues had plenty of action.

The Louisville Cardinals, the St. Louis affiliate in the American Association lost ninety-two games, as did the Oklahoma City 89er’s, the Texas affiliate., the most in that league since the league re-formed in 1969.

In Williamsport, Jeromy Burnitz of the Bills, the Mets Eastern League affiliate, became the first player in the storied history of the Eastern League to reach thirty homes and 30 stolen bases. It was the high point for a team that would be moving to Binghamton, NY for the 1992 season.

Pitcher Jeff Mutis of the Canton-Akron Indians, Cleveland’s affiliate, led the Eastern League with an ERA of 1.80.

Pitcher Pat Mahomes, of the Orlando Sun Rays, the Twins’ Southern League affiliate led that league with a 1.78 ERA.

In the Texas League, the Cardinal’s affiliate Arkansas Travelers scored twelve runs in the first inning of their season opener against the Jackson Generals, tying an eighty-four-year-old Texas League record.

In the California League, pitcher Rich Huisman of the Giants affiliate San Jose Giants led all minor leaguers in strikeouts, with 216 in 182 innings. He also finished with a league leading 1.83 ERA to win that league’s pitching triple crown.

San Jose teammate Gary Sharko set a league record with thirty-one saves.

And speedster J.D. Noland of the High Desert Mavericks, the Padres affiliate, stole eighty-one bases, with 23 caught stealing.

Youngster Paul Byrd, making his professional debut for the Kinston Indians, Cleveland’s Carolina League club, gave up a hit in his first inning of work, then committed three balks to allow that runner to score.

Ryan Hawblitzel of the Winston-Salem Spirits, the Cubs affiliate in that same league, finished the year at 15-2. He earned a promotion to the Charlotte Knight of the Southern League, where he went 1-2.

Salomon Torres, if the Clinton Giants in the Midwest League, finished with a 16-5 record and a miniscule 1.41 ERA, while Mateo Ozuna of the Springfield Cardinals swiped seventy-eight bases and was caught 24 times.

In the South Atlantic League, the Gastonia Rangers were owned by George Shinn, who owned the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets about the lack of interest in the Class A team. Shinn approached two of his popular Hornets players, to ask if they would like to suit up and play in a minor league game. They both said yes.

Muggsy Bogues played second base in the game, going hitless in two at bats, Dell Curry, who pitched at Virginia Tech, started the game, throwing three scoreless innings, striking out four batters. The game, against the Spartanburg Phillies, was finally called due to rain…but there are minor league baseball cards out there for both Bogues and Curry.

Also in that league, pitcher Jose Martinez of the Columbia Mets became just the second twenty-game winner in South Atlantic League history. He finished 20-4 with a 1.49 ERA.

Pitcher Brian Looney of the Jamestown Expos in the New York-Penn League finished the short-season league with a 7-1 record and a 1.16 ERA. In fact, there were our other pitcher with an ERA below 2. They were Mike Call (6-1 1.26) and Larry Thomas (1-3 1.47) both from the Utica Blue Sox, the White Sox affiliate; Giovanni Carrara (5-2 1.61) of the St. Catherine’s Blue Jays, and Craig Holman of the Batavia Clippers, the Phillies affiliate.

Also, in the NY-Penn, outfielder James Mouton of the Auburn Astros set the pace with sixty steals in a 70-game season.

In the Northwest League, Mike Neill of the Southern Oregon A’s batted .350 to lead the league. Julian Herdia of the Boise Hawks, an Angels affiliate, pitched in twenty-five games, all in relief, but pitched enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. He was 8-1 with five saves, and an ERA of 1.05. Doug Vanderweele of the Everett Giants went 6-4 with a 1.97 ERA.

The Burlington Indians of the Appalachian League were led by league MVP Manny Ramirez, who clubbed nineteen homers in fifty-nine games. On the pitching side, Steve Jones of the Johnson City Cardinals finished at 3-4 1.47, Joel Gilmore of the Martinsville Phillies went 4-3 1.53, Jason Jacome of the Kingsport Mets went 5-4 1.63, Eddie Guardado of the Elizabethton Twins went 8-4 1.86 and Rick Krivda of the Bluefield Orioles went 7-1 1.88.

In the Pioneer League, Andy Fairman of the Helena Brewers led the league in hitting with a .373, edging out Dario Paulino of the Idaho Falls Braves, who finished at .371. John Gilligan of the independent Salt Lake Trappers finished 6-1 and 1.71.

Now we will examine the leading performances, beginning with the National League batters, the initial top ten performances were:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	SB	R/G
Barry Bonds	Pirates	25	116	.276	43	1.22
David Justice	Braves	21	87	.275	8	1.22
Howard Johnson	Mets	38	117	.259	30	1.20
Bobby Bonilla	Pirates	18	100	.316	6	1.17
Will Clark	Giants	29	116	.301	4	1.16
Ryne Sandberg	Cubs	26	100	.291	22	1.13
Barry Larkin	Reds	20	69	.302	24	1.11
Daryl Strawberry	Dodgers	28	99	.265	10	1.13
Ron Gant	Braves	32	105	.251	34	1.13
Fred McGriff	Padres	31	106	.278	4	1.04

Against their own team’s performances, we get this top list:

Howard Johnson	Above
Will Clark	Above
Fred McGriff	Above
Ivan Calderon	Expos	19	75	.300	31	0.93
Daryl Strawberry	Above
John Kruk	Phillies	21	92	.294	7	1.02
Barry Larkin	Above
Ryne Sandberg	Above
David Justice	Above
Jeff Bagwell	Astros	15	82	.294	7	0.94

Note that the National League Most Valuable Player Award was given to Terry Pendleton of the Braves.

So, combining, crunching, and deciphering brings us this final list of top National League hitters:

Howard Johnson	5^th in MVP vote
Will Clark	4^th in MVP vote
David Justice	12^th in MVP vote (tied)
Barry Bonds	2^nd in MVP vote
Barry Larkin	17^th in MVP vote (tied)
Daryl Strawberry	9^th in MVP vote
Fred McGriff	No votes
Ryne Sandberg	17^th in MVP vote (tied)
Bobby Bonilla	3^rd in MVP vote
John Kruk	17^th in MVP vote (tied)

Moving to the American League, where the batters fared 8.9% better than the National League, we get this preliminary top ten list:

Jose Canseco	A’s	44	122	.266	26	1.25
Frank Thomas	White Sox	32	109	.318	1	1.15
Ruben Sierra	Rangers	25	116	.307	16	1.25
Danny Tartabull	Royals	31	100	.316	6	1.11
Paul Molitor	Brewers	17	75	.325	19	1.21
Cal Ripken Jr.	Orioles	34	114	.323	6	1.10
Julio Franco	Rangers	15	78	.341	36	1.17
Cecil Fielder	Tigers	44	133	.261	0	1.18
Rafael Palmiero	Rangers	26	88	.322	4	1.11
Mickey Tettleton	Tigers	31	89	.263	3	0.93

Then, against their team’s performances, our top ten looks like this:

Albert Belle	Indians	28	95	.282	3	1.03
Cal Ripken	Above
Wally Joyner	Angels	21	96	.301	2	1.08
Jose Canseco	Above
Danny Tartabull	Above
Frank Thomas	Above
Ken Griffey Jr	Mariners	22	100	.327	18	1.00
Joe Carter	Blue Jays	33	108	.273	20	1.01
Carlos Baerga	Indians	11	69	.288	3	0.87
Ruben Sierra	Above

And that brings our final AL hitters top ten list to this:

Jose Canseco	4^th in MVP vote
Frank Thomas	3^rd in MVP vote
Cal Ripken Jr	American League MVP
Danny Tartabull	12^th in MVP vote
Ruben Sierra	8^th in MVP vote
Paul Molitor	11^th in MVP vote
Albert Belle	No votes
Cecil Fielder	2^nd in MVP votes
Julio Franco	15^th in MVP votes
Wally Joyner	No votes

Turning over to the pitchers, where the National League hurlers fared 8.0% better, numerically, than the American League pitchers, our initial top ten NL performers are:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	Svs
Tom Glavine	Braves	20-11	2.55	0
John Smiley	Pirates	20-8	3.08	0
Jose Rijo	Reds	15-6	2.51	0
Dennis Martinez	Expos	14-11	2.39	0
Lee Smith	Cardinals	6-3	2.34	47
Ramon Martinez	Dodgers	17-13	3.27	0
Mike Morgan	Dodgers	14-10	2.78	1
Andy Benes	Padres	15-11	3.03	0
Steve Avery	Braves	18-8	3.38	0
Bruce Hurst	Padres	15-8	3.29	0

Then, as compared to their team’s performances, we get this top ten list:

Jose Rijo	Above
Dennis Martinez	Above
Pete Harnisch	Astros	12-9	2.70	0
Tom Glavine	Above
Mitch Williams	Phillies	12-5	2.34	30
Terry Mulholland	Phillies	16-13	3.61	0
Lee Smith	Above
Greg Maddux	Cubs	15-11	3.35	0
John Smiley	Above
Andy Benes	Above

Adjusting and calculating, our top ten National league pitchers were:

Tom Glavine	Cy Young Award, 11^th in MVP vote
Jose Rijo	4^th in Cy Young vote
Dennis Martinez	5^th in Cy Young vote, 20^th in MVP vote (tie)
John Smiley	3^rd in Cy Young vote, 14^th in MVP vote (tied)
Lee Smith	2^nd in Cy Young vote, 8^th in MVP vote
Pete Harnisch	No votes
Mitch Williams	6^th in Cy Young vote (tied)
Andy Benes	6^th in Cy Young vote (tied)
Ramon Martinez	No votes
Mike Morgan	No votes

And to the American League, our initial top ten pitchers were:

Roger Clemens	Red Sox	18-10	2.62	0
Scott Erickson	Twins	20-8	3.18	0
Bryan Harvey	Angels	2-4	1.60	46
Bill Wegman	Brewers	15-7	2.84	0
Mark Langston	Angels	19-8	3.00	0
Jim Abbott	Angels	18-11	2.89	0
Mike Moore	A’s	17-8	2.96	0
Kevin Tapani	Twins	16-9	2.99	0
Nolan Ryan	Rangers	12-6	2.91	0
Jose Guzman	Rangers	13-7	3.08	0

Then compared to their team’s statistics, we get this list:

Bill Wegman	Above
Mike Moore	Above
Nolan Ryan	Above
Jose Guzman	Above
Steve Farr	Yankees	5-5	2.19	23
Scott Sanderson	Yankees	16-10	3.81	0
Bill Gullickson	Tigers	20-8	3.90	0
Bryan Harvey	Above
Mark Langston	Above
Bret Saberhagen	Royals	13-8	3.07	0

These numbers bring us to a final top ten list, with an outlier on top. The best pitching performances in the AL were:

Bill Wegman	No votes
Bryan Harvey	5^th in Cy Young vote
Mark Langston	67h in Cy Young vote
Scott Erickson	2^nd in Cy Young vote, 17^th in MVP vote
Mike Moore	No votes
Nolan Ryan	No votes
Juan Guzman	no votes
Roger Clemens	Cy Young Award, 10^th in MVP vote
Bret Saberhagen	No votes
Kevin Tapani	7^th in Cy Young vote